Top 4 Fulfillment Pitfalls E-Commerce Brands Face and How to Avoid them?

Anybody who has ever worked in the e-commerce industry understands how challenging it can be to fill customer orders. It includes everything from the time an order is placed until it is delivered to the customer. Not to mention, it has a significant impact on the satisfaction of the client as a whole. 

The fulfillment process for online orders entails several stages, including receiving, packing, shipping, and delivery. In addition, there are likely to be stumbling blocks because there are so many procedures involved.

How Important is Fulfillment for an E-Commerce Store’s Success?

A Forbes article claims that the fulfillment process is the “epicenter” of e-success. commerce’s And with U.S. e-commerce sales alone expected to hit $1 trillion this 2022, a business without a robust fulfillment system will not get a part of this pie. 

Your company will fail if orders are not fulfilled. As the final piece of the customer experience puzzle, fulfillment deserves your undivided attention and resources. 

It is possible to lose customers if your e-commerce fulfillment process isn’t up to par. If an order is not delivered within two days of the scheduled date, 69% of customers say they will shop elsewhere in the future. 

If you want your e-commerce fulfillment process to succeed, you need to know how to avoid these common errors. Following is a list of the five most common fulfillment problems encountered by online retailers, along with suggestions for avoiding or resolving them.

Fulfillment Pitfall #1: Free Shipping Expectations or Misalignment with Shipping Fees

Did you know that as many as 75% of modern consumers count on receiving free shipping when they shop online? 

We can thank Amazon and Walmart, two of the largest e-commerce companies, for shaping this way of thinking. Obviously, they have the means to do so. 

However, new and growing e-commerce businesses can’t afford to provide free shipping to all customers. 

What happens then if a potential buyer has their hopes up for free shipment but is instead charged? There can be two scenarios: 

  1. The customer completes the purchase and views the shipping costs at checkout. This puts them off and they decide not to push through with the order. 
  2. The customer completes the whole shopping process—from adding items to their cart to completing the payment process—without once noticing the shipping expenses. They check the digital receipt and see the shipping expenses, so they decide to back out of the purchase. 

In both cases, e-commerce companies are finding it difficult to fulfill orders since they do not offer free shipping. So, how should we approach this problem?

Some potential approaches are listed below. 

  • You might add a small surcharge to your product prices to compensate for shipping costs. Many consumers are unlikely to notice a modest increase in price but will be aware of an additional shipping fee. According to fascinating research published by the Wharton School of Business, a discount of $10 seems less appealing than free shipping, even if it only saves the consumer $6.99. 
  • Depending on the situation and the criteria, you can offer free shipment. If you want to encourage additional sales, you may provide free delivery on all purchases that meet a certain threshold, such as a certain dollar amount or the number of things purchased. During busy times, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, or on significant anniversaries, like your store’s anniversary, you may give away shipping for free. 
  • Provide clear and accurate delivery pricing information. Clients are discouraged when they are hit with unexpected shipping fees. Avoid unpleasantness and confusion by discussing all fees upfront. Include a Shipping Cost Estimator in your shopping basket. Customers are less likely to abandon their carts and cancel orders if they can see the real charges before they buy. The mismatch can be reduced even further because this calculator displays pricing and delivery estimates per location.

 

Fulfillment Pitfall #2: Order Backlogs and Mismanagement of Inventory Logistics

Sales at Baloo Living skyrocketed after the company was featured in the media, leaving the proprietor rushing to keep up with demand. 

Aside from public attention, other sources of inventory shortages include unreliable suppliers or delivery delays. The truth is that stock-out issues are commonplace in the online retail industry. 

Of course, you want to sell. But when you sell more things than anticipated, that can potentially be a problem. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll have to keep your eager consumers waiting while you solve difficulties like running out of stock. 

While you can expect more products to arrive at some point, doing so may cause you to lose a sale in the meantime. It’s unlikely that customers would wait in line. Aside from the possibility of canceling their order, this may lead them to have a terrible customer experience. 

Can you give me some advice?

  • A well-organized stockpile. Observe the tendencies of your backorders. Consider how consumers have historically responded to a product’s price and availability to make educated guesses about where the market is headed. Managing stock effectively means never being short on necessities but also never having an abundance of stock on hand. 
  • Communicate. The satisfaction of your customers is still crucial to your business’s success. Just be forthright and explain the situation to your consumers so they know when to anticipate the product. If you’re prepared to wait, you can save money on certain brands, too. 
  • Streamline how you’re fulfilling orders. If you run a Shopify store, you should look into installing a Cart box –  Recover WooCommerce Abandoned Cart By WhatsApp Messages to help you save time and stay organized with your orders. Cartbox high level of efficiency stems from its flexible automation features. One app will tell you exactly what to do with everything in your house. 

 

Fulfillment Pitfall #3: Delivering Poor Customer Service

The likelihood of making a sale to an established customer is greater than that of making a sale to a new customer. Retention tactics are more financially viable because they save money. Poor customer service, meanwhile, may be costing businesses approximately $62 billion yearly. 

Additional examples of how subpar customer service can lead to disaster are as follows: 

  • After having several negative encounters with a brand, 78% of customers will look elsewhere. 
  • 61% of customers will immediately abandon a company after a single negative interaction with customer support. 

In the age of countless online retailers all vying for the same customers, success in the marketplace depends on providing exceptional service. The reason for this is that customers who shop online want instant gratification when they ask a question.

While it’s not always possible, you should aim to replicate the in-store experience as closely as possible for your online customers. Examine the following best methods: 

  • If your company doesn’t have its own support staff, at least make it simple for customers to ask inquiries in real-time. Then, make it such that they hear back from you before the end of the next work day. 
  • Chatbots can be integrated into a shop’s customer service to handle simple inquiries. The Frequently Asked Questions section should also be as comprehensive as feasible. 

When you have more customer service tickets or inquiries than you and your staff can handle, it may be time to consider outsourcing the task entirely. Because of this, you can stop worrying about the daily deluge of support inquiries and instead concentrate on expanding your business. 

What’s more, research has shown that 75% of consumers favor human service providers over automated ones. It’s been shown that automated phone systems that make it hard to get in touch with a human agent are the most frustrating component of the customer support experience for 56 percent of customers. 

You won’t have to stress over resources like manpower or training thanks to the availability of a dedicated support crew available at all hours. Instead, you may schedule regular meetings to discuss progress, make suggestions, and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Fulfillment Pitfall #4: Inability to Provide a Personalized Approach to Customers along Different Stages

Most e-commerce companies and digital marketers today understand that tailoring their services to each individual customer is essential to their success. 

After all, the statistics can’t be ignored: 

  • 80% of customers are more likely to make purchases from a company that offers unique services. 
  • 92% more people made a purchase after receiving personalized shopping cart recommendations. 

But, obviously, one may have too much of a good thing. Customers may become frustrated after being subjected to an excessive number of personalized advertisements. 

However, the war against targeted ads is only one of the customization landscapes. One-on-one interactions with clients of all funnel stages are more important.

Here are several ways to start: 

  • Divide your clientele into subsets defined by shared characteristics such as demographics, interests, purchasing habits, and the percentage of shopping carts they leave. The only limit is your own imagination. However, the more nuanced your subgroups, the more individualized your strategy will be. 
  • Those segments of your consumer base that are most likely to convert should be targeted differently. Offer them value, not just a generic email bombardment.

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As your company expands, it becomes even more crucial to guarantee a seamless client experience at every touchpoint. 

Despite the importance of customization, eCommerce businesses can benefit from a number of technologies that provide information about their customers that can be used to improve service by, for example, facilitating speedier purchases, more targeted marketing, and more streamlined order fulfillment. 

Combining this with first-rate assistance for customers will guarantee your company’s success. What will truly separate you from the competition is the quality of the customer service you provide.

Why Cartbox?

There are a number of practical functions available in WhatsApp. Cartbox is a robust omnichannel customer service platform with built-in WhatsApp advertising capabilities that helps you recover abandoned cart orders. Start Today With WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Plugin Free Demo

When it comes to marketing on WhatsApp, Cartbox is the only tool that has an API integration with WhatsApp Cloud. The Cartbox WooCommerce cart Abandoned recovery plugin notifies customers via WhatsApp if they leave items in their shopping cart but do not complete their transaction. If a customer abandons their shopping cart, the best time to contact them is immediately after they leave the site. 

This plugin will help you increase your revenue by converting customers who were about to pay but were delayed by things like not having a credit card on hand, a sluggish internet connection, or a knock on the door.

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