Ecommerce and Oscommerce Fulfilling and Delivery

Solving fulfillment and delivery problems is essential in giving the customers what they expect. In theory you should be able to deliver anything via mail order. There's even a site in the USA which will send you a live shark by overnight courier. If it's possible to courier a whole shark intact to your front door, you would think it must be a piece of cake to fulfil and deliver an order for a pair of shoes, food item or even a piece of drain pipe. But even big online traders have gone into liquidation after three years online, despite having an order book filled to the brim. Why? Because of poor order fulfillment and an inability to deliver goods.

The problem for online retailers, is that, while fulfillment is the foundation of the operation, it's a financial and logistical nightmare. The internet has raised the bar for deliveries, pushing up customer expectations to the extent that 48 hour home delivery and even next and same day delivery are the standards. Just a few years ago, mail order companies could get away with offering a 28 day turnaround.

So why is delivery such a sore point? The fact is, most don't have control over delivery. They may have control over technology, marketing, and procurement, but delivery is an other matter. The big couriers are notably inflexible. In general, they like high volume deliveries during business hours and deep-pocketed business-to-business clients. Some are now beginning to adapt to ecommerce requirements, but smaller companies delivering and attempting to fulfil orders to the home are still at the bottom of the food chain.

Nevertheless, our much maligned Post Office isn't as bad as you might think it is. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, has said many times that the company owes much of its success in the UK to the reliability of our Post Office. A trip down to the high street might be just as effective as a courier.

With all this in mind, here are a few fulfillment tips based on a straw poll of small business ecommerce sites:
Ask other businesses who use mail order their opinion. If you are outsourcing fulfillment, be very careful in your choice of carrier. Check out delivery performance in all regions. Some have patchy service in some depots and, in general, service levels can fluctuate wildly over time. Benchmark with several home delivery companies before choosing a carrier. Include DHL, Fed Ex, Parcelforce and Parceline.

Don't go for the cheapest option. The cost of fighting poor service levels and dealing with unhappy customers just isn't worth it. Small, local carriers boasting "national distribution" might offer very competitive, cut-rate prices - but these can sometimes badly rebound. Some smaller, local operations can suffer from a shortage of drivers or vehicles at peak times.

Check the compensation clauses. Most carriers give themselves a let-out if products are perishable or breakable. Compensation is usually limited to refunding the delivery charge. Insure against breakages and loss. Don't make order fulfillment promises you can't keep. The shorter the time-frame to fulfil the order, the harder it is to guarantee delivery. Offer keen price incentives for flexible home delivery slots.

At Christmas and other peak periods, be ready for the fact that there will almost certainly be late deliveries, damaged deliveries or no deliveries at all. May be all three. Take extra precautions at peak periods. For instance, remove perishables from Christmas gift hampers and dispatch parcels in sufficient time to give the carrier a generous margin for error. Put simply, expect the worst and aim for the best. Set expectations you can realistically keep.

Offer alternative collection points. You can solve the fulfillment and delivery problem of unattended deliveries by using alternative drop-off schemes at post offices, garages, pubs and convenience stores. Typically, Collectpoint has struck agreements with over 70 online shops enabling them to offer their customers alternative drop-off options, for a small fee. The company currently has some 3,200 retail drop off points in the UK.

New auction bidding service AuctionAssist has struck a deal with the Post Office to allow its customers to drop off goods for auctioning in their local high street. This sort of convenience is growing, and if you're planning an ecommerce website, you should consider offering these flexible delivery alternatives.

Don't rely on technology, such as order tracking, to solve delivery problems. All this does is confirm that there is a fulfillment problem - most people will get on the 'phone and shout at you - not at the carrier - if delivery is late. Build a relationship with your local delivery drivers and regional depot managers. Make friends them and thank them when they exceed expectations. It shouldn't be necessary, but it is productive.

Keep your eye on services you outsource. Lots of companies are expanding their offerings to ecommerce companies. For instance, Parceline now offers (through partners) warehousing, order receiving and inventory management. In addition, the company's dedicated home delivery service offers evening (up to 9pm) and Saturday am home delivery. But be cautious. The more you outsource, the less control you have over the whole process.

Some couriers do offer their own software and label printing facilities to their customers. This can be of benefit to those who send out a lot of parcels. Remember to ask about this when you make your enquiries.