By How do I increase online sales and at the same time control costs is a common challenge facing online pharmacy retailers. You have invested in your online offering, dedicated budgets to paid advertising, converted sales and built a loyal customer base but now you don’t have the capacity to increase your daily orders due to inefficient order fulfilment capabilities.
Together with increasing expectations from your customers for fast delivery and spiralling costs of sales, now it’s more important then ever to look at your order fulfilment process
What is Ecommerce Fulfilment?
Ecommerce fulfilment is the backbone of every online store, from collecting orders and controlling stock to picking, packaging, and shipping items.
Customers expect fast and dependable delivery, putting pressure on businesses to get items out the door promptly and properly. Customer satisfaction and loyalty will be influenced by the speed of delivery, how the product is packaged, the accuracy of shipping information, and the condition in which products reach the customer’s doorstep.
Common e-commerce fulfilment models
In-House Fulfilment:
In this model, the online store manages its own fulfilment operations. They typically own or lease warehouse space or dedicate space in their bricks and mortar store, hire and train their own staff, and handle all aspects of order processing, packing, and shipping. This is the most common model amongst Irish online retailers.
Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Providers:
E-commerce companies can outsource their fulfilment operations to third-party logistics providers. These companies specialise in handling warehousing, packing, and shipping of products on behalf of the online store.
Dropshipping:
In the dropshipping model, online stores don’t hold inventory. Instead, they partner with suppliers or manufacturers who ship products directly to customers when orders are placed.
Hybrid Models:
Some online stores opt for a combination of fulfilment models. For example, they might use in-house fulfilment for their most popular products and partner with a 3PL for overflow or seasonal items.
In-house and hybrid are the most common ecommerce fulfilment models for Irish retailers and increasingly online stores who wish to scale and improve overall efficiency are looking to automate their ecommerce fulfilment.
Why Automate Ecommerce Fulfilment?
Speed and Efficiency : Time is money ! Automation can significantly speed up the fulfilment process, this is crucial for meeting todays customers fast shipping expectations. Research shows that offering slow shipping is one of the top reasons for customers to abandon the shopping cart.
Reduce Errors: An error in the fulfilment process could turn a loyal customer into one that will never shop with you again, coupled with potential for poor reviews and the cost of returns and compensation, errors can be very costly. Automated ecommerce fulfilment, however, allows you to minimize the risk of mistakes by reducing manual data entry.
Scalability: Automated ecommerce fulfilment will help you scale to handle increased order volumes without the need to hire and train more staff. This scalability is crucial during busy periods like holidays or sales events.
Focus on Value-Added Tasks: By automating routine tasks, employees can focus on more value-added activities, such as customer service, marketing and product mix.
Customer Satisfaction: Faster and more accurate order fulfilment leads to improved customer satisfaction. Happy customers will convert into loyal customers and more likely to provide positive reviews.
At Magico we are delighted to have partnered with Irish owned Wave OMS to provide automated ecommerce fulfilment services to our clients.
Wave Order Management System fulfils online orders with maximum speed and minimum cost per order, supercharging Pack, Pick & Ship capabilities for online Retailers of all shapes and sizes.
Both Magico and Wave OMS have developed specific functionality that uniquely caters for the Irish Pharmacy Industry and this partnership offers Irish Pharmacy Retailers a solution that provides for the statutory record trail obligations of Irish online pharmacies.
Leading Irish Pharmacy Retailer, CH Tralee are enjoying significant benefits after integrating their Magico AB Commerce online store, http://www.chtralee.com , with Wave OMS. The speed and accuracy of their online deliveries is having a hugely positive impact on their reviews and hence their customer retention.
A streamlined organised order fulfilment process has allowed resources to be redeployed to more value adding tasks . The shipping accuracy produced by Wave OMS is also delivering substantial savings in costs of returns and replacement products.
According to Kevin Reardon, General Manager CH Chemist , the integration of Wave OMS with their Magico AB Commerce Online Store has brought immense benefits to the business and has allowed CH Chemist to continue to grow their online business with confidence.
Improving your ecommerce fulfilment process is crucial to achieve online growth. You can boost order fulfilment speed and accuracy, customer happiness, and ultimately online sales by choosing the appropriate ecommerce fulfilment model, putting effective procedures in place, and utilizing technology and data.
This will eventually lead to more satisfied customers and less workload, unlocking the possibility for rapid and long-term online growth.
AB Commerce blog 