OVERVIEW

Better later than never, but better never late.

Anonymous

Sometimes e-commerce businesses forget that the Internet is just another channel from which business can be conducted. Granted it is unique in some ways, but many of the same rules apply, especially when it comes to logistics and order fulfillment.

One of the last functions in the chain of customer-centric processes is the fulfillment of the customer s order. Ensuring that the customer s order is picked, packed, and shipped accurately is the final step in the typical online shopping process.

As online sales continue to explode three factors put new pressures on a website s order fulfillment systems:

• The expansion of the product line offered to the online customer.

• The necessity of moving a large volume of small packages at breakneck speed.

• The task of meeting ever-growing customer expectations.

Websites that don t address order fulfillment with the same energy as they jumped into the role of online selling will find themselves fighting an uphill battle for customer loyalty. E-commerce business can meet these demands by immediately taking the necessary steps to develop a fail-safe fulfillment system that delivers end-to-end logistics, i.e., package visibility and service continuity from the buy button to the final destination.

End-to-end logistics consist of three basic tenets:

• Empower your customers by keeping them informed and by providing self-service solutions that apply to common fulfillment issues.

• Stay focused on the quality and availability of the product.

• Speedy delivery of the product to the customer.

Running a sophisticated e-commerce...