You can have the best products in the world on your website, and you can have the best marketing to go along with them, but unless you’ve also got a good process in place to send those items to your customers, you’re going to fall down at the last hurdle. If a customer places an order it won’t matter how great everything was up until that point – they’re not going to be happy overall if their order doesn’t arrive on time (or at all), or it’s not in good condition when it does get to them.
That’s why it’s so important to make sure you send your products in the best way, and make sure your processes are good ones and all in place before you get started – remember, a customer is usually going to remember the last interaction they had with you more than anything else, and if that was negative because they didn’t get what they ordered in some way, your reputation (and profits) is going to suffer. So let’s go ahead and look at how to send your products in the best way to stop that problem from ever happening.
Get Your Supply Chain Logistics Right
Supply chain logistics is what makes everything happen – it all starts with you getting this bit right, and everything should just stem from there. So it makes sense to work on this aspect of your business before anything else – it might be that once your supply chain is good, everything else falls into place, and that’s going to save you time and effort, which is always a positive if you can make it happen.
When you’ve got the right supply chain management in place that’s efficient and productive, you’ll save time on your deliveries (which is bound to make customers happy – although be aware that just because getting something to someone sooner than you said might seem like a good idea in practice, if it’s something they need to wait in for and sign for, it’s not great), lower your costs, and make your customers happier overall. Plus, if you work on your supply chain (or, even better, outsource the entire thing), you’ll have to hold less stock because you’ll know exactly when to order more so you never run out, and that can be great when it comes to saving all-important space which could be at a premium.
Use Technology
Everything above, as well as plenty we’ve not yet talked about, can be achieved with technology, so checking that out and making sure you’ve got what you need in terms of tech is vital – once again, it could solve a lot of problems in one fell swoop.
There are all kinds of software solutions that can help make sending products to customers easier, and it’s all going to depend on your budget as well as the specific needs that come with your industry – there might be different regulations to follow, for example. Warehouse management systems, inventory management systems, and automated order processing are all potential ideas for you to consider if you want your business to run as smoothly as possible.
Package Well
Once you’ve got everything in place to actually send the products out, you might think that’s the problem dealt with – your customers are sure to be ecstatic over how organized you are! Well, they will in part, but there’s something else you need to get right too – your packaging. Packaging plays a massive role in the shipping process, and having well-designed packaging isn’t just something that protects the products as they get moved around, but it can also make receiving the products a lot more fun and more of an experience for your customers – that could be what sets you apart from all the rest, by the way.
One thing you must do is make sure the packaging you use is the right size for whatever it is you’re sending because that’s going to make it cheaper and help to minimize waste at the same time. Too many boxes or massive boxes with loads of packaging material inside for a small product won’t be impressive – it’ll cost you (and your customer) more, and it could well annoy them because they’ve got to deal with the waste. If you can find packaging that fits your products and keeps them safe, that’s a much better option.
You should also look for eco-friendly packaging and use it wherever you can – again, it can make quite a difference! Even if there is a lot of it because you want the products to stay safe, customers won’t be quite so irritated because at least it’s not an environmental issue. Add your company logo and you’ve got everything you need to make your customers happy and keep your products protected.
Same Day And Next Day
No one wants to wait for their goods to arrive these days, and most of the time, they won’t have to – we all know there are online stores that can get you whatever you’ve ordered the very next day, and sometimes on the same day (depending on the time you order and what you’ve ordered, of course).
Now, there’s a lot to be said for waiting and being patient, and in some cases, customers will be more than happy to do that if the item is something they can’t get elsewhere or they don’t need it urgently. However, we’ve also all been a bit spoiled because we know we can get things so quickly, so it might be wise to look into whether or not next day shipping (if not same day, which has its own set of logistical problems and might not be possible) could work for your business. Imagine if you were able to offer that option to customers – just think how much more they’d want to use your business if they knew you could get things to them quickly and without them having to pay for the privilege…
Usefully, next day deliveries aren’t something that’s always expected of smaller businesses, but as time goes on, more and more people will ask for it, so it could be worth putting in place now.