Understanding the Importance of Automation in Fulfilment
There’s something rather exhilarating about watching hundreds of little packages zipping around on conveyor belts - slightly reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, minus the golden tickets and slightly unsettling Oompa Loompas. The 21st century’s taken a shine to automation, especially in fulfilment processes where humans would otherwise struggle to keep pace with those daunting order volumes. I mean, how else do you think Santa gets so many presents delivered in one night. But jokes aside, automating fulfilment is an efficient way to cut costs, save time and resources, and focus on what’s important - running your business.
But it’s not just about swapping out your employees for robots - although that would be rather entertaining to watch. Automation can look like anything from introducing bots into your logistics or warehouse management to investing in sophisticated inventory software for easier tracking. And it seems quite a few businesses have cottoned on to this because there’s been a steady rise in companies opting for automated systems over the last decade.
This has got some people worrying about mass unemployment - but if you ask me, I think there are more things that threaten our jobs than machines that make package handling easier. When you introduce automated workflows to a business, your team isn’t weighed down by repetitive tasks that drain them of their precious brain cells. Instead, they’re spending more time on what really matters like customer satisfaction or even strategising ways to bring more money into the business.
Even if you’re only using automation in one area like picking and packing orders, you’re still saving your team hours of busywork that could be put towards literally anything else. And while I understand why some people might be a bit wary of machines taking over their job (hello Terminator), we’ve yet to see some robot from Amazon suddenly decide it wants a raise and go on strike when it doesn’t get one. So maybe let them do all the heavy lifting for now.
Key Workflows for Streamlining Order Processing
Sometimes it feels like the robots are already running things. Automation is already being harnessed in new and exciting ways, in warehouses and businesses all over the world. And with the pressure of trying to keep up with demand, keeping customers happy, and just trying to keep a business afloat in the post-pandemic world, it’s not surprising that more and more businesses are generally turning to automation as a way to streamline their order processing.
Automating key workflows can save you time and money, by taking care of important tasks for you. Like checking your inventory to make sure you have enough stock to fulfil an order, updating your team members about upcoming orders or orders that need attention, or checking in with a supplier for when you need to restock popular items. More or less. All of these workflows can be automated so that you can focus on your customers and business development - rather than endless admin and paperwork.
Sort of. While these workflows might look slightly different depending on your warehouse needs, and the products you’re fulfilling, you can identify them by looking at the tasks that happen regularly or cyclically. The way I see it, if there’s something that happens every time an order is placed, or at specific intervals - then there’s likely an automation workflow that could replace manual processes.
But automating can often seem overwhelming when we look at all of the things we do that could be replaced by robots, but even automating simple tasks in the warehouse can drastically reduce your costs, save valuable time, and increase productivity overall. And whether it’s a fully-automated operation or you’re simply looking for ways to reduce admin time for your workers - there’s likely an easy-to-use workflow automation solution for your needs.
Enhancing Inventory Management through Automation
I Suppose you know how when you walk into a shop and some shelves are so full you're scared to reach for anything in case the whole thing comes tumbling down. While others look like they've just been looted, not a single item you wanted in sight. That's the sort of dystopian shopping experience we're all trying to avoid, no.
There's so much to be said for automating inventory management, but more than anything, it's about finding that sweet spot - the one where the shelves are typically always pleasingly stocked but never overflowing. And obviously, that's easier said than done. With automation workflows, brands can now track inventory levels in real time and get notified whenever stocks are running low or selling out faster than expected. This goes a long way in easing customer experience, but also allows brands to manage their orders better and reduce the risk of a hundred cancelled orders stacking up.
Even returns become easier with automated tracking, as items can nearly always be returned to inventory (or not) based on their condition or other factors determined by the brand. One thing that's often overlooked is how much better customer reviews get when simple problems like these aren't allowed to slip through the cracks. On the other hand, if it takes time for a brand to realise they're out of stock and not enough action is taken quickly enough, those negative reviews aren't going away anytime soon either. I mean we're all still human behind computer screens and phone apps - there are sometimes bound to be slip ups even with automations in place.
It's important for brands and retailers alike to remember that while automations make life easier and business more efficient, they're also not the end-all fix-it solutions we sometimes make them out to be.
Automating Customer Communication for Better Engagement
Seems like everyone wants to talk about how chatbots are taking our jobs, but I think they’re missing the point. Automation in customer communication is about helping us do the work we can’t do alone. If you’re running a growing business, you can’t possibly get back to every customer query within minutes of receiving it.
The trouble is, customers expect instant responses. Automating your customer communications can help fill the gaps. More or less.
There’s no point in scaling without also automating communication - not if you want to stay on top of things anyway. While there’s still nothing quite like a human touch, automation can be used to facilitate better communication - even if you’re not always the one talking. I think it’s become increasingly important as most businesses transition to ecommerce.
One of the biggest challenges in communication is staying consistent - saying the right thing at the right time. You know where else that applies. Marketing. When you automate your communications, you make sure your marketing is kind of on point too.
It’s that easy. Well, sort of. Automating your comms doesn’t mean leaving your customers to machines and hoping for the best though.
You do need to find a balance between what you want to say and what customers want to hear - so there’s still room for both nuance and growth (imagine that). Because automation works both ways - for you and your customers.
Integrating Shipping Solutions for Faster Deliveries
It is a fairly universal truth that after someone orders something, they want it delivered to them as soon as possible. Fulfilling this desire for instant gratification can be made easier by integrating shipping solutions to support the fulfilment process. I Think These integrated shipping solutions help businesses automate their entire fulfilment process, removing stress and confusion from manual processes. It has never been easier to print a label or organise a pick-up with platforms like Starshipit which will automatically generate labels and manage order tracking information for you.
It can even send out an email with tracking details automatically so that customers feel included in the process - which can only be a good thing. Having a seamless automated process for sending out orders reduces human error, prevents things from getting lost and allows the customer to access their order status 24/7. With Starshipit you even get access to over 50 couriers so your customers are able to pick who delivers their package, all at better shipping rates.
If you sell through Shopify, eBay or Amazon you’re probably aware of how helpful these e-commerce platforms are sort of - especially when you have your fulfilment and shipping software plugged into the same system. This makes it easy for everything to work together and helps create a more streamlined system that allows you to grow your business - but also make your customer’s lives better. More or less.
This is ultimately what any business hopes for - satisfied, happy customers who will keep coming back because your service is simply unbeatable. Shipping can either make or break an online purchase for many people so using an integrated shipping software could be the best thing you do for your business this year.
Measuring Success: KPIs for Automated Fulfilment Workflows
I find most fashion businesses have a tendency to focus entirely on the here and now, sort of forgetting to track what’s been done and how it’s worked out. The biggest issue with this is that we lose sight of what went well - and importantly, what didn’t. Measuring success becomes sort of impossible when there are evidently no benchmarks or key performance indicators, especially for something as vital as order fulfilment.
Sort of. KPIs become the thing that help us know if we’re moving in the right direction. For instance, monitoring your order accuracy rate can sometimes tell you if you’re sending the right products to your customers, improving their satisfaction.
Another important thing to track is your order cycle time - if this is getting shorter, it means you’re getting more efficient at fulfilling your orders. And for subscription brands, understanding customer lifetime value can help you estimate future revenue for financial forecasting. I’ve noticed most business owners aren’t really tracking returns processing time but this is incredibly helpful for identifying inefficiencies.
Once you look at this data along with things like customer satisfaction score and first response time to communications, it can become fairly obvious where improvements are needed. Or sometimes, these show us where we’re already doing well so that we can double down on those processes. Here’s the thing: most people only track these sorts of metrics before automation.
This means they never see how much value their automation actually brings them - which is quite the oversight. Tracking these KPIs once automation has been set up gives insight into whether or not changes are required in your automated workflow so that you can keep achieving success over and over again.