How to Reduce eCommerce Shipping Times

The key to improving the eCommerce customer experience is to resolve common eCommerce pain points during ordering and purchasing process. Customers have higher expectations than ever, which means that businesses need to provide a good experience from the moment customers click on your website to when your products land on their doorstep. One of the biggest eCommerce pain points involves long delivery times or shipping delays. In the era of two-day shipping from Amazon, and even next-day or same-day delivery, customers expect to receive their items soon after purchase. For smaller retailers, or retailers sending bulk shipments of large orders, such rapid delivery times may be impossible.

What’s a Retailer To Do?

Fortunately, there’s no need to panic if your business cannot match these rapid two-day delivery times.

One important step in preventing customers from getting upset over long shipping times or delayed shipments is to be upfront about your delivery expectations. Clearly communicate any delays or changes in the order fulfillment and shipping schedule as soon as possible.

However, shipping is the last stage of order fulfillment. Delays earlier in the order fulfillment process can result in missing or delayed shipments, and unhappy customers.

How to Streamline Your Order Fulfillment Process

The first step in improving your shipping times for online orders is to integrate your website and inventory management software so that your website has access to accurate inventory levels. This includes access to in-store inventory levels, if applicable. Ensuring your website has access to accurate inventory levels helps prevent undersells and oversells. It also prevents you from selling out-to-stock items to your customers so that you can fulfill orders promptly.

Rapid Order Fulfillment

Companies must also have systems in place so that they can put together orders as quickly as possible. Using software, orders placed online can flow almost instantly to your warehouse or manufacturing floor so that employees can assemble the orders quickly.

Using Software to Improve the Customer Experience

This type of rapid order fulfillment is only possible using software solutions that streamline communication across your entire business so that all departments and employees have access to the information they need to serve your customers.

Technological solutions have transformed the modern world in ways that extend far beyond eCommerce. While technology has transformed the way we live, work, and shop, it has also posed challenges, too. One of those challenges is that adopting these sorts of technological solutions is no longer optional for many businesses because they are competing in a world where their competitors use these same technologies to try and steal your clients.

Click here to see a short video on how a two-way sync between your website and your backend ERP software works.

How We Can Help

CertiPro is a full-service technology partner. We help companies address pain points in business operations using technology. We are a Sage Gold Development Partner specializing in Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage CRM, and Sage X3. We can help your company with a full Sage ERP implementation from start to finish, connecting all your departments to a single data hub and ensuring that everyone has access to the same up-to-date data. If you’re already a Sage user, our E-Link tool forms a two-way sync between Sage ERP and Magento to allow for rapid order fulfillment. Click here to contact us or set up a demo.