For many years, brick-and-mortar retailers who wished to be successful online merely had to focus on fulfilling orders correctly. Today, customers want orders processed and delivered as fast as they can click the submit button. Omnichannel retailers that have a thriving business often have a streamlined order fulfillment process for their online orders. Amazon Prime, the popular express shipping service, is one such example of meeting modern customers’ demands.
Inventory management, geo-routing, and automation are three ways to streamline the order fulfillment process. In this blog, we’ll explore how to implement these techniques in your warehouses and retail stores to ensure that your customers reap the benefits of an efficient order fulfillment process.
Improve Inventory Management for Order Fulfillment
At the very core of order fulfillment is inventory management. When retailers can’t accurately track how much of a given item is in stock, it becomes challenging to complete orders. This issue becomes an even greater challenge when retailers are selling both in-store, online and on third-party marketplaces and inventory is not synced in real-time between the various channels.
While most retailers today use electronic inventory management systems, not all have the technology to manage inventory across channels. Implementing an omnichannel retail inventory management solution can unify the inventory databases across online and offline channels easing the burden for retailers trying to process and complete transactions quickly. Omnichannel retail inventory management solutions provide real-time inventory counts, giving the customer assurance that the order will be filled.
Decrease Shipping Costs and Time with Geo-routing
Order fulfillment is expedited through geo-routing and shipment consolidation. When customers place an order online, geo-routing technology selects the store location nearest to them with the item in stock to fulfill the order. A sales associate from that store will package the order and have it prepared for delivery or in-store pickup, saving both time and shipping costs.
In the event that the item is not in stock at the nearest store, geo-routing technology will adapt to show other store locations.
Automate Order Fulfillment
While geo-routing saves time and costs, automation can provide greater ROI for retailers. New order fulfillment automation technologies, like the one our partner SQQUID offers, give retailers an advantage over their competitors when it comes to scaling the business.
Fulfillment automation can make shipping more efficient, simplify processes, and reduce costs for both retailers and customers. This is a welcome change for retailers who can now use their brick-and-mortar locations to fulfill orders, rather than having them shipped from a centralized warehouse. All-in-one order fulfillment solutions enable retailers to distribute shipments with the lowest shipping rates.
Additionally, automated order fulfillment can guarantee that inventory counts are accurate across channels, resulting in greater customer satisfaction. Linking inventory management, point-of-sale (POS), and fulfillment automation can be considered a winning formula for retailers who want to build a robust customer base and drive customer loyalty.
Runit offers a cloud-based integrated inventory management and POS system that enables retailers to manage orders across store locations from anywhere. Our system seamlessly integrates with SQQUID to manage online channels and automate order fulfillment, giving your retail business a comprehensive solution to drive customer satisfaction and facilitate business growth. To learn more about using Runit and SQQUID together, contact a member of our team today.
