One of the things you should really work on is your order fulfillment system.

An order fulfillment system is where all your orders are received, processed, transported and delivered to the receiving-end customers.

The quality of your order fulfillment separates the line between customers review like, “This is one of the best stores ever! They have the best product, and they deliver well! Will buy again!” and “This is one of the most horrible stores I’ve ever seen! Product lost! Won’t buy again!!!” If you happen to accumulate the second comment more than the first, you’re sure to close in no time.

Your solution? Simple. Make your order fulfillment system as efficient and reliable as possible. How do you that? Here are our 6 expert tips:

1. Promise less, deliver more

It’s better you promise less but able to fulfill it than over-promising value which you can’t deliver.

Have an honest look at your current order fulfillment system and see how can you really deliver (or if you even deliver at all). Assuming you have a good order fulfillment system, give a promise based on what you have now.

The thing is, it’s always about customer perspective: if you give less than they expected, they’ll be disappointed. If you give as what they expect or even more, they’ll be satisfied and happy to be your customer again. If you keep over-promising than what you are currently capable of, you’re bound to give them expectations so big that you can’t deliver it, making them disappointed at you – and they’ll look for another store instead.

If you’re thinking about your order fulfillment system, you can always improve it. You’ll learn in the next pointers about some tips on how you can do that.

2. Monitor your demand for maximum efficiency

Have an effective demand management system that will check your customers’ demand and forecast when the demand will rise and when it will fall.

Once you have an accurate or almost accurate forecast (forecasting is not meant to be 100% accurate, anyway), you’ll know when to raise your order fulfillment’s bar and when to lower it. If you keep engaging your fulfillment system to the maximum, you’ll exhaust your system and your business.

You must learn your customers’ demand, specifically when they occur. Your job as a business, anyway, is to meet their demand.

3. Partner with the best delivery carriers

This sounds obvious, but still needs to be mentioned. Partner with the best delivery carriers if you want to maximize your delivery system. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, though.

For one, think of the costs you will incur if you partner with a certain carrier. The better and more-famed a carrier is, the costly they can be. They may offer discounts, of course, but still keep your costs in check.

Also, you should review your carrier well. Just because a carrier is famous doesn’t mean it’s the best. Some famous carriers have bad reputation, usually coming from receiving-end customers themselves. You don’t want your product to be delivered by that carrier!

Partner with the best carriers, but consider the cost and do some research first.

4. Replace lost or damaged goods

You can’t avoid some of your products getting lost or being damaged during the delivery process. Inasmuch as it hurts your business, the only thing you can do is to replace them.

Will it incur some expense on your part? Of course. But that’s way better than having a growing number of customers ranting on your poor delivery, then warning others off not to buy on your business because you don’t deliver well.

At the least, replacing your customer’s product will save your reputation. But ensure these things won’t happen again.

5. Have a responsive customer service

Customers would be very happy if they can reach to you should they have questions or problems about their product or its whereabouts.

Having a responsive customer service will not only protect your business reputation; it can also help you gain repeat customers by building relationship with then. When you don’t have one, your business will look shady – it may look as if it’s a scam. Nobody wants to make business to a store which you can’t even talk to!

Once you have a customer service in place, make sure it is responsive, polite and properly trained to handle your customers – even the unreasonable ones!

6. Periodically reassess your order fulfillment system

This should apply to all your business system. Reassess your systems from time-to-time to see what works and what isn’t.

In the case of your order fulfillment system, assess how much did you deliver, and work to improve them.

Most importantly, assess how many products you lost, damaged or didn’t deliver, and find ways to avoid these mishaps.

Conclusion

Your order fulfillment system probably didn’t came first to your mind when you think of your business, but now you should. Do not compromise this factor because this can make or break or business, as we already explained above.

If you’re looking for someone who can help you with your order fulfillment system, Fulfillmen can help you with that!

Priding as the “best Chinese fulfillment center”, we ensure our systems will deliver your products well to your receiving-end customers. We also work on other E-commerce, Third Party Logistics, Dropshipping and Fulfillment needs.

At Fulfillmen, we basically think like your customers: that way, we get to see your real advantage and how much can you improve to maximize your potential.

Should you want to know more about what we can do for you, our team of experts will happily help in assisting you. Contact us now to learn more!