Saving Money in Order Fulfillment as an eCommerce Business

Running an eCommerce business comes with a number of ongoing costs. There are the costs associated with marketing, warehouse storage, order fulfillment, and customer service.

Finding ways to cut your costs is essential for generating the maximum profit and being able to upscale your eCommerce business. The order fulfillment process can be one of the most costly aspects of eCommerce, but it’s also the area where you can potentially save a lot of money if you’re smart.

Below, we have covered some effective strategies for cutting costs and saving money in your order fulfillment processes as an eCommerce business.

Use the Right Packaging

Every order you send needs to be packaged appropriately. This means it needs to be packed into shipping boxes or envelopes that fit the products snugly inside and are both waterproof and tamper-proof.

Snugly-fitting packaging reduces wasted space. Couriers often charge per van, so minimizing the sizes of your packages can cut your transportation costs. Preventing water damage and parcel tampering reduces product damage or theft, which can be costly to resolve.

Your packaging should also meet any specific product requirements, which might include the need for insulated packaging for shipping perishable goods. Ensuring perishable goods are packaged in insulated containers prevents them from spoiling before they arrive at customers’ homes and reduces refunds and exchanges, both of which cost money to organize.

Use a Chatbot as Part of Your Customer Service

Chatbots enable you to automate some of your customer service responses. You can set up a chatbot to respond immediately to common customer queries with preset answers to alleviate some of the stress from your customer support team’s shoulders.

Automating some of your customer service responses saves time and cuts labor costs, saving your business money. It also improves customer satisfaction by providing quick replies and rapid solutions to their issues.

Batch Similar Orders

Another helpful way to save money in your eCommerce business is order batching. This involves picking, packing, and shipping similar orders to reduce labor and transporting costs.

Batching orders makes things easier for your warehouse staff and enables you to fulfill multiple orders in one go if customers have ordered the same products.

Adopt Inventory Management Software

Consider automating your inventory management processes with specialized software. You can use inventory management to easily check stock levels and automate the ordering process when the stock level of a certain product falls below a certain threshold.

Automating inventory management reduces the need for manual stock takes and manufacturer orders. This means you’ll pay for fewer staff hours but still be able to keep up with your warehouse inventory processes.

You can also reduce the risk of ordering errors or shipment errors that could be expensive to resolve. In turn, you will be able to save even more money and grow your eCommerce business to new heights.