If you are a web retailer, getting the order through internet just the first step. After you receive the order, you need to establish a process to fulfil the order in the least possible duration of time and the least expenditure.
A good order processing mechanism should address three primary sectors of fulfilment:
• Is the product available that you just sold?
• Can you deliver the product out in as shortest time as possible?
• Are you able to fulfil the order completely and correctly?
In this blog, we recommend you the most common and globally accepted steps for order processing services. Based on your region of operation or on your best function, you can alter the process.
1. Check for Inventory Availability
The moment you receive an order, you need to check if the product is available in stock. You can do this by physically checking through your distribution center racks. A somewhat increasingly effective way would be to maintain a spreadsheet with stock quantities that you update frequently. When you get an order, just going through the spreadsheet will let you know if you have a specific product in stock or not.
If you get to know that you do not have the product available, you have a few options. Check if your supplier can restock the product quickly. You can speak with the client and inquire as to whether they approve of the item being deferred marginally A deliberately worded email with this impact can get you positive outcomes. You can express that your item was famous to the point that it came up short on stock too rapidly and you plan to have the option to satisfy it whenever around.
Keep in mind, in the event that you are compelled to cancel an order from a first-time client without insinuating them first, they may never shop from you again. In such situations where you have no methods of communicating them, it is a smart idea to offer a gift coupon as a token of apology, well beyond their standard discount to trigger a recurrent buy.
Of course, to avoid such issues altogether, we recommend to outsource order processing.
2. Creating a Pick List
When it is confirmed that you have Inventory to your orders, you can decide to process each request independently and make a trip to the distribution centers several times for the same product, or you may create a Pick List and select all the products simultaneously, and afterward sort them later.
Make a Schedule: Processing all orders of the day may be completed at two points of time - orders received earlier than midday can be processed at 2 PM and those received post noon can be processed at 6 PM. These are simply speculative numbers - utilize two picking times that fall directly after the surge deal period for your business.
Your pick rundown will make reference to the quantity of things of every sort that should be picked, and the request number they relate to. For this situation, there are three mats and two stockpiling racks, coordinated to their individual request numbers. The individual working in the stockroom would now be able to evacuate each of the three mats and two stockpiling racks simultaneously, rather than making various outings
3.Sort and Pack Orders
Since we are finished with the pick lists, we are going on to the process of sorting products based on the requests they belong to. Arranging the orders is generally done on the base of Packing Slips - each Packing slip is a document that represents all the products of one single order. You will now go ahead and arrange empty boxes with one packing slip per box. Start selecting products based on the Packing Slip from the trolley which got here with the list and add products to the packing containers. This acts as a countercheck to prevent the incorrect item being packed.
The orders are actually physically equipped for packaging and shipping.
4. Packaging and Invoicing
The order products are sorted into their separate boxes now need to go into real boxes. Depending on which logistics partner you like, the guidelines from standard boxes vary. In fact, FedEx even gives boxes that you can pre-request to keep away from the problem of agreeing to their size limitations.
Packaging, nevertheless is not only about the boxes. Depending on the products you will be dispatching, you have to to safeguard them with bubble wrap, or layers of waterproof protection. For the over the top expensive things, it is beneficial to consider transporting protection so you don't endure misfortunes.
When you have decided on your package, place the order products in it. In the United States of America, it is not mandatory to print a receipt and include it in it for the shipment up to a computerized duplicate is given to the client.
But, when you deliver internationally, some nations expect you to print invoices and without one, the nearby Customs may append a discretionary cost to the items which the client will at that point need to pay an expense on. Do find out progressively about what the best practice would be for your territory of activity and follow that reliably.
After all the items (and the order invoice if required) are included in the package, seal it properly.
Invoices should commonly correspond to all products within a box and in case you are splitting orders into various shipments, then the invoices need to be break up as well. You can print delivery labels from your transport partner’s website, and you then have to stick these on the package. Now the order is ready to be dispatched.
5.Shipping, Tracking, and Returns
Usually, the logistics partner collects the packages from your distribution center or store once you have purchased the label online or set forth them about the shipment being prepared. Else, in the event that you have a substitute concurrence with your shipper, you can drop the shipments off at a middle assigned for the equivalent by your delivery accomplice.
When they get your bundles, your shipper will give you a reference number for that shipment. You can utilize this number to follow the package until it is conveyed.
Automation of Order Processing Services is Critical
There are numerous steps involved in order processing and each of the steps ought to be without any error or blunder to ensure a smooth function. A decent request and stock administration framework can assist you streamlining order processing services.
One, because an amazing order management machine is integrated along with your sales channels, it tracks inventory dynamically. Two, it permit you to integrate with transport companions and compare expenses for each shipment. Three, it tracks a product till it is delivered, again or replaced, so your inventory is always up to date accurately. Four, when you consider that all invoices are consolidated inside the order control gadget, accounting turns into easier too.
