Is Your Fulfilment Strategy Costing You Repeat Business?

If you are running an e-commerce business, you will certainly want to carefully think about customer experience. Okay, this is something that all businesses need to keep in mind, aiming at improving it and thus ensuring that their customers are happy.

But, when you have an e-commerce business to run, their satisfaction is sure to rely on the delivery process as well, and thus, on your fulfillment strategy.

Understand order fulfillment better: https://www.supplychaintoday.com/what-is-order-fulfillment/

Now, if you’ve been operating on the market for some time now, then you absolutely understand the importance of great order fulfillment.

Meaning, thus, that you may have some ideas about how a poor strategy, or one that you haven’t revised in a while and that you haven’t taken the time to perfect, could be costing you repeat business.

Whether you do have some ideas or not, this is something that we are going to be discussing below, hoping to shed light on the actual topic and help you figure out how this particular strategy can affect your overall performance.

IMAGE: UNSPLASH

How It Could Be Costing You Repeat Business

It goes without saying that, when you complete an order for a customer, you will want them to be satisfied. Why?

Well, because you want them to return to your brand and your shop once again, meaning you want repeat business, and because, naturally, you want them to recommend you to other people, as that will boost your overall performance as well.

Naturally, if your order fulfillment strategy is not that great, there is no doubt that it can cost you repeat business, and thus leave you with unhappy customers that could also spread the word of your ineffectiveness, and thus also hinder your possibilities to attract new customers.

How any why does that happen?

Late Orders

First things first, if you are late to complete your order, you can expect the customers to be frustrated. People shop online because they want convenience, and part of that convenience lies in knowing when it is that their order will arrive.

If, thus, delivery is delayed, and especially if that hasn’t been properly communicated, you can expect frustration on the part of your customers, which could eventually lead to them not wanting to buy from you again.

Customers Left In The Dark

I’ve hinted at this above, but let me mention it again anyway. Customers are looking for convenience nowadays, and they want everything to be clearly communicated to them.

This is why you should not leave them in the dark and prevent them from being able to track their package, as that could undoubtedly decrease the chance of a repeat purchase.

When you click here, for example, you will realize that you can keep your customers properly informed at all times, while also doing something that’s good for the environment, that is, using sustainable last mile delivery services. All of that could potentially increase repeat business.

Order Errors

Of course, another reason why a poor fulfillment strategy could cost you repeat business is because you could wind up making order errors.

If you don’t have the right strategy in place, you will get all confused about the incoming orders and those that have to be delivered to different addresses. This goes especially if you suddenly start getting more orders, and you find yourself struggling to complete those orders.

Customers won’t be happy with the errors, which is why you should do your best to avoid them.

Your Shipping Costs May Be Too High

Here is another thing you should know. Your shipping costs may be too high, and that may be deterring your customers from returning to you, or from ordering in the first place.

And, to drive the costs down, you have to partner up with the right company that will provide you with the perfect order fulfillment services, especially last mile ones, while ensuring that they are offering reasonable fees.

A Complicated Return Process

One more thing. People could be unhappy with the complicated return process, and that could be the reason for them not coming back to do business with you again.

Clearly, thus, your fulfillment strategy has to involve a return process, and make it efficient, so as to keep your customers happy.

What To Do About It?

If you’ve noticed that this could be costing you repeat business, what to do? Well, in short, take time to get great order fulfillment services, especially last mile ones.

This way, you will ensure that the process will run smoothly and that your customers are happy with the experience, and ready to return to your shop again.

How can you get great last mile delivery services, though? The idea is, naturally, for you to find the right company that offers these.

So, research various ones in details, checking experience, reputation, quality of work, as well as the prices, and then making your final choice after comparing all the info you’ve found.