Fulfill Business Orders Online With Shipping Options
Being online can help you when it comes to the last step in the e-commerce dance: fulfilling orders. Fulfillment refers to what happens after a sale is made. Typical fulfillment tasks include:
1. Goods packing
2. Freight Forwarding
3. Solve delivery problems or answer questions about orders that have not reached their destination
4. Send invoices
5. Follow up to see if the customer is satisfied
Fulfilling orders may seem like the least exciting part of running a business, online or otherwise. But from the point of view of your customers, it is the most important business of all.
The back (or, to use the Microsoft term, BackOffice) of your online business is where order fulfillment comes in. If you have a database where you record customer orders, link it to your website so that your customers can track them. Request #%s.
Dreamweaver or ColdFusion can help you set up a database. (Dreamweaver has built-in commands that allow you to link to a ColdFusion database.) Alternatively, if you don’t want to go through your database setup efforts yourself, you rely on the market’s backend capabilities, which may be more limited.
Provide links to shipping services
One advantage of being online is that you can help customers track packages after shipment. FedEx Online Order Tracking receives thousands of orders every day and is widely recognized as one of the most successful marketing tools on the web. If you use FedEx, provide your customers with a link to their online tracking page.
Other large shipping services have also set up their own online tracking systems. You can link to these sites as well:
1. United Parcel Service
2. US Postal Service Express Express
3. DHL: Be aware that DHL no longer accepts shipments from the US to a local US address but will ship to/from other countries.
Clearly present shipping options
In order to fulfill, as in receiving payments, it is useful to offer your customers as many options as possible and to explain the options in detail. Since you are online, you can provide your customers with as much shipping information as possible. Web surfers are hounds of knowledge – they can never get enough data, whether it’s about shipping or other parts of your business.
When it comes to shipping, be sure to describe the options, the cost of each, and how long each one takes. Here are some more specific suggestions:
1. Compare shipping costs. Use an online service, such as InterShipper, that allows you to submit the origin, destination, weight and dimensions of the package you want to ship via a web page form and then return the cheapest shipping alternatives.
2. Make sure you can track the package. Choose a service that allows you to track the shipment status of your package.
3. Be able to confirm receipt. If you use USPS, ship the package “request a return receipt” because tracking is not available – unless you are using priority mail or express mail. You can confirm delivery by priority (domestic) mail and parcel post.
Many online stores offer shipping alternatives in the form of a table or bulleted list of options – or at least a set of options that resemble a bulleted list. When you’re ready to pay for your items and provide a shipping address, you’ll see the shipping options sorted just like a bulleted list.