The effort it takes to fulfill wholesale orders can be challenging and time-consuming. By employing the proper order fulfillment strategies, however, you can meet these challenges head-on, saving your company time and money.
While some smaller wholesalers hire third-party order fulfillment companies to manage and fill their orders, many choose to do it themselves. If you have chosen to manage your own order fulfillment, there are some strategies that you should be aware of.
The right order management software is essential
When researching, it is a good idea to evaluate the offered features and compare them with the unique needs of your customers and your business. Whenever possible, choose software that streamlines the entire ordering process in order to increase efficiency. Since the ordering process actually begins with your customers selecting the products that they wish to purchase and ends with them receiving their shipment and you getting paid, software that integrates orders that are placed by your wholesale customers or sales staff with your QuickBooks software and your warehouse inventory software can reduce the risk of time-consuming, costly errors.
Automation is key when fulfilling orders
Since errors and miscommunication often occur when human input is involved, not to mention the fact that manual data entry is much more time-consuming, the more your order fulfillment process is automated, the more accurate and efficient your system will be. Consider selecting an online platform that enables seamless automation and ultimately allows your sales team and management personnel to interact.
Real-time information is essential
It is often essential for wholesale customers and sales reps to be able to view real-time inventory and product availability to place orders effectively and for those orders to be filled accurately as well. When your order fulfillment process uses order management software that integrates with your back-end system, like QuickBooks, the information in each will be much more accurate.
Timing and accuracy are important
Order management software enables your customers, your sales team, and your management personnel to view order details and the status of orders and track their shipments in order to prevent costly errors or delays.
Organization matters
Part of the order fulfillment process is physically "picking" the orders from the warehouse. When you consider the extra time it takes for warehouse personnel to search for products throughout an entire warehouse, you will most likely understand how important the organization of your products can be. Imagine how much simpler it would be if you knew which products were commonly purchased together and could place them strategically in your warehouse. Consider a strategy for grouping your items in the warehouse more efficiently by empowering your warehouse workers to organize the products the way they see fit, based on their experience.
Getting paid
Billing is one of the most crucial (and time-consuming) aspects of order fulfillment. An accurate invoicing process is vital since payment and cash flow are so important. While it is certainly possible for you to hire individuals to process your invoices manually, the practice of doing so is not recommended. Consider using software that integrates with your QuickBooks database and reduces data entry. Doing so will not only enable your staff to spend their valuable time on more important tasks (like recruiting new customers or building upon existing customer relationships), but it will improve accuracy as well.
If you’d like a deeper understanding of integrating your order processing with QuickBooks, contact Now Commerce for a demo today.
