The global e-commerce market is huge.
In recent years, e-commerce sales have reached 1.55 trillion US dollars. But as the market grows and draws new players, you need more skills to attract customers to your store. One way to keep customers satisfied and get them coming back is to understand your e-commerce fulfillment.
If you don’t deal with e-commerce fulfillment difficulties now, they will only grow harder to fix as your
business thrives.
Read on to find out the biggest e-commerce fulfillment problems and how you can stop them in their tracks.
1. Problem: eCommerce Fulfillment Across International Borders
Getting orders from outside of your country is a mixed blessing.
On the one hand, it’s unbelievable that the internet allows you to target such a big market. The world is your bivalve! On the other hand, shipping products globally comes with tons of rules and paperwork. You need to calculate the various shipping fees and research the taxes and customs charges for each nation that you ship to.
Solution: Plan with a Database or Choose an eCommerce Fulfillment Provider
One way to make sure you’re available for the various charges you will encounter as you begin to ship globally is to plan for everything beforehand. While it may be time-consuming, developing an information database will ensure that you can set prices positively and not run into difficulties down the road. Or, if this seems a bit difficult, consider an e-commerce fulfillment service provider. They will be able to provide you with all the charge and import fee information you need.
2. Problem: Administrative Errors Chip Away at Customer Trust
Shipping products is complex. Getting an item from the warehouse to the customer’s front door needs a lot of coordination over a vast network. Any small mistake along the way can lead to a void order and an unsatisfied consumer. And, the more complaints you get, the fewer people will trust your business.
Solution: Improve Employee Training
The good thing about administrative mistakes is that you can get relieved of them in no time, provided everyone in your organization is ready to put in the effort. Make sure operators know the costs to the company of these flaws. Consider putting in place procedures to make sure these mistakes aren’t repeated.
3. Problem: Wrong Tracking Codes
Customers choose to receive tracking codes because they know when to expect their package to reach. If the shipping code you offer them doesn’t work, they are going to be frustrated.
Solution: Always Test Your Codes
This e-commerce fulfillment difficulty is standard but simply solvable. Make sure that every code is tested before it is passed on to the customer. Even if this implies you can’t provide a code right at checkout, it is more critical that customers get the correct code. They will be more fulfilled in the long run.
Conclusion
Use tracking codes, but know how the systems of your shipping partners work and make sure you are not building confusion by auto-emailing customers before their tracking codes are working on public tracking services.