Manual errors only increase as you grow

With many ecommerce businesses still relying on manual fulfilment processes, it is no surprise that so many customers have experienced delivery failures.

A survey of over 8,000 ecommerce customers reveals that nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) have experienced a late or incorrect delivery, causing almost a quarter (23 per cent) of these customers to sever their ties with the retailer.

However, losing existing and potential customers, in addition to the time and money required to correct misshipments, are not the only costs your business incurs due to manual errors.

Consider the time your staff spends each day on, for instance, manually counting stock, updating inventory figures or checking invoices. Or the inefficiency of warehouse staff picking and packing items simply armed with a picking list. Then factor in the time it takes to double-check data and correct the inevitable manual errors.

As your business grows to hundreds or thousands of line items, the time spent on manual processes and correcting errors quickly becomes unsustainable.

How to reduce the cost of manual errors

To deliver faster, more consistent service and minimise manual errors, automation is a necessity – particularly as your business grows. This is where a modern order management system can help your business.

These systems are designed to eliminate manual processes by transforming how items are picked, labels are printed and orders are shipped. They remove the need for clunky spreadsheets and free up time by not only automating order fulfilment processes, but also inventory management and the tracking of customer orders.

With a cloud-based order fulfilment and warehouse management system like Access Mintsoft, you no longer need to manually monitor your online stores for orders coming in. The system centralises everything in one place so you can easily see all updates as orders are received, all the way through to shipments being despatched.

When it comes to order processing, order management and warehouse management systems allow your staff to pick and sort items quickly and easily with a barcode scanner. They also help you optimise warehouse space and automatically batch orders based on predefined rules and templates, helping increase picking efficiency and reduce manual errors.

Warehouse staff receive a real-time alert as soon as an order is placed, removing the need to manually send orders top them. And an order management system can automatically sync your stock levels and reorder inventory when stock falls below a certain threshold, ensuring customer orders can always be fulfilled.

Can I hear from one of your customers on the benefits of an Order Fulfillment and Warehouse Management solution?

Yes! Black Bear Fulfillment have a simple mission: To provide the high levels of fulfillment service to Australian customers, which they experienced as a former eCommerce seller in the US and UK. An eCommerce 3PL specialising in smaller consumer items, such as clothing and cosmetics, Black Bear Fulfillment are 100% Australian owned and operated. They are based in Melbourne and employ more than 40 people after launching just three years ago.

Unlike most 3PL’s they aren’t just focused on the logistics and warehousing side of the business, but also, importantly, the customer. Order fulfillment is about people as much as it is logistics, and they needed a software solution to help bring this customer-centric vision to life.

“I would recommend Mintsoft to anyone - except my competitors,” Mack Blunsom: Owner Operator, Black Bear Fulfillment. Watch the case study now.