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How improving your order processing boosts your growth

June 08

How improving your order processing boosts your growth
What’s the most important part of an ecommerce company?

It’s difficult to pinpoint just one thing which shines above the rest - but if you ask any marketing or ecommerce manager, they’ll stress the importance of making sure your order processing is up to scratch.

Not only does it put your name in good standing to your customers, it also helps you reduce costs and boost profit margins.

So what is order processing, and how does improving it help your growth?

What is order processing?

Order processing is the workflow which follows an order through every step of the process, from when your customer selects ‘purchase’ to the picking, packing, and shipping of a product.

It’s a critical element of overall order fulfilment, ensuring orders are correctly placed and sent to the right place. But depending on your business, the process may be different.

For larger companies, that could mean owning warehouses and operating their packing process, but outsourcing delivery. And for SMEs, it could mean outsourcing completely to a third-party logistics company (3PL) which handles all of its fulfilment.

It sounds obvious that improving your order processing has net benefits for your business. But what exactly are those benefits? And how can you achieve better order processing?

More efficient operation

By improving your order processing, you’re ensuring the pipeline from when an order is placed to when it’s delivered is tightened and refined.

Previously, orders may have been slipping through the cracks or you might not have been running at maximum efficiency, leading to problems such as picking and packing taking longer than it should.

Improving this part of your business can get those cogs working perfectly again. Efficiency means productive and knowledgeable workers, seamless integrations, and a fulfilment partner with the insight and systems to back you up.

Increased customer satisfaction

Keeping the customer happy is an ecommerce company’s top priority. It’s what feeds into your success, from your profits to the general trust people have in your business.

But satisfying your customers isn’t always an easy task, and there’s many ways to go about it. One of those ways is by improving your order processing; one of the fastest ways to lose recurring customers is by having a rough fulfilment journey. It could be a difficult and glitchy checkout, or perhaps your dodgy WMS is confusing your staff and sending them to the wrong picking locations.

Whatever the reason, it’s essential to refine your order processing and ensure those problems are patched. After all, a smooth experience means customers are less likely to take their business elsewhere - and they’ll also recommend your store to their friends and family.

Reduced costs

Improving your bottom line helps you grow, and reducing money wasted on inefficiencies and issues with your operation is a great way of feeding into that.

That’s why crafting a system of order processing that works is so essential. There’s a few ways it can impact your bottom line; if your fulfilment pipeline is inefficient, for example, you might need to hire more staff to handle all of your orders. You could also be spending more than you have to on refunds and returns due to those problems - it’s a vicious cycle.

But with improved order processing, you reap the benefits. Cut costs by focusing on a small, but skilled and well-equipped team. Save money on targeted campaigns and marketing trying to retain customers; your quick and reliable service will speak for itself. And free up the resources previously being spent on refunds, returns, and support for unhappy customers.

The role powerful integrations play

As an ecommerce integration provider, we’ve heard from countless companies about their order processing woes - and from just as many fulfilment partners about the problems their own clients face.

There’s many solutions to poor order processing, but a lot of companies don’t consider that their integrations might be the issue.

Poor integration means the data which is essential for your business’ day-to-day operations isn’t being transferred at maximum potential.

To illustrate that point, let’s look at the problems that can cause for your pipeline. First of all, poor integration can mean orders placed through your ecommerce platform don’t reliably pass on to your WMS or 3PL - greatly impacting your order processing.

And to make matters worse, a poorly integrated fulfilment system exacerbates the issue. You could have a WMS which is constantly showing incorrect or outdated information, directly impacting your warehouse staff and the rest of the supply chain.

That’s why, if you want to improve your order processing, you need to make sure your integrations are up to scratch - and you can do that by outsourcing to an experienced integrations provider.

Patchworks has a decade of experience with ecommerce companies across a range of industries, and we work closely with our software partners, including fulfilment, to provide the best possible service.

Our platform has self-service capabilities, allowing you to select from a library of pre-built connectors to instantly implement with your platform. No more waiting around for lengthy integrations.

If you’re interested in the Patchworks platform, our team of experts is available to answer any questions and give you a free consultation.
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