E-Commerce Fundamentals and Fulfillment
E-commerce or electronic commerce can be defined as the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet. E-Commerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations.
On the flip side however, site fundamentals still play a very large role in converting visitors into customers. Many retailers surprisingly lose sight of these site basics and leave significant sales on the table.
For proper implementation of e-commerce it is of immense importance to have an e-commerce site where one can get involved with the buying and selling of goods and services. To be successful, E-commerce site should contain a shopping cart system and a payment processing system.
Once your website has secured an order, you have to fulfill it. While the fulfillment of digital goods is usually handled online, the delivery of physical goods is handled in a “brick-and-mortar” world. When choosing a fulfillment company for your e-commerce operation, you need to evaluate both fulfillment services and e-commerce services for order processing.
Evaluating Fulfillment Services
Fulfillment services includes receiving, inventorying, warehousing, delivery, record-keeping and customer inquiries. You have options to outsource part of or all of fulfillment services to a third party.
Receiving – This is the process that fulfillment vendors acquire goods from suppliers and the accuracy of services starts at the receiving.
Inventorying – The skills of inventory management directly impact the quality and cost of fulfillment. If inventory is out of stock, you may lose customers. If inventory level is too high, it may increase the cost of inventory.
Warehousing – Physical goods are stored in a warehouse and valuable items are usually stored in secure storage. While fulfillment companies have their warehouses and distribution centers, small businesses can store goods in their garages or basements.
Shipping – For order fulfillment, goods are delivered to customers in various shipping methods – ground, overnight, etc. at fulfillment centers. Customers specify shipping methods when they place their orders and the fulfillment companies may adjust the shipping methods of the delivery.
Return and Order Inquiry – Customer Service Reps at fulfillment companies can handle return and refund for their clients. Most ecommerce sites allow customers to view their orders and status of fulfillment online.
Timely delivery is one aspect that requires careful attention. In fact, timely delivery is one of the three main dimensions of competitiveness, the others being quality and cost. Timely delivery is also dependent, like quality and cost, on productivity, managerial effectiveness and infrastructural support.
For e-commerce fulfillment, the use of high-class communication technologies is vital.