Areas of Improvement the Process of Order Fulfillment

Any successful business will make a priority out of fulfilling customer orders in a timely manner. Completing and fulfilling orders, however, may require that your company to make improvements. Common aspects of order fulfillment processes that made need to be tweaked include the point of sale, inventory management, and shipping and delivery.  Each of these areas has a big affect on the success of order fulfillment, which is why are all vitally important.
Point of Sale
When a customer first places an order and pays for a product, it is important that the correct order is taken. While it seems like common sense, these kinds of mistakes happen all too often. Employees will need to be thoroughly trained in the point of sales process for an order to be placed correctly. If the order is taken incorrectly, the customer may be double-charged or the incorrect item may be packaged and sent to the customer. Preventing these types of mistakes is essential to ensuring that the customers’ view of your employees, and of your company as a whole, are kept in high standing. If your company is currently having issues with the point of sale process, you must first address those issues before any other area is improved.
Inventory Management
Once an order is placed correctly, the product must be pulled from inventory. In the order fulfillment process, your inventory simply must be managed well. If it isn’t, you may think you have an item in stock and allow a customer to order that product when, in fact, it is not in stock. This creates problems well beyond a simple mixup, both for you and the customer.
These sorts of issues will delay the entire fulfillment process, and could ruin the relationship that you have with a customer. To improve inventory management, you should have a fool-proof system implemented that will help your company’s inventory to stay updated. To further improve inventory management, you should make sure your inventory storage room is well organized. This will help cut down on the amount of time it takes to pull an item and will make it easier for employees to find the products that are being ordered.
Shipping and Delivery
It is essential that you use shipping and delivery methods that are convenient for your customers. If a certain carrier requires most of your customers to jump through hoops to receive their order, it is time to find a new carrier. If your chosen carrier is more expensive than another carrier, then you should also reconsider utilizing a different carrier. Making sure that your customers’ packages are always delivered quickly and safely – every time – should be one of your top priorities.
When you keep good on your promise to quickly get a product delivered to your customers, you are showing your customers that you are trustworthy. When a customer feels like they can trust your company, then he or she will be more willing to buy more products from your company – or tell his or her friends about you. This type of customer loyalty will only encourage your employees and provide your company with a steady source of revenue. However, if you botch the shipping and delivery, you can bet that your customer’s friends and family will all know about that, too – which is bad for business.