Why you need supply chain diversification
With the increasing sharing of information and transparency due to the internet, customers are looking for a better experience. We live in an age where customers expect whatever they buy to reflect their values while using social media to showcase their shopping habits. Businesses are upping their game to meet their expectations of sustainability, diversity, and supply chain diversification. What is supply chain diversification? It is a term that deals with the strategy of manufacturing businesses to enlarge the range of suppliers they work with to increase their product choices when it comes to the supply chain. Working with larger suppliers allows manufacturers to operate in a flexible manner, thereby adapting to the ever-changing customer market. Importance of Supply Chain Diversification A company might decide to use supply chain diversification for various purposes. However, these benefits are broken into four areas, which we will discuss briefly. Encouraging Innovation Communicating with suppliers isn’t a one-way process where the producer places an order, and the supplier fulfills it. When you work with different suppliers, you can think beyond your company while encouraging innovation and more creative approaches. Drives better approaches When you have a diversified supplier base, it means you can easily become the reflection of the customers you serve. Broadening your geographical supplier bases allow you to offer competitive prices within the local level. Small-medium enterprises tend to be flexible and focused on their customer base compared to large global suppliers. Cost savings Another benefit of supply chain diversification is that it allows you to save costs. For instance, recent research shows that when you work with different suppliers, it helps to minimize the cost to a certain level. Interestingly, it is a fact that the biggest suppliers don’t always offer the best cost efficiency compared to small-medium businesses, which have a lot to offer to customers. Stay ahead of competitors It is never a secret that successful businesses look for opportunities to minimize the cost of operation. Strategically sourcing for raw materials, minimizing waste, and efficient processes helps to save more money while providing more scope to charge a competitive price. It means the competitive price is not more about price but about the ethics of growing concern for the environment. How BackOrder Can Solve Your Out-of-Stock Pain Points Out-of-stock situations can severely impact your sales and customer satisfaction, especially when your supply chain is disrupted. Here’s how BackOrder can help you address these critical pain points: Never Miss a Sale: BackOrder ensures that you never lose potential revenue by automatically switching products to backorder status when inventory reaches zero. This automation keeps sales flowing even when stock levels are low. Enhance Customer Experience: By keeping customers informed with customizable backorder notifications, you reduce frustration and build trust. Customers are more likely to wait for their desired products when they know exactly when they will be back in stock. Streamline Inventory Management: Integrating seamlessly with your IMS/ERP, BackOrder maintains your inventory management workflow without manual interventions. This ensures accurate inventory data and synchronization across all platforms. Flexible Application: Apply backorder settings to specific products or variants such as different sizes, colors, or materials. This flexibility allows you to manage inventory more effectively and cater to specific customer needs. Effective Inventory Planning: Set thresholds to control backorder quantities and plan your incoming stock more strategically. This proactive approach helps you manage stock levels and meet customer demand without overburdening your supply chain. Implementing BigCommerce BackOrder can transform how you handle out-of-stock scenarios, keeping your customers happy and your sales steady, even during supply chain disruptions. Risk of Supply Chain Diversification There are several risks associated with supply chain continuity, including politics, electronic attacks, economy, and natural disasters. A lot of things can disrupt your supply chain if you don’t have a robust supply chain. These can disrupt your business and impact your operation, customer delivery, and cost money and time on your business. However, with supply chain diversification, you can mitigate these risks by ensuring you have a solid supplier base to cater to your business. Nevertheless, to optimize risk management, you need to be strategic in choosing your suppliers. For further more please contact us!
Order management system best practices
For any eCommerce store, managing an online order process, starting from the initial order to fulfillment of the order, is a critical part of their growth. While doing this, it is also best to have a post-purchase follow-up strategy. It will help retain loyal customers that would repeat the process. To keep this order cycle flowing continuously requires a great deal of attention and accuracy. With good order management practice, you can get better oversight and control of your ordering process. The success of your store hangs on the best order management practice you implement. For instance, it would help you manage your sales cycles while eliminating any errors with customer shipments and orders. To help new eCommerce store owners, let’s look at the best practice you can employ when receiving orders. What is Order Management? Order management involves the process of aligning your inventory and customer sales through various sales channels. These processes include the receiving, payment processing, and fulfillment process. Order management is a task you can do manually but will cause customer attrition and employee burnout. To avoid this, most eCommerce businesses use an order management system to handle the large volume of work, reduce errors, and increase order processing time. It helps in the customer experience process. Order management system best Practices As mentioned above, order management comprises several processes that help your business. You can implement various practices in an order management system; however, our focus here will be the best practice when receiving orders from customers. Ensure all fields are required To avoid inaccuracy when ordering, you need to ensure all fields are marked as required. It would help to avoid any incomplete information from customers. If you have all the information you need about a customer, you don’t have to call back to request additional information when a problem with fulfillment arises. Furthermore, ensure the compulsory fields include email and delivery address. Automated Order Confirmation Immediately after you receive an order, the automated system should send a confirmation message to the customer. For a check and balance system, it is the next step to implement to ensure the customer has made the right order. Furthermore, the email should include instructions on contacting the store peradventure the item is not what you ordered. Having an automation tool can assist you in many tasks other than automated emails. Find out more in our automation template library. If you’re a merchant on BigCommerce, one typical automation app is Atom8, which automates store management tasks to enhance business productivity. You can explore it here: The app automatically solves repetitive store management tasks. Centralize your inventory Another best practice to implement is to use an inventory tracking system that allows you to know when you need to re-order a particular item. Depending on your eCommerce platform, some come with free tools that enable you to centralize your inventory. Flagging unique orders Some orders, including rush delivery, return items, or VIP customer orders, which have a special gift, require special attention. Here, you need to create a unique code for these special orders and educate your employees on checking for these orders. You can create a ticker that alerts you once there is a particular order. If you run a bigger store, you can specially appoint a team to handle these orders to help in your customer retention strategy.
