The success of your Ecommerce business depends on how actively you manage your inventory. Why not? Clients expect to buy the product without any hassle, just like buying it off the store racks. Inventory management needs to be as flawless as possible so that no unexpected misunderstandings are created.
How to achieve excellence
There are many things that come into account when assessing the success of an Ecommerce business. One of the most important factors is inventory management. This includes timely updating of the ‘in-stock’ and ‘out of stock’ items, timely delivery of the items ordered and the cheapest possible delivery fees. If possible, provide free shipping as this will boost your business and rank you top in the competition list.
A proper software for this inventory management should be employed where possible, to keep the products and details about their pricing, sizes and numbers up-to-date. This software needs to be integrated directly to your online website.
This one step saves great hassle, because the customer can directly view how many pieces of a certain type of glasses are left in stock in a particular warehouse.
What next?
One the order has been received by the system at the back-end and it meets all the criteria that you have set, it is sent to the relevant inventory for collection and delivery. You can also choose to forward these orders manually, so that all these orders from the customers are sent to you and then after your approval they are forwarded to the inventory for packaging and delivery.
Moreover, the workers at the other end in the inventory should make sure that the online order reflects the items being packed and sent through various mobile delivery services. They are also supposed to accurately count the items afterwards so that an exact number of ‘in-stock’ items are displayed on the Ecommerce site.
After the order has been handed over to the delivery companies, there should ideally be an automatic update system on the site stating the order as ‘shipped’.
Conclusion
Without an efficient coordination between the Inventory management and your Ecommerce business, nothing but chaos and confusion occurs. Sometimes, wrong orders are dispatched if they inventory count hasn’t been done right, or the delivery is late because of some glitch at site or poor communication.
All of this confusion leads to customer dissatisfaction and hence, a drop in your sales. Hence, the key to a flawless Ecommerce business lies in pro-active and positive Inventory management.
