In the last installment of this 10-part series, I focus on emerging technologies and trends that will shape fulfillment in the coming months and years. These innovations enable merchants to fulfill orders faster while reducing costs, especially in the last mile and warehouse operations. Many large e-commerce merchants have started to adopt these technologies, and…
Manish Chowdhary
In the past four months, we’ve covered nearly 50 unique strategies for making free shipping profitable, from pricing mechanisms and outsourcing to managing returns. In part nine of this series, we’ll focus on tweaks you can make in your operations to optimize your costs further. (Here are parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight of this series.) 1. Downsize your…
Returns are a fact of life in retail. The downside of online retail for customers is that they don't get to see and feel the product before purchase. That’s why e-commerce has three times more returns compared to brick-and-mortar retail. In the age of free shipping, returns hit merchants harder. In part eight of this 10-part series,…
Less than two weeks ago, Amazon.com's Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) community was shaken by the online retailer's decision to restrict the kinds of inventory it’s receiving until April 5, 2020. Shipments of inventory turned away, and many FBA sellers left to fend for themselves during the COVID-19 crisis. Many sellers that still have FBA inventory…
There are hidden costs in order fulfillment that can be minimized or eliminated by streamlining your supply chain. Options such as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) and ship-from-store are increasingly popular among merchants as lower-cost fulfillment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Any cost reduction within the supply chain can ease the burden of offering…
The global e-commerce market is booming, and it’s growing faster than the more-saturated U.S. market. Global e-commerce sales increased 20.7 percent last year, surpassing the 14.9 percent growth in the U.S. With such incredible growth numbers, perhaps it’s time to assess how domestic merchants can expand further and tap into international customers. In the past,…
Online shoppers weren’t really asking for free two-day delivery until Amazon.com made it available as part of its Prime membership in February 2005. That moment changed the e-commerce world forever. Amazon is at it again, now getting its customers addicted to free one-day delivery. Living up to this free and fast shipping expectation through your…
Whether you’re a brand or a retailer, the internet is a crowded place to sell things. You're constantly fighting for coveted shopper attention in your emails, ads and paid Instagram posts. Once you have a visitor’s attention, it’s about nailing that conversion to a paid customer. Free shipping could be just the thing to bring…
You might not be familiar with or using all the services that your carrier offers in determining how best to ship your orders. By picking the best service for each type of order, you can cut down on your shipping spend and make free shipping less of a burden. In the third part of this…
The internet has made price comparisons very easy for consumers. This has compelled many merchants to compete aggressively on price. Often the lowest price wins the Buy Box on marketplaces such as Amazon.com and comparison shopping sites like Google Shopping and PriceGrabber. This puts immense pressure on sellers to set a “just right” price that's…
Free and fast shipping is the name of the game now. It has become a table stakes to satisfy your online customers. While shipping may be free for the customer, merchants have to absorb the costs. But the question remains: How can you do it profitably? We've put together the ultimate collection of strategies and…
Seeing the success of Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), many marketplaces and e-commerce platforms are racing to build their own fulfillment networks. No doubt, it’s great to have free and fast shipping in all channels, but at what cost? Do these marketplaces have their sellers’ best interests at heart? When third-party sellers began selling online, the…
FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service provide their customers with real-time shipment updates. They also give merchants access to many shipping service types — e.g., next-day, two-day, three-day, ground, and more. Similarly, online retailers can and should offer shipping choices to their customers. For example, Amazon.com, the king of e-commerce fulfillment, gives customers multiple…
Most retailers put a lot of time and effort into attracting new customers. It makes sense: you need customers to buy your products and sustain your business. However, generating more sales from existing customers is a more efficient, less expensive way to grow. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 percent to…
Leading analysts like Forrester and Deloitte predict that online retail sales in both November and December will increase double-digits year-over-year. This might come at a steep price for smaller retailers however because of increased competition among merchants in the form of aggressive discounting, free shipping and other promotional offers. With holiday sales accounting for as much as 30 percent of total annual revenue for some businesses, it's time for e-commerce merchants to up their game.
