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Boosting productivity and revenues with e-commerce data analytics.

Read our blog to learn how you can boost operational efficiency and increase revenues for your online retail brand using e commerce data analytics.

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5 Ways to Improve E-commerce Order Fulfilment with Inventory Management

Looking to improve the e commerce order fulfilment process Check out our blog on the importance of an inventory management system for effective fulfilment.

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How to reduce returns in e-commerce: Steps for brands and sellers

As a brand or reseller selling on marketplaces or webstores, the question is: how to reduce returns in e-commerce? Read our blog to find out more.

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Automated Order Allocation: How Real-time Inventory Data and Smart Order Routing Ensure Faster Delivery

Read our blog to learn how an automated e-commerce inventory management system can simplify your order fulfilment process and ensure faster delivery.

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Streamlining Multi-channel Product Catalogues with E-commerce Master Data Management

E-commerce Master Data Management is a structured approach to optimising the management of product information, catalogues, pricing across multiple channels.

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How to Improve the E-commerce Order Management Process?

The need for an e-commerce order management solution is more than ever for e-commerce brands and online sellers to provide excellent service to customers.

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Trends in E-commerce Management Technology

E-commerce, an integral segment of the retail industry, has witnessed phenomenal growth in recent years. The lockdowns at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic propelled user penetration in South East Asian countries to all-time highs. It is expected to reach 58% in 2023 and 68.3% by 2027. Concurrently, e-commerce revenues are expected to reach US $158 billion by 2023. With more and more businesses turning to digital channels to boost sales, brand recognition, and market penetration, the demand for effective e-commerce management solutions has also increased. In this digital age, companies need to keep up with the latest trends and technologies in order to remain competitive and cater to customers.

As the e-commerce industry continues to grow, so does the technology that supports it. From automating routine tasks to streamlining e-commerce processes, constant innovations are enabling businesses to manage their online operations more efficiently. E-commerce businesses need to keep up with these trends to improve customer satisfaction, increase sales and reduce operational costs. In this blog, we will explore some latest trends in e-commerce management technology such as e-commerce backend automation and how they are shaping the future of online commerce.

Let’s look at the trends capable of shaping the growth of e-commerce in 2023.

Growing need for automated e-commerce management software

The e-commerce industry is at a very interesting point in its growth story. If it can keep the momentum going, the e-commerce industry in South East Asia can grow to a market volume of US $217 billion by 2025.

One of the main reasons for this unparalleled growth is the increase in internet penetration. It’s only logical, after all. As more people get access to affordable mobile internet, the potential customer base for e-commerce will expand.

To stay competitive and thrive in this exponentially growing market, brands and retailers will require robust automated e-commerce management solutions.

With the number of online shoppers rising, e-commerce businesses are facing an ever-increasing workload that includes managing orders, shipments, inventory, and customer relations. Manual management of these tasks is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors and inefficiencies. Automated e-commerce management software can solve this problem by automating routine and repetitive tasks, freeing up time for businesses to focus on other important aspects of their operations. E-commerce backend automation solutions also provide valuable insights and data analysis capabilities that can help businesses make informed decisions about their sales and operations. As the e-commerce industry continues to grow, the need for sophisticated, efficient and effective automated management solutions will only increase.

According to a research report by McKinsey, the new wave of customers will insist on the best facilities and will be okay to pay a premium for it. This includes better logistics, seamless supply chains, and a broader range of products.

Everything will need to be optimised, and at a fast pace. New-age customers will not accept anything that is not efficient, and e-commerce businesses will have to improve their operational framework to keep up with customers’ demand for smooth, multi-channel experiences.

Top trends in e-commerce technology in 2023

Multi-channel e-commerce

Under the multi-channel e-commerce approach, a brand uses different digital channels for selling, such as self-owned brand webstores and mobile applications, marketplaces, affiliates and social commerce channels, to reach different customers.

Brands are increasingly leveraging multi-channel e-commerce. This is shaping their strategy for targeting various customer groups in different geographies and markets. Given the intensely competitive nature of the industry, e-commerce brands will need to imbibe this aggressive multi-pronged approach to reach their customers.

Now, this multi-channel approach is valid for new entrants in the market and existing brands with an already wide online presence along with offline. At the same time, we will see a lot of new brands cropping up in South East Asian markets. These brands will have to adapt their multi-channel strategies right from the get-go. Apart from that, other global brands will also try to set up their distribution networks in this emerging market.

For any e-commerce brand, it will be very important to stand out and catch its customers’ attention. Superior technology and the best e-commerce management software can have a tremendous impact here.

Social Commerce

Survey data from Vietnam shows that social commerce platforms have been gaining traction. And it’s not restricted there. Social commerce has been growing in popularity over the last few months. With Instagram launching Instagram Shops, most other e-commerce platforms have followed suit with their own video shopping experiences.

Content is going to be a major driver of consumer behaviour, especially in the retail segment. Having a sound growth strategy that includes some components of social commerce will help e-commerce brands to stand out.

Logistics Automation

As per a survey by McKinsey covering 600 respondents in six South East Asian countries, nearly 50% said that their biggest pain point with e-commerce logistics was delayed deliveries. Other major issues for them included slow speed, poor customer service, damaged packages, and poor tracking functionality. With technologies and e-commerce backend automation technologies developing at great speed, brands can use these to their advantage.

The main issue with running an e-commerce business is that there are many components that you need to track at the same time. For instance, if you run a normal brick-and-mortar store, customers would come to your shop, view the products and make the purchase. You would hand over the product, and the cycle would be complete.

Not in e-commerce, though. Here, you need to maintain an online storefront or website. You’ll need to list your products in different marketplaces for added visibility. You’ll need to use social media advertisements and maybe even influencer marketing. Apart from that, you’re also expected to grow and nurture an online community, all at the same time.

Piece of cake, right?

Well, with the right e-commerce management software, it can be.

The trick with handling different business processes at the same time is to automate as much as possible. The idea is to set up self-serving e-commerce backend automation solutions for most of the operational functions of your business. That will free up your time to strategise while connecting different functions together to give a holistic view and control over operations and business data.

Using a full-service platform that can automate and streamline your logistics can be a real game-changer! An end-to-end solution like Ordazzle is the best e-commerce management software you can ask for, offering these very capabilities to help improve the efficiencies of your workflows and processes across the e-commerce management value chain. With Ordazzle, you can seamlessly manage different sales channels and the entire logistics network from one consolidated dashboard. Get in touch with our experts today to see Ordazzle in action.

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Top Retail E-Commerce Technologies to Watch Out

The retail e-commerce industry is growing rapidly, with the emergence of new technologies that are changing the way businesses sell products online. From virtual reality shopping experiences to artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots, these advancements are revolutionising the way customers interact with online retailers. Hence, retailers looking to beat their competitors must know the latest technological trends and innovations in the industry.

In this blog, we will look closely at some of the most exciting new technologies that are shaping the future of retail e-commerce. From cutting-edge payment solutions to advanced marketing and data analysis tools, these technologies are helping retailers improve the shopping experience for their customers. We will also explore how these technologies are changing the way retailers operate, and what businesses need to do to stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive in this rapidly changing industry.

Top retail e-commerce technology trends in 2023

Here are some of the newest and fastest-growing technologies and tools that will shape growth and operational practices in retail e-commerce in 2023 and beyond.

Social commerce

“The diversification of channels is already an emerging trend in Southeast Asia. While traditional e-commerce stores still dominate, signs point to social network platforms gaining momentum.” — McKinsey

Ever since influencer marketing proved its mettle as a valid source of marketing, social commerce has become the next logical step.

Many consumers like to share their shopping experiences with others. The choice of brands and products by a consumer is heavily influenced by the testimony provided by other consumers, either by word of mouth from friends or family, or via customer reviews on a brand site, marketplace, or social media. Integrating e-commerce and social media enables you to emulate the experience of shopping in a retail mall with a group of friends.

Several e-commerce marketplaces have introduced social commerce components. Many new social commerce platforms are also coming up. Using a combination of group shopping experiences, video and voice commerce and live-streaming, social commerce is targeting the new generation of shoppers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This is not a new trend. Once we realised the potential of AI, this tech has been making its way into every industry around the world. E-commerce is no different.

We’ve seen increasing use of AI in various aspects of e-commerce over the past couple of years. It is expected to continue as one of the top trending technologies in retail e-commerce. From customised suggestions to automated chatbots, from unique images to automated supply chains—there is no limit to what AI can do.

One of the most promising uses of AI in retail e-commerce is in delivering personalised suggestions, a feature that platforms are trying to implement. Personalised recommendations are a key advantage of conventional shopping—if you’re not sure about what to buy, you can always ask for recommendations at the store.

Until now, it was impossible to recreate this experience in e-commerce. Human intervention is not something you can provide on a website. But AI might solve this problem.

On the backend side, using modern e-commerce management software that leverages AI and automation can make managing e-commerce operations much simpler and processes more streamlined. Such software can reduce manual intervention, and in turn, human error. Using an e-commerce management software, you can implement rules to manage order workflows that can quickly adapt to changing business environments and help you scale.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

BNPL, as a payment method for shopping, began trending during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was started to incentivise people to buy more. Sometimes, the thought of paying the full price of a product upfront may deter you from buying it. But, if the price is split into smaller, interest-free instalments, you might be more inclined to pull the trigger.

Think logically.

A designer outfit, priced at $100, may seem expensive. People would visit the product page, view the price and then decide not to buy. But, if you offer the same designer outfit at 5 interest-free instalments of $20 each, it immediately becomes affordable. As long as you don’t have to pay the entire amount upfront, you might be more open to buying.

BNPL has taken the retail e-commerce segment by storm. Many integrations are available that can be added to normal e-commerce platforms easily.

A lot of new startups have set up shop in the BNPL space over the last couple of years. According to a report by Insider, the BNPL market is expected to reach $680 billion by 2025.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA has increased efficiency across sectors in the past couple of years and it can make life a lot easier for e-commerce operations teams.

Today, RPA is used in almost all the different backend components of an e-commerce business. From automated voice searches to chatbots, and automated marketing emails to transactions and pay outs, RPA has optimised processes by speeding them up and eliminating errors.

It all depends on how efficiently you can implement it in your system. The more you automate, the more time you free up, and the higher the possibility of improvement in business operations.

Using e-commerce management software to run end-to-end operations

New technologies and tracking mechanisms have created the need for robust e-commerce management software. A fully digital end-to-end system offers a two-fold benefit.

First, you get a complete, top-down view of the entire operation. You can see the frequency with which orders are coming in, and you can see which products are selling the fastest. This will help you have control over the process and identify where the issues are cropping up.

Second, you get a full-service dashboard that you can use for your master controls. You can add your logistics providers and your marketing automation tools. You can integrate BNPL software and other RPAs.

Simply improving different parts of the process is not enough—you also need to control the entire system. An end-to-end e-commerce management software will give you that control.

Ordazzle is a complete integrated e-commerce management solution offering built-in modules for order management, inventory management, product information management, channel management, and logistics management. The platform allows B2C and D2C e-commerce brands connect a wide range of third-party platforms and unify the data and controls for all the moving parts of their business using APIs, making it all accessible through a single dashboard.

To know more about Ordazzle and see the platform in action, get in touch for a consultation with our experts.

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What is inventory turnover rate? Importance of inventory turnover

Why is it important to know your inventory turnover rate?

As an e-commerce retailer, it is important to know your turnover rate and understand the factors behind it. It is the rate at which you sell and replace your inventory, and it is a key metric for measuring the efficiency and profitability of your business. In this blog post, we will explore why e-commerce retailers need to know their turnover rate, and how inventory management solutions can help retailers manage and optimise their inventory.

What is an inventory turnover rate and how is it derived?

First, let’s define what inventory turnover rate is and how it is calculated. Inventory turnover is the number of times a retailer’s inventory is sold in a specific period. It can be calculated by dividing annual revenue by average inventory. This gives you two different ways to express your inventory turnover rate: as a percentage (aka ROI), and as a ratio.

For example, if you sell 100 items in one month and your inventory comprises 100 items, your turnover rate is 1.0. If you sell 200 items in the same period, your turnover rate is 2.0. The higher your turnover rate, the more efficient and profitable your business is.

A high inventory turnover rate may indicate that the business is effectively managing its inventory and selling its products quickly, while a low turnover rate may indicate that the business is not selling its products as quickly as it should be and may need to change its inventory management strategy. Knowing your inventory turnover rate can help you make better decisions about how much inventory to keep on hand and how to price your products to maximise your sales and profitability.

Inventory turnover rate in e-commerce

What makes turnover rate a critical metric for e-commerce retailers (especially multi-geography sellers)? There are several reasons.

First, knowing your turnover rate allows you to measure the efficiency of your inventory management. If your turnover rate is low, it may indicate that you are holding onto inventory for too long, which can lead to lost sales and reduced profitability. A high turnover rate may indicate that you are not keeping enough inventory on hand, which can lead to stock-outs and lost sales. By understanding your turnover rate, you can determine how much inventory to keep on hand and how much to order, as well as how much money is tied up in inventory.

In addition to measuring the efficiency of your inventory management, knowing your turnover rate can also help you plan your e-commerce operations better for future sales and demand. By analysing your turnover rate over time, you can identify trends and patterns in your sales and demand. You can then use this information to make more informed decisions about how much inventory to stock and when to order new inventory. You can also allocate your resources more accurately for maximum efficiency across relevant stores, regions, and fulfilment centres.

How to optimise inventory turnover to ensure stock availability?

There are several ways that e-commerce sellers can optimise their inventory turnover to ensure they have the right quantity of stock available. Some of these strategies include:

Conducting regular inventory assessments to identify slow-moving or excess inventory and taking steps to clear out that inventory through sales or other means.

Using data and analytics to better understand customer demand and buying patterns and using that information to adjust inventory levels accordingly.

Implementing a just-in-time inventory management system, which involves only ordering and stocking the exact amount of inventory needed to meet current customer demand.

Using tools and technologies, such as inventory management systems, to automate and streamline inventory management processes, making it easier to keep track of inventory levels and demand.

Using automated tracking systems such as RFID tags or barcodes for all products throughout their lifecycle from receiving through shipping.

By implementing these and other strategies, e-commerce sellers can optimise their inventory turnover, ensuring they have the right quantity of stock available to meet customer demand and avoid lost sales and revenue opportunities.

Why e-commerce businesses need automated inventory management systems for more efficient tracking

While e-commerce brands and sellers may implement strategic and operational changes to adapt to demand and drive sales, they cannot overlook the importance of technology and digitising processes. Hence, automated inventory management plays a critical, almost make-or-break, role in the modern e-commerce landscape.

An inventory management solution is a digital tool that allows retailers to track and manage their inventory levels, orders, and shipments in real time. This type of solution can help retailers in several ways.

First, an inventory management solution can help retailers prevent stock-outs and lost sales. By providing real-time visibility into inventory levels and orders, the platform can alert store managers when inventory levels are low and help them quickly reorder products before they run out of stock. This can help retailers to avoid lost sales and keep their customers happy.

Second, using inventory management systems allows retailers to have a better understanding of their inventory levels at any given time. This is important because having too much or too little inventory can be costly for any retailer. Too much inventory can lead to higher storage costs and the potential for products to become obsolete, while too little inventory can lead to lost sales and disappointed customers.

Automated inventory management can help you better understand your inventory turnover rate, which is a key metric for e-commerce businesses. Automating processes in the inventory lifecycle also enables you to manage your inventory efficiently and avoid overstocking or under-stocking products. Any modern automated inventory management platform will provide real-time data on how your inventory is moving across stores, warehouses, and fulfilment centres. This type of business intelligence data is extremely useful in helping you adjust your inventory management strategy to strike the right balance between having enough inventory on hand to meet demand and avoiding holding onto inventory for too long.

Overall, inventory management systems are a valuable tool for retailers because it helps them better manage and optimise their inventory, which can lead to increased efficiency, cost savings, and improved customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Inventory turnover is one of the most important metrics for e-commerce businesses, and it is key for retailers to understand their inventory turnover rate in comparison to their competitors. The faster your inventory turns, the more money you’ll save by not having excess stock sitting around for months or even years at a time! Automated inventory management solutions can also help them optimise their inventory by providing insights into which products are selling well and which ones are not. Retailers can quickly identify low-performing products using an automated system that sends alerts when items don’t sell well so merchants can adjust pricing or promotions accordingly (and with no human intervention).

Ordazzle offers an end-to-end Inventory Management solution you can trust. With our API-driven inventory management solution, you can scale your business to process not just thousands, but millions of orders a day, tracking order movements, logistics, and even returns and cancellations through a single, integrated dashboard.

Would you like to try our solution and see the value it can offer your business? Get in touch for a consultation today!

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How can e-commerce sellers minimize the impact of order returns and cancellations?

E-commerce businesses are increasingly looking to maximise the interconnectedness and efficiency of their backend processes for multi-channel order management. However, this is a complex process that requires considerable effort to be executed efficiently and accurately. Order returns and cancellations can significantly affect this process, especially when done manually or with outdated systems since it requires additional resources and real-time visibility into data such as order and inventory information, payments, and customer data such as past orders and addresses. Additionally, order returns and cancellations impact customer experience, brand perception, vendor relationships, and revenue generation within e-commerce businesses. In this blog, we look at some key steps brands can take to drive seamless customer experiences that minimise the impact of, and help them, order returns and cancellations better.

The importance of positive customer experiences

E-commerce has made shopping more convenient than ever before, but it also comes with its own set of challenges, one of which is dealing with order returns and cancellations. These can be costly for e-commerce brands in terms of both financial losses and damage to customer relationships. However, there are steps that e-commerce brands and online resellers can take to minimise the impact of order returns and cancellations. These include:

Offering detailed product descriptions and images: One of the most common reasons for order returns is that the customer received a product that did not match their expectations or the description given on the product page. By providing detailed and transparent product descriptions and high-quality images, e-commerce brands can help customers make more informed purchasing decisions and reduce the number of returns. 

Providing clear return and cancellation policies: Customers appreciate transparency and clear communication when it comes to returns and cancellations. By providing clear and easy-to-find information about their policies, e-commerce brands can reduce confusion and dissatisfaction among customers. 

Making the return process easy and hassle-free: The easier it is for customers to return a product, the more likely they are to come back and buy another product from the same online store. E-commerce brands can make the process easy by providing pre-paid shipping labels, offering a variety of return options such as store credit or exchanges, and by processing returns quickly and efficiently. 

Communicating frequently with customers: Communication is key in dealing with order returns and cancellations. By reaching out to customers who have returned or cancelled an order, e-commerce brands can gain valuable insights into what went wrong and how they can improve. 

Offering incentives: To encourage customers to keep their orders and reduce the number of returns and cancellations, e-commerce brands can consider offering incentives such as discounts or free shipping. 

Using data and analytics: By analysing data on returns and cancellations, e-commerce brands can identify patterns and trends that can help them improve their products, services, and processes.  

Implementing a strict quality control process: By implementing a quality control process, e-commerce brands can minimise the number of defective or incorrect products that are shipped to customers, reducing the number of returns and cancellations. 

Offering a flexible return window: By offering a flexible return window, e-commerce brands can accommodate the needs of their customers, which can help reduce the number of returns and cancellations. 

Providing personalised customer service: Personalised customer service can help e-commerce brands address the individual concerns and issues of their customers, which can help improve customer satisfaction and reduce the number of returns and cancellations. 

Using an integrated inventory and order management system: The ability to access different data such as inventory, orders, and returns/cancellation data, on one unified platform allows for real-time tracking of inventory levels and quick updates to order information and customer records based on returns and cancellations. Additionally, such a system can provide insights and analytics on returns and cancellations, such as identifying patterns, or finding out which products are more likely to be returned. 

These practices can help e-commerce sellers manage order returns and cancellations better to ensure positive customer experiences in their e-commerce stores. It’s important to keep in mind that returns and cancellations are a part of doing business, and by handling them in a professional and customer-centric manner, e-commerce brands can build trust and loyalty with their customers.

The need for an effective backend order management system (OMS)

For any e-commerce business, there’s no doubt that returns and cancellations can have a significant impact on overheads and the bottom line. Efficient backend processes for e-commerce order management are essential to ensure customers have a smooth experience buying from your website or app. To maximise ROI from your efforts and minimise this impact, it’s more prudent to use a fully digital order management system (OMS) that automates processes across the order lifecycle. This will free up your employees’ time to focus on other tasks rather than constantly chasing orders. Moreover, such a digitised system will allow you to:

Process orders faster, saving both time and money;

Reduce the risk of errors and fraud by eliminating manual data entry and preventing errors such as double-booking or incorrect address data;

And improve customer service by avoiding delays caused by a manual reconciliation of multiple systems.

An e-commerce order management system also helps streamline the entire process for both customers and sellers. It also provides e-commerce store owners with the tools needed to keep track of inventory, process returns, and provide personalised customer support. Finally, e-commerce brands should provide a fast and smooth checkout process for customers.

Using an e-commerce order management system can also help e-commerce brands minimise the impact of returns and cancellations by streamlining their customer experience. The system can track orders in real-time, alert customers when their orders have been shipped or delivered, offer detailed product descriptions and images, as well as provide automated notifications to ensure transparency and enhance customer service.

Analytics tools within such systems can identify patterns in returns and cancellations in order to optimise the customer experience. Ultimately, e-commerce brands should focus on using strategies that prioritise creating positive customer experiences while minimising the associated costs of order returns and cancellations. Through a combination of quality control measures, proactive communication with customers, clear return policies, and an efficient e-commerce order management system, brands can minimise the impact of order returns and cancellations.

Choosing the right e-commerce management solution

To leverage the full capabilities of automated order management, choose a solution that can handle multiple channels. Whether its web or mobile, chances are that you’ll need to manage orders across multiple channels at some point in time. Make sure the solution you choose has this capability built in so that it doesn’t limit your options unnecessarily as well as frees up more time for other important aspects of running a business, such as a customer service or marketing campaigns.

The solution you work with should also be able to handle multiple languages and currencies. This is especially important if you’re selling internationally because some countries prefer using different languages when buying goods online compared with others; for example, customers in East Asian and South East Asian countries prefer interacting with websites or applications that are in their native language.

Ordazzle is an automated platform that helps e-commerce and multi-channel retail businesses achieve their true potential. It synchronises with a multitude of marketplaces, web stores, and logistics providers to help smartly manage any size of e-commerce business.

To learn more about Ordazzle’s capabilities and implement them for your business, get in touch with our experts today!

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How to ensure your e-commerce business is ROI-positive?

For any B2C retailer, e-commerce can be a great tool to expand the footprint in the market, reach customers globally, and sell products or services online. However, your business needs to generate a positive return on investment (ROI) to be successful in the long term. In this blog post, we discuss some key strategies for making your e-commerce business ROI-positive.

What does ROI mean in e-commerce?

ROI refers to the ratio of the profit to the investment in the project. It is expressed as a percentage.

If ROI is positive, it implies the investment is generating profit. If ROI is negative, it means revenue from the business is falling short of the investment.

The ROI is inevitably negative when you start a business. Setting up operations requires an initial capital outflow. You need to advertise your products and maybe run a few social media campaigns. You could even try out influencer marketing.

Revenue generation starts only after some time.

Every business owner must aim to become ROI-positive as soon as possible. Thereafter, the objective should be to sustain the momentum and take the ROI higher.

However, one should not stress about it excessively. It can easily take a couple of years before you are in the green.

What is a good ROI in e-commerce?

Aim for high ROI, but stay away from unrealistic targets. You will do well to keep a track of the industry average ROI.

In e-commerce, ROI in the range of 25–50% is considered good.

How is e-commerce ROI calculated?

Return on Investment = [(Income — Investment)/Investment] * 100

Tracking income, to put it simply, is tracking sales from various sources. However, this is easier said than done.

An e-commerce business typically generates sales from two sources: direct and indirect.

Direct sales are those made via websites or marketplaces. A customer visits your website or marketplace, sees your product, likes it, and makes the purchase. It is called direct sales because the customer has directly interacted with your website or marketplace and purchased. It is much easier to measure direct sales and track/monitor these using website analytics tools and e-commerce platforms.

Indirect sales refer to sales via other channels, such as social media, email marketing, or referral marketing. These channels may not directly lead the customer to the website or marketplace, but they can influence the purchase decision. For example, a customer may see an advertisement for a product on social media, and later on, visit the website or marketplace to purchase the product.

Tracking indirect sales is more challenging as it may require additional tools and data analysis to understand the customer’s journey. This is because product consumption is fuelled by content consumption. Customers will click on your digital ads multiple times, browse through your social media content, and visit your website a few times before deciding to buy.

Little wonder then, indirect sales are hard to track. However, by using marketing attribution tools, you can get a better understanding of how different marketing channels are contributing to sales. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google come with readymade plugin parameters to facilitate tracking.

Once you’re able to track, you can put a number on your indirect sales as well.

When calculating your e-commerce ROI, include revenue from both direct sales and indirect sales.

How to make sure your e-commerce business is ROI-positive?

Focus on indirect sales

This may sound absurd. Ideally, focus on both direct sales and indirect sales. But when you start off, the chances of getting organic traffic are low. Nobody knows about your brand or what it’s called. How can someone search directly for it?

Focusing on indirect sales will help you leverage your digital advertisements (in terms of placement and optimization) effectively. If you get a regular flow of traffic from digital ads, and if your product is good, this will turn into organic traffic over time.

Some publicity is required when you launch, and inorganic ads can go a long way.

Identify top marketing campaigns

When you start off, you are prone to experiment. This is not just with e-commerce—it is the norm with most start-ups. It is only natural, after all.

How else will you know which marketing strategies are working and which are not?

Make sure you track the progress and results of your individual marketing campaigns. Only through diligent data management and analysis will you be able to figure out which strategies should be adopted and which should be phased out.

Focus on automation and customer assistance

Automation is the way of the future. Of course, robots rolling out orders in a warehouse on a large scale is still not a simple or affordable idea. But certain API automation can go a long way in increasing your turnover. This, in turn, will boost your ROI.

You can also introduce automation in your customer assistance tools. Suggestions, reminders, and strategically placed notifications can have quite an impact on conversion.

Go for an integrated e-commerce management system

Platforms like Ordazzle are designed to address the logistics challenges faced by e-commerce businesses. Using this open end-to-end SaaS system with API integrations, you can access data in real-time and track orders for on-time delivery. It reduces the chance of manual intervention and optimizes e-commerce operations.

Conclusion

Being ROI-positive is critical to the long-term success of any e-commerce business. By understanding your costs and revenue streams, focusing on customer acquisition and retention, and developing a sound marketing strategy, you can optimize your business for profitability. It is important to continuously monitor and analyze your business’s performance to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments as needed.

Achieving positive ROI hinges on effective strategizing, persistence, and the use of intelligent technology. Leveraging the tips outlined in this blog post, you can build a successful e-commerce business that generates solid returns on investment. Remember, running and scaling an e-commerce business is not a simple task, but by staying focused and dedicated, you can achieve your goals and build a profitable business.

Ordazzle helps you streamline your e-commerce processes to drive better efficiencies, sales, and customer experiences across your webstores and the marketplaces where your brand sells. To learn more about the capabilities of Ordazzle, speak to our experts today!

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Why is it critical to focus on customer retention in e-commerce?

In prioritising tasks that play a key role in marketing a product, customer retention is often relegated to the bottom. Seldom considered a top priority, it is rather an overlooked aspect. But that should not be the case. Customer retention is one of the most important aspects of building a sustainable business. Let’s find out why.

What is customer retention and why is it important? 

Brands employ customer retention as a strategy to retain their existing customers. Customer retention also indicates the rate at which customers stay with a business over a period. For example, if you get 100 customers a month, and 50 of them come back to avail of your services/products the next month, your customer retention rate is 50%. 

The aim is to satisfy customers in such a way that it compels them to repeat business with you. In other words, you need to keep adding value to your customer’s life to retain them. Customer retention is, therefore, not a one-time strategy—it is an ongoing exercise.  

An effective customer retention strategy rests on two key pillars: customer loyalty and satisfaction. Prioritising these will go a long way in fetching repeat customers.

What does customer retention signify? 

Any consumer buying frequently through e-commerce websites and apps may have tried a variety of new brands in the past. But only some of them stick, prompting them to go back to the brand’s online store or app and buy again. The others that fail to leave an impact are soon forgotten. But when does one keep going back to a brand? 

When it’s good! 

Repeat customers are a testimony to the quality of products and the overall experience delivered. In fact, potential customers often flock to new brands, lured by the current purchase behaviour of existing customers. After all, if thousands believe a brand is good, it can work for a customer too. Having a robust customer retention strategy is a key imperative for scaling your e-commerce business. Just as expanding your customer base is important, so is ensuring the stickiness of existing customers. After all, repeat sales are mandatory for growth.

Benefits of customer retention in e-commerce 

Lower marketing costs 

There are multiple benefits of customer retention. The foremost among these is the scope to maximise the revenue potential from each customer.  

The cost of acquiring a customer is a one-time expenditure. If your products or services are worth it, they will do the rest by keeping the customers hooked. Every repeat purchase will translate into higher profits, especially because no extra expenditure would be involved in attracting customers.  

This will bring down your customer acquisition costs drastically. In a world where brands are spending millions on customer acquisition, this is quite an edge to have. Over time, your marketing expenses will also decrease significantly.  

Product development 

Having a long-term stable customer base gives you two distinct advantages in product development. 

First, it gives you room to experiment. You can expand the range of your products or make changes to your existing product line to keep up with your customer’s changing needs and, of course, stay ahead of the competition. However, if f you were always worried about your customers leaving, you would have to focus on a bunch of other things. Research and development would then take a back seat and your resources would be disproportionately devoted to customer service.  

Second, it also gives you access to excellent user data. You have ready-made samples for beta testing new features. Feedback from customers is helpful in product or feature optimisation. 

Brand loyalty 

A thriving community of users indicates strong brand loyalty. The fact that you are adding value to the lives of your customers is quite gratifying.  

Brand loyalty also paves the way for customer acquisition. Word-of-mouth marketing attracts potential customers. This has a twofold benefit: you acquire customers at zero additional cost, and your pool of satisfied and happy customers continues to grow. 

Scaling up of operations 

With customer loyalty no longer a concern, you can focus on scaling up your e-commerce business. High brand loyalty gives you the confidence and motivation to take your business forward. Besides, it frees up time and resources for diverting towards product development and growth of business operations.  

How can you improve customer retention? 

1. Exceptional service 

High-quality service is the first step toward customer retention. Introducing features such as live chat or on-time responses to queries/concerns shows prompt service. 

2. Easy-to-use website 

This is perhaps the biggest prerequisite for e-commerce. With the growth of D2C brands on social media, customers are spoilt for choice. No matter what product they need, there are hundreds of varieties. 

In other words, you have a scant few seconds to capture the interest of your customer when they land on your website. Make sure you use that time wisely. To that end, your website should be simple and easy to navigate. Locating products should not be time-consuming, else customers will lose interest and leave. 

3. Smooth e-commerce operations 

To build a successful e-commerce brand, you need to focus on both e-commerce operations and brand development.  

Any potential customer visiting your website is looking for smooth, on-time delivery of products. Efficient and optimised delivery is the foundation of sustainable e-commerce operations.  

Orders must be dispatched and delivered on time, while inventory should be managed properly. Order and inventory management are time-consuming processes. 

End-to-end e-commerce management platforms like Ordazzle are designed to facilitate e-commerce. You can track your orders and inventory on a common dashboard. Moreover, the automation of several e-commerce functions and their integration on one platform will increase efficiency multi-fold. 

4. Reward programs for loyal customers  

E-commerce is one of the most competitive industries in the world. There are no barriers to entry—anyone can create a website and start selling a product. 

Retaining customers when they are spoilt for choice is a tough task. An attractive reward program may help you keep them engaged. Such loyalty programs make customers feel valued, besides acting as an incentive to buy more products.    With Ordazzle, you can drive seamless and efficient backend processes that help you deliver the best experiences to customers across channels, including websites, apps, and marketplaces. To learn more about the capabilities of Ordazzle, speak to our experts today!

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Keeping track of e-commerce inventory: Best practices

As e-commerce evolves, technology is becoming essential to managing inventory. E-commerce businesses, irrespective of size, need to keep a track of inventory in real time, automate processes and use data analytics to make informed decisions. In this blog, we will explore the best practices around using technology to improve e-commerce inventory management. We will examine some of the latest tools and platforms available, such as inventory management software, automated reordering systems, and data analytics tools.  

We will also discuss the benefits of using technology for inventory management, including an increase in efficiency, improvement in accuracy, and greater control over stock levels. Whether you’re just getting started with e-commerce or you’re looking to improve your existing inventory management system, this blog will provide you with valuable insights and advice on how technology can help you achieve success. 

How do e-commerce stores manage inventory? 

E-commerce inventory management, as the name suggests, is the process by which e-commerce stores catalogue and record the stock of available products. This may sound simple, but it is not so, especially when you scale up operations. 

That’s when you require an end-to-end, automated inventory management system. It helps you run your inventory lifecycle processes more seamlessly and scale more easily than run-of-the-mill software. Logistics is one of the trickiest things to perfect and optimise. Things keep going wrong, and new brands often forget that this is their base offering. First, you need to process and deliver orders smoothly, with no delays. The quality of products and the stock of products come after that.

What are the benefits of e-commerce inventory management? 

Minimises wastage 

Often, when e-commerce stores maintain their inventory manually, they make mistakes in the logging and updating of products. There are a lot of avoidable delays.   For instance, the new stock might have arrived in the warehouse, but it did not get sold because the products never got updated on the website. This results in significant wastage of stock and exceptionally longer order processing time.  An inventory management system automates the entire process. Products are recorded and updated in real-time with each order. This way, you are aware of the different categories of products that are in stock. This minimises wastage, besides reducing the order processing time. 

Efficient management of stock 

Automated reordering of inventory allows effective management of stock levels across warehouses and fulfilment hubs by eliminating the need for manual monitoring and reordering. These systems also help in the automatic replenishment of stock as soon as existing levels reach a certain threshold. This can prevent stock-outs and overstocking, as the system can continuously monitor stock levels and reorder products as needed.  Furthermore, automated reordering systems can be configured to consider lead times and other factors, such as shipping costs, while determining when to reorder. This can help businesses optimise inventory levels, minimising costs and saving time. It could also enable them to make more accurate predictions about demand. 

Enhanced focus on product development 

Often, e-commerce sellers are not able to focus on product development. Managing order processing and fulfilment consumes a bulk of the time. When you manage orders manually, a lot can go wrong. You have to devote more time to fix the issues.  An end-to-end inventory management system like Ordazzle will take care of all logistics issues. This means you have more bandwidth to do what you do best — build new products for customers! 

E-commerce Inventory Management — Best Practices 

Record and analyse customer data 

The most authentic source of information on customer requirements is the customers themselves. By tracking demand patterns, we can gain an incisive understanding of product preferences and visibility on ebbs and flows.  Today, data rules the world. Leveraging it smartly, brands can gain the edge they need to go viral.   Efficient recording and storage of user data are one of the cornerstones of e-commerce inventory management. This includes everything from the most viewed products to user preferences.  

  Think logically.  

  If you were running a traditional brick-and-mortar retail store, you would interact with the customers. You would note which products they liked and which ones they ignored. You’d introduce special offers during festive seasons to attract bigger crowds.  Why should your e-commerce store operate any differently? The method of processing information is the only difference between online and offline formats. Everything else remains the same.  Set up clear parameters to record and analyse your customer data. Use the information while devising improvements/upgrades to the platform to address the problems. 

Optimise inventory turnover 

This is one of the most common issues faced by e-commerce stores. Either they end up producing too less and are unable to meet demand, or they overproduce, resulting in a stock pile-up.  Knowing exactly how much to produce is an art. Rarely do brands get it right in the beginning. It is only over time that the pattern of demand becomes discernible.  A full-service inventory management system will give you visibility about stock and sales. You will be able to predict the shortfall easily and with greater accuracy. This will free up working capital and reduce warehouse charges. In other words, your system will run a lot more efficiently.

You can use the following methods to increase your inventory turnover rate. 

Just-in-time inventory management 

This is based on the principle that you only produce what you need. There is no extra production and no wastage.  Now, to do this manually would be next to impossible. But with an inventory management system, you can keep a track of how many people are interested. You can set up a notification system or even take advance orders!  In other words, you can use data to increase your inventory turnover. 

Marketplace integrations 

When you’re processing orders manually, it can be a challenge to register on multiple platforms and run multiple stores. But with the use of an inventory management system, you can do all this and more.   Registering your products on marketplaces and other websites will increase visibility and widen your network of potential customers. 

Offers and discounts 

You can use a sales campaign to clear old stock and make room for new products. This is especially useful if you’ve got a lot of old inventory that is running up quite a storage bill.  Running a discount campaign will boost sales and increase inventory turnover. 

Conclusion

Keeping a track of e-commerce inventory is crucial for the success of any online business. By implementing best practices, such as using inventory management software, regularly conducting physical inventory counts, and setting up automated reordering systems, e-commerce businesses can maintain the optimum level of stock required to meet customer demand. Additionally, by monitoring stock levels and sales data, businesses can make informed decisions about which products to stock and when to reorder, ultimately leading to increased sales and customer satisfaction. By following these best practices, e-commerce businesses can optimise their inventory management processes and take their online sales to the next level.

Ordazzle’s Inventory Management solution is an end-to-end, integrated system that connects with all your internal and third-party systems to help you view, modify, and analyse your inventory data and movements and data in real time across geographies and fulfilment hubs. Speak to our experts today for a consultation to learn more! 

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5 Ways to improve your e-commerce order management

If you run an e-commerce business, you know how important it is to get orders right. At the end of the day, your customers are only going to come back if they can trust that orders will be filled accurately and on time. Efficient order management is crucial for the success of any online store —whether you sell directly or through a third-party marketplace. An e-commerce order management system helps ensure that customers have a seamless shopping experience and that orders are fulfilled accurately and promptly. In this blog, we’ll take a look at five ways you can improve your e-commerce order management processes. From investing in a reliable e-commerce platform to using data to inform your decisions, these tips will help you streamline your processes and drive the success of your online business. 

The steps to efficient order management

Implement a dedicated order management system (OMS) 

An integrated order management system leverages e-commerce backend automation technology to automate workflows based on pre-defined rules that trigger one task after a previous one is completed and the system is notified of the same. Such a system can be helpful in many ways. First, it creates a single source of truth for all customer data that is accessible to all of your internal stakeholders. This can include your sales team and marketing department and customer service team—everyone who touches customers’ experiences with your brand.  

Second, an order management system helps you capture more valuable information about your customers’ purchases and behaviours during checkout. With this insight, you can identify pain points in their ordering process and make changes accordingly; for example, by making product recommendations based on past purchases or cross-selling related products, they may find useful or interesting but haven’t yet considered buying themselves. 

Third, an order management system gives you visibility into the entire ordering process, including any errors that occur along the way, so that you can fix them before processing ends (which will help prevent negative reviews). It also provides insights into how long each step takes so that you can optimise operations moving forward if necessary. 

Lastly, time: an order management system is great because it centralises all customer data available across different departments into one platform so no one needs to repeat work unnecessarily.  

Streamline warehouse operations 

Here, you can use a warehouse inventory management system integrated with your OMS to improve the productivity and efficiency of workflows. This type of solution helps you track inventory and optimise shipping, which will save you time and money. You should make sure your warehouse has enough space for the products you sell, as this will allow for greater efficiency in storing and retrieving items. 

Besides tracking inventory, warehouse inventory management systems also enable companies to automate operations such as receiving orders into the warehouse, processing them through the system, and shipping them out again. Another benefit is that they help identify any bottlenecks in operations so that companies can take steps like hiring more workers or automating certain processes to alleviate these bottlenecks. 

Unify source and destination

Integrating data from all your systems including the OMS, the inventory management system, logistics management system, and the channel system is the most important step in order management to correctly attribute each order to the right source and ensuring its fulfilment to the right destination. This enables you to bring together the information required to manage orders from start to finish, regardless of whether they’re placed on a website or through an offline channel. Just on the surface itself, the benefits of unified data include increased accuracy and reduced fulfilment costs, not to mention the reduced time spent on each stage of the order lifecycle and lesser human intervention.  

Some of the largest e-commerce marketplaces in the world, such as Amazon, eBay, Shopee, Lazada, and others, have achieved success with this approach by leveraging tools for managing operations across different channels. These include AI algorithms analysing customer data across platforms to learn which customers prefer which payment methods and shipping options based on purchase history and other factors, and then automatically matching these preferences with the available inventory at each point in the supply chain process. 

Give customers more control

You can help your customers get better control over their orders by giving them more control and visibility over tracking order status. Here are a few ways you can do this: 

Give customers the ability to change or cancel an order. The easier you make it for customers to edit their orders and make changes when they need to, the happier they’ll be with their experience. 

Allow them to add or remove items from an order. If a customer realises that they need something else after placing the original order, they shouldn’t have any trouble adding it in later—especially if they can pay for it at checkout rather than having two separate transactions (the original one and then another one for the new product). 

Let customers track their orders online instead of just providing them with confirmation numbers via email or phone calls every step of the way. 

Automate as much as possible 

E-commerce backend automation is key to improving order management. Here are some ways you can use automation to make your job easier: 

Use automation to send order confirmation emails: When a customer places an order on your website, you can use automation to send them a confirmation email with the details of their order. This helps to reduce the number of customer service inquiries you receive and keeps your customers informed about the status of their orders. 

Automate shipping notifications: You can use automation to send shipping notifications to customers when their order has shipped. This helps to keep them informed and reduces the number of inquiries you receive about order tracking. 

Automate tracking updates: You can also use automation to send tracking updates to customers as their order makes their way to them. This helps to keep them informed and provides an additional level of transparency. 

Automate inventory updates: If you use an e-commerce platform with inventory management capabilities, you can automate the process of updating your inventory levels as orders are placed and fulfilled. This helps to reduce the risk of overselling and ensures that you always have an accurate view of your available stock. 

Automate returns and exchanges: Finally, you can use automation to streamline the process of handling returns and exchanges. For example, you can use automation to send return shipping labels to customers and to update your inventory levels when a return is received. 

Conclusion

Effective e-commerce order management is key to the success of any online store. By following the tips outlined in this blog post, you can improve your order management processes and provide a better shopping experience for your customers. Investing in a good e-commerce platform, automating certain tasks, implementing a clear returns and exchanges policy, streamlining your fulfilment process, and using data to inform your decisions are all effective ways to improve your order management. By taking the time to optimise these processes, you’ll be able to increase the efficiency of your business and build customer loyalty.

Looking to streamline your multi-channel e-commerce order management processes and access data more seamlessly? If so, you’re in the right place! Ordazzle is an e-commerce management platform that helps B2C and D2C businesses maximise order management and fulfilment efficiencies, and revenues. Speak to our experts today for a consultation! 

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Six E-Commerce Challenges for Businesses to Overcome This Holiday Season | Ordazzle

Christmas and New Year are just around the corner, which means e-commerce businesses need to be prepared for a surge in traffic and sales. However, along with the benefits of the holiday season come several unique challenges that can affect your business. With more people shopping online than ever before, it’s crucial that businesses are prepared to meet the increased demand. From increased competition to changes in consumer behaviour, e-commerce companies need to be prepared for anything.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss six of the most common e-commerce challenges faced by businesses during the holidays and offer tips on how to overcome them. Read on to learn more!

1. Increased demand can lead to stock shortages: One of the most common problems faced by e-commerce businesses during the holiday season is stock shortages. With more people shopping online, businesses need to make sure that they have enough stock to meet the increased demand. If a business doesn’t have enough stock, it can lose out on sales and damage its reputation. To avoid this problem, businesses need to plan and make sure that they have enough stock to meet the expected demand. By understanding e-commerce trends and customer buying patterns, businesses can ensure that they have the right products in stock at the right time.

With an efficient e-commerce inventory management system in place, businesses can use data analytics effectively to predict future demand and proactively order inventory to avoid stock outs. By being proactive and using data to make e-commerce inventory decisions, businesses can avoid the problems associated with stock shortages. Additionally, businesses should consider using backorders or pre-orders to ensure that customers can still purchase items even if they’re out of stock.

2. Shipping delays can lead to customer dissatisfaction: E-commerce has revolutionized the shopping experience for customers around the world. By allowing customers to purchase items online and have them shipped directly to their doorsteps, e-commerce has made it easier than ever to shop for anything from clothes to electronics. However, e-commerce has also created some challenges for businesses, particularly during the holiday season. With millions of packages being shipped, it’s not uncommon for there to be shipping delays creeping into the shipping process. This can obviously lead to customers becoming dissatisfied with your business.

To deliver your products on time to your consumers or the marketplace fulfilment centres and meet the SLAs, it is imperative to integrate seamlessly with your logistics providers. However, coordinating with multiple 3PL portals while assigning nodes and managing manifests and labels for millions of orders during holidays is laden with mission-critical complexities. The situation gets even more complicated with order cancellations and returns. Hence, it is crucial to adopt a comprehensive e-commerce logistics management platform to ensure integration with shipping carriers and automate the coordination that’s needed to successfully interface with each logistics service provider.

Moreover, it’s also important to set customer expectations early on and let them know that there may be delays because of the increased volume of shipments. If customers are aware of the potential for delays, they are more likely to be understanding and patient if a delay occurs. By setting realistic expectations, you can help avoid customer disappointment and ensure a positive shopping experience for all. Additionally, you should consider offering expedited shipping options for customers who need their items quickly.

3. Fraudulent orders can increase expenses: Unfortunately, fraudulent orders are also a common problem during the holiday season. As fraudsters target businesses with increased holiday spending, it’s important that businesses have systems in place to detect and prevent fraudulent orders. Your e-commerce business may want to consider adopting an AI-driven order anomaly detection system to protect your e-commerce order processing against any irregularity or unusual pattern and flag a possible SLA breach of your order shipment in real time.

For instance, while handling millions of orders, Ordazzle’s AI-powered Anomaly Detection function shares prediction for each order rapidly. The AI model continues to learn from the incoming new orders and can manage large number of order attributes such as Channel, Product, Order Quantity, Discount, Payment mode, and Delivery mode. It helps you to isolate the abnormal or deviant new orders to be later reviewed and released for execution or cancellation.

Additionally, you need to ensure adoption of payment-related risk mitigation measures such as implementing AVS checks and requiring CVV codes for all orders. By taking these precautions, businesses can protect themselves from fraudsters and avoid incurring additional expenses.

4. Website crashes can lead to lost sales: Another common issue during the holiday season is website crashes. With more traffic coming to your website, there is an increased risk of your website crashing due to the increased load on your server. This can lead to lost sales and damage your reputation. To avoid this problem, it’s important to make sure that your website handles large amounts of traffic and that you have a backup plan in place in case your website crashes. Additionally, you should monitor your website closely during peak times so that you can identify any potential issues and fix them quickly.

5. Employee absences can impact productivity: Finally, absences caused by holidays or vacations can affect productivity during the holiday season. To combat this challenge, it’s important to plan and make sure that you have adequate coverage for all employees who will be absent. Additionally, you should consider implementing automation to manage e-commerce business so that you can continue running your business efficiently with lesser human intervention.

6. Managing Returns: Finally, one of the most common challenges facing businesses during the holiday season is returns. With so many people buying gifts online, there’s always the risk that some of those gifts will need to be returned. This can be a challenge if you don’t have a good returns policy in place or if you don’t have enough staff available to process returns quickly. To avoid this, it’s important to have a clear and concise returns policy that is prominently displayed on your website or other marketing materials. You should also make sure you have enough staff available during the holidays to process returns quickly and efficiently.

With integrated e-commerce management platforms, you can introduce complete transparency and optimize the e-commerce returns management process. The system can help manage order returns or cancellations efficiently by helping you to plan reverse logistics, handle QC checks, and update return settlements. Whether it’s a return-to-origin (RTO) in case of delivery failure or a customer-initiated return (CIR), the platform enables you to do deep-dive analysis with detailed reports to help minimize the future rate of return.

In conclusion, by being prepared and taking steps such as increasing stock levels, offering expedited shipping options, and implementing fraud prevention measures, businesses can ensure that they’re ready for the holiday rush.

The holiday season is one of cheer, celebration, and shopping. But as e-commerce brands, being unprepared to meet the surge in demand during the holidays can spell trouble. No one wants to lose sales or customer trust. With Ordazzle, that’s no longer a thing to worry about. 

Get in touch with our experts today to find out how the platform can add value to your holiday sales activities.  

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What is e-commerce order management: Processing, Tracking, and Fulfilment | Ordazzle

The journey of an order begins when a customer clicks the “Buy” button. The customer receives an email and/or text message with their order details and a tracking code, and all they have to do is wait for it to be delivered. But if you are an e-commerce seller, there are complex workflows for order management, processing, and fulfilment involved. An e-commerce order management platform is a powerful tool that can help alle-commerce merchants grow and scale their online businesses. The key to success is understanding your customers and automating the order processing cycle while minimising the time and effort required to buy from your online store.

What is e-commerce order management?

E-commerce order management is the process of managing requests from customers to buy products online. It encompasses a variety of tasks, including:

Order Receiving,

Order Allocation,

Order Routing and

Order Execution

The goal of an effective order management system is to efficiently manage these processes and enhance the customer’s experience.

If you’ve ever shopped online, you have likely experienced efficient order management that truly delighted you. In addition to providing a hassle-free shopping experience for your customers, effective e-commerce order management can also help with real-time inventory control and reporting.

Processing orders

Managing large volumes of orders is a challenge for e-commerce sellers. In fact, the sheer number of orders that need to be processed and fulfilled can create a nightmare scenario where customers are left frustrated or unsatisfied. Even if you’re able to handle the volume, what about the complexity? What about the impact on your customer experience? If you’re not careful, expanding can actually hurt your business rather than help it.

There are ways to meet these challenges head-on by using an e-commerce order management solution that automates the order processing cycle, from the moment an order is placed until it is shipped. This includes tasks such as allocation inventory from the right distribution center or warehouse, routing the order to the appropriate fulfillment center, and generating a shipping label. E-commerce order management software can also track inventory levels and send automatic replacement orders when stock runs low.

Such a solution provides an integrated platform that helps you manage all aspects of your operations across channels and multiple sites from one place—helping to reduce costs and improve efficiency while ensuring a cohesive customer experience at every touch point along the way.

Tracking orders

Tracking is the process of determining the current status of an order and its estimated time of delivery to the customer based on benchmarked data. An order tracking system will give you real-time updates so that you can determine exactly where an order is in your fulfilment process and generate a record for each step of the process. This is helpful for auditing purposes and identifying where errors may have occurred that prevented a package from getting to its destination on time or at all.

Tracking can also help you determine how fast your orders are being processed so that you can be aware of any bottlenecks in your fulfilment process or internal system issues like overloaded servers or network outages. A smart digital tracking solution often comes with dashboards and reports to help you identify trends over time, such as peak processing periods when there are more orders than usual coming through during certain months or seasons, such as Christmas season in December, for instance.

Tracking information is also useful for communicating with customers about their orders.  This is important because they want to know where their items are located during transit and when they should expect them to arrive at their doorsteps.

Order fulfilment

The final step in the process of order management is fulfillment. Fulfillment simply refers to the delivery of products to the customer. This step happens after the order has been processed, tracked, and sent through shipping.

Some merchants choose to fulfil their own orders while others opt for third-party service providers to handle this component of the process for them. Regardless, having a system in place that allows you to track your inventory and manage your orders will help ensure that all items are put on a truck and delivered safely to their intended owners’ front doors,s on time. An effective e-commerce order management platform should also enable tracking the movement of orders by a third-party logistics provider or carrier. This way, the seller knows exactly when the product has been delivered, and if there have been issues in transit, to be ready to assist customers with the right solutions.

Improve your e-commerce order management with a comprehensive solution

In the past, order management was limited to order routing and fulfillment. Not only did this present the risk of orders being lost or misplaced in the process, but it also created a disjointed customer experience—not to mention it costs more. Today, e-commerce order management takes on a much broader scope that covers every step from receiving, allocating, and routing an order to executing it and everything in between.

Digital or software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms have emerged as a powerful solution that leverage smart and seamless API integrations to connect each node of the e-commerce order processing and fulfilment process with a comprehensive visibility for sellers. Customers expect a lightning-fast demand chain—and if they don’t get one with you, they’re likely to turn to a competitor who can provide them with one. That’s why an effective e-commerce order management system plays such an important role in your overall success.

An automated Order Management System (OMS) like Ordazzle offers several advantages over on-premises deployments. Seamless API integrations for third-party inventory and logistics management systems real-time visibility into order status and inventory are just a few of them.

 Get in touch to explore the value of Ordazzle for your business.

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8 Ways to Make Your E-commerce Business More Profitable | Ordazzle

It’s no secret that online retail is booming. A study by HKTDC Research quoting Euromonitor found that e-commerce in the ASEAN region is well poised to grow at an annualized rate of 22% and the sector can reach about US$150 billion in revenue by 2025.

But if you’re like most e-commerce business owners or decision-makers in the region, you’re probably not satisfied with your current profit margins. Making your e-commerce business more profitable can seem like a daunting task. But with the right tools and strategies in place, it is within reach. So how can you make your e-commerce business more profitable? Here are some ways to get you started.

1) Increase your average order value by offering add-ons and upsells

If you want to increase your e-commerce business’s profitability, one key area to focus on is your average order value. One key method to do this is by offering add-ons and upsells. By cross-selling related products, you can increase the value of each order and boost your bottom line.

For example, if you sell shoes online, you could offer a discount on socks when a customer adds them to their purchase. Or, if you sell electronics, you could offer a warranty or an extended service plan as an upsell. By offering these additional products and services, you can make your e-commerce business more profitable. By increasing your average order value, you can further improve your profitability and drive growth for your e-commerce business.

2) Track your results and make changes based on the data you collect

As the e-commerce business rapidly expands, it is more important than ever to track your results and make changes based on the data you collect. This will help you be more profitable and grow your business efficiently. By tracking your results, you can see what areas are working well and which need improvement. You can then change your business model or marketing strategy accordingly. You can use data to find new growth opportunities. For example, if you see that a certain product is selling well, you could consider stocking more of it or expanding into related products. Ultimately, tracking your results is essential for ensuring the profitability of your e-commerce business.

While tracking results and data is one of the most fundamental tenets of running an e-commerce business, too many e-commerce businesses focus on top-line revenue growth without adequately managing the profitability of their operations. As a result, they find themselves in a death spiral of declining margins and eroding profitability.

The first step to avoiding this fate is to track the right e-commerce metrics. By measuring the right e-commerce KPIs, you’ll gain actionable insights into what’s working well and where there’s room for improvement. This will allow you to make targeted changes that drive real results.

There are dozens of e-commerce metrics out there, but not all of them are equally important. To help you focus on the most essential KPIs, we’ve put together a list of the 8 most important e-commerce metrics for profitability. By tracking these metrics closely, you can ensure that your e-commerce business is on track for long-term success.

Gross margin: This metric measures the percentage of revenue that remains after accounting for the cost of goods sold (COGS). It tells you how much profit you make on each sale after accounting for direct product costs.

Order value: This metric tells you the average amount each customer spends when they place an order on your site. Increasing order value is key to growing revenue without sacrificing profitability.

Conversion rate: This metric measures the percentage of visitors to your site who take action by making a purchase or completing some other desired goal (such as signing up for a newsletter).

Customer lifetime value: This metric represents the total amount of revenue that a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with your business.

Customer acquisition costs: This metric measures how much it costs you to acquire each new customer. It’s important to track this metric closely so that you can ensure that your acquisition costs are lower than your customers’ lifetime values.

Churn rate: This metric measures the percentage of customers who cancel or fail to renew their subscription with your company over a given period.

Employee satisfaction: This metric measures how happy and engaged your employees are with their work. Satisfied employees are key to maintaining high levels of productivity and quality control.

Overall satisfaction: This metric measures how satisfied your customers are with their overall experience with your company. Satisfied customers are more likely to remain loyal and make repeat purchases in the future.

3) Optimize e-commerce operations with an integrated e-commerce management platform

An e-commerce management platform can help optimize e-commerce operations and make the business more profitable. With an integrated platform, businesses can manage all aspects of their e-commerce activities in one place. This can increase efficiency and help to ensure that growth is aligned with profitability.

In addition, an e-commerce management platform can provide valuable insights into customer behaviour and trends. By understanding what customers want and how they shop, businesses can make better decisions about product development, marketing, and sales. Ultimately, an e-commerce management platform can help e-commerce businesses to reach their full potential.

There are a number of different e-commerce management platforms available on the market. To select the right one for your business, it’s important to consider your specific needs and objectives. Additionally, it’s important to compare features and prices to find the platform that offers the best value.

For instance, Ordazzle is an integrated and extensible platform that helps e-commerce and omni-channel businesses achieve their true potential. It synchronises with a multitude of marketplaces, webstores, and logistics providers to help smartly manage any size of e-commerce business. Ordazzle helps manage new products and catalogues with flexible attributes, images, videos, inventory, and promotion & price updates. Handling many nodes across countries and allocating and routing orders to the right nodes Ordazzle ensures that the right products reach the right customers at the right time & cost.

4) Reduce shipping costs by using a fulfilment service

Running an e-commerce business can be a great way to tap into a growing market and make a profit. However, one of the key challenges of e-commerce is managing the costs of shipping and fulfilment. By using a fulfilment service, you can outsource your shipping and logistics operations to a third party to reduce your shipping costs and improve your profitability.

Fulfilment services provide several benefits, including access to discounted shipping rates, order tracking and management, and customer support. In addition, they can help to streamline the shipping process, making it more efficient and reducing the chance of errors.

By partnering with a fulfilment service, you can gain access to their extensive network of warehouses and distribution centres. This can help you expand your e-commerce business into new markets and reach more customers. As e-commerce continues to grow, fulfilment services will become increasingly important for businesses looking to remain profitable. By using a fulfilment service, businesses can save money on shipping and improve their bottom line.

5) Respond to customer inquiries promptly

In today’s e-commerce landscape, it is more important than ever to respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner. Not only is this good for customer relations, but it can also have a significant impact on your bottom line. Promptly responding to customer questions and concerns can help you resolve issues quickly and efficiently, preventing them from escalating into larger problems.

Responding on time shows customers you value their business and are invested in providing them with a positive experience. This can lead to repeat business and referrals, both of which are essential for e-commerce businesses to be profitable. In fact, studies have shown that e-commerce businesses that provide excellent customer service are more likely to experience growth and profitability. So if you’re looking to take your e-commerce business to the next level, make sure you’re responsive to your customers’ needs.

6) Price your products competitively without sacrificing quality

When it comes to e-commerce, pricing your products competitively is essential to driving traffic and growing your business. However, it’s also important to make sure that you don’t sacrifice quality in the process. Maintaining a balance between these two factors can be difficult, but it’s essential for ensuring profitability and long-term growth.

One way to strike this balance is to focus on offering unique or high-quality products that are still competitively priced. This can help you attract customers who are looking for a good deal, while also ensuring that your products stand out from the competition. In addition, it’s important to regularly review your prices and adjust them as necessary to ensure that they remain competitive. By taking these steps, you can ensure that your e-commerce business is both profitable and sustainable in the long run.

7) Optimize your website for search engine traffic

Organic search traffic can be a major source of revenue for e-commerce businesses. In fact, studies have shown that organic traffic accounts for an average of 40% of all e-commerce traffic. This means that if your website is not optimized for search engines, you could miss out on a significant amount of potential business.

Your website’s ranking in search results can be improved with a number of methods, such as ensuring your website’s performance and responsiveness across all screen sizes, optimising your website’s meta titles, tags and descriptors, creating relevant content, and building backlinks. By taking these steps, you can ensure that your e-commerce business is visible to potential customers and generates more traffic and sales.

8) Use paid advertising to reach more customers

Another way to generate traffic and sales for your e-commerce business is to use paid advertising. Paid ads can be a great way to reach new customers and promote your products or services to a wider audience. They can be targeted at specific demographics, interests, and even locations. This means that you can tailor your advertising campaigns to reach the people who are most likely to be interested in what you offer.

By placing ads on popular websites and search engines, you can exponentially increase your visibility and reach new potential customers who are looking for products or services like yours. Not only does paid advertising help you reach more customers, but it can also be extremely profitable. When done correctly, paid ads can generate a significant return on investment, helping you to grow your business and achieve long-term profitability.

For paid advertising, there are several options to choose from. These include search engine ads, social media ads, and display ads. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to select the one that best fits your needs. Additionally, it’s important to monitor your campaign closely and make adjustments as necessary to ensure that it is successful. By using paid advertising, you can reach more customers and boost your e-commerce business.

In conclusion, we believe that by following the tips we’ve outlined in this blog, you can make your e-commerce business more profitable. It may take some effort to get started, but with a bit of work, you can see a significant return on investment. Are there any other strategies that have worked well for you? Do let us know.