3 eCommerce Shipping Tips

Shipping has become an essential part of the online shopping world. As companies keep on raising the standard, by offering same-day or next-day delivery, customer expectations grow. For many eCommerce companies, keeping up with the new pace is hard. However, in an ever-changing world of fulfillment and shipping, it is important that companies get ahead of the game. We give you three tips about how an ERP system can help out with streamlining shipping operations.

1. Offer Quick Delivery

Offering quick and cheap delivery is key to successful eCommerce.Recent research has shown that more than half of the buyers leave their shopping cart if shipping costs are too high, and 39% abandons the cart if free shipping is not offered. However, 43% of retailers have seen their revenue increase by offering additional shipping choices.

The main rule seems to be: the faster you can get your goods out of your warehouse and into the customer’s hands, the better. Companies like Amazon are raising the bar by offering same-day shipping, which changes the customer’s expectations for other companies as well. Retailers need to make changes to their backend supply chain in order to keep up.

An ERP system can help to facilitate all processes that are needed to ensure quick deliveries. Marello makes sure products get to customers as quickly as possible by determining the shortest routes from warehouses to consumers. We will describe this logic in a later blog.

2. Allow Omni-Channel eCommerce Shipping

For eCommerce businesses that also have brick-and-mortar stores, shipping from or to a store can be an interesting option. It offers convenience for the consumer as well as for the business. First of all, studies show that 59% of shoppers want to pick up their orders at stores, if the store is close by, or if they perceive that the delivery fee for picking up in-store is cheaper. Also, recent ICSC research shows that 69% of customers coming to a store, buy more goods while they are there. Omnichannel inventory visibility is a win-win for all parties involved.

This means that ERP systems need to show what products are available in stores. In that way, it can easily be determined whether an item needs to be shipped to a store, or whether a shop assistant can set a product aside in-store.

3. Support Easy Returns

In one of our previous blogs we discussed how dealing with return and refund management can be a time-consuming task. With at least 30% of all products being returned it has become an important part of the business. Yet returns should not be seen as a problem. Instead, they should be seen as a chance to improve retailing.

Enabling easy returns does not only increase customer satisfaction but also enables items to be up for sale as quickly as possible. This means that items that are being returned should be sent back to the nearest warehouse. By setting up workflows in Marello, return and refund processes can be handled more efficiently and effectively.

Use the Right System

The first step in shipping excellence is an investment in ERP. With Marello, you’ll have optimal insight into your inventory, orders and returns. And a comprehensive solution like Marello gives you not only increased visibility but also workflow automation, such as the shortest shipping route logic.

Want to know more about Marello’s shipping options? We’d be happy to be in touch!