It’s official ”we are now living in the e-commerce golden age. These days, customers are eschewing malls, grocery stores, and even showrooms, for the uber-convenient option that is online shopping. In fact, e-commerce is expected to overtake in-store sales in the U.S. by 2024, and the unstoppable growth of e-commerce is often blamed for the closure of brick-and-mortar stores; a record of 7,000 retail stores closed their doors in 2017, marking a year-over-year increase of more than 200%.
But, while e-commerce retailers have all of the potential in the world to grow and expand, Herculean competition in the form of new economy conglomerates, like Amazon, keep day-to-day operations challenging.
Speedy and effective fulfillment, in particular, is one of the most obvious trials for e-commerce companies, especially considering the fact that online shoppers have been reaping the rewards of cheap, same-day shipping for the past several years now. Because of this, fledgling e-commerce companies are beginning to get hip to the fact that the survival and future of their businesses might depend more on speed of delivery than anything else.
So, what’s the best way to give your e-commerce business the fighting chance that it deserves? Instead of digging yourself into a hole by offering shipping features that might not be sustainable in the long run, instead, focus on your supply chain management ” in particular, its end-to-end visibility. It’s a concept that might be a simple one to grasp, but it’s also one that when implemented correctly, can have a lasting positive impact on your business.
What is End-to-End Visibility?
When speaking in terms of supply chain management, end-to-end visibility refers to the practice of catalog and inventory transparency between you, your suppliers and your customers. It’s a goal that many retailers have pursued for years, but integration is a sticking point: 75% of shippers say their visibility tools aren’t integrated with their operating systems and just 39% of shippers leverage visibility tools to gather data to inform real-time decision making. But about one-third (33%) of consumers in the U.S. place blame on retailers when sought-after items are out of stock, damaging brand loyalty and hindering long-term sales.
Putting end-to-end visibility into practice sounds simple; it calls for both suppliers and customers to see any inventory changes that happen in real-time. Both parties are also given accurate shipping dates as well as estimated dates on when inventory is expected to come back in stock. In taking an even more holistic approach, both should clearly see if your inventory is running low, or even better, the exact number of items that are currently available.
As you can see, end-to-end visibility does two very important things: 1) it amps up customer satisfaction as it allows them to gain more control over their shopping experience, and 2) it provides your suppliers with necessary information in real time, which cuts out unnecessary confusion and back-and-forth.
How Analytics and Big Data Makes End-to-End Visibility Possible
When it comes to shoring up your supply chain management, it’s important that your e-commerce business stays abreast of the latest and greatest in analytics. While following inventory best practices, such as optimizing warehouse organization and implementing order picking strategies are beneficial (and necessary), sometimes it’s most helpful to invest in cutting-edge technology.
Take predictive analytics, for instance. It’s been around for a while, but the technology has gotten to the point where it’s able to seamlessly systematize all existing inventory and take those numbers to forecast what your business’ inventory situation might look like, say, six months from now. This is done by using algorithms to calculate your e-commerce business’ sales data, including purchases, customer needs, potential risks, insight into new sales categories, product recommendations and even responses to customer queries. It’s data and analytics that make the personalized shopping experiences today’s consumers prefer a reality.
Though it might take some capital on your part to invest in the technology, it will provide you, your suppliers and your customers with a much more accurate view of your current and future inventory.
Why End-to-End Visibility Makes for Faster Fulfillment ” and Increased Sales
So, you’re an e-commerce business that is currently stressing about whether your valuable customers are going to ditch you for a service that will deliver their goods by drone. While it’s a completely understandable anxiety, it’s also one that can be alleviated by delving even deeper into your supply chain’s visibility.
We already know that implementing predictive analytics is the best way to heighten end-to-end visibility, but let’s look at how the investment can have a positive influence on fulfilment times and even sales.
Let’s say that your e-commerce business specializes in the sale of camping equipment. You have a loyal customer base and you have been able to keep prices fairly low, but several e-commerce behemoths are beginning to outdo you in terms of price and fulfilment time. In this situation, what are you to do?
1. Have a meeting with your supply chain manager and your warehouse manager
You might have gotten into the habit over the years of talking to these two separately, but when your goal is to increase visibility, it’s essential that you get the most informed perspectives in your company together to brainstorm a solution.
After verbalizing your goals, take time to analyze each department’s current process. In this discussion, your warehouse manager might realize that it’s time to try out a new order picking system or that, to meet your demands, you should invest in the newest robotic technologies. While discussing this, your supply chain manager might realize that it’s time to renegotiate with your current supplier, or even plan for a new one altogether.
2. Speak with your IT team
Your supply chain manager might be instantly energized by your goals, but that doesn’t mean that you should go out and invest in the first predictive analytics system that they’ve heard of. In this case, have a conversation with your company’s IT manager to get a better idea of what software will easily integrate with your existing software and other technologies. From there, you will know what is possible in terms of set-up time, budget, manpower, and investments.
3. Have an honest discussion about budget and your future goals
Increasing end-to-end visibility in one form or another is key, but before you make any big budgetary considerations, you must look at the best way in which you should go about strengthening it.
Of course, implementing a predictive analysis system provides automated visibility and transparency for you, your suppliers and your customers, but you might not have the budget to switch over at the moment. In this case, explore other big data options, like standard analysis systems that might improve on your existing techniques.
So, to backtrack, how does end-to-end visibility speed up your delivery times ” and potentially make you more cash?
Answer: it’s all about data and analytics. If you have an effective way to aggregate customer and supplier data that is transparent on all sides, you will get to communicate with both parties immediately without them needing to make queries. This means that you will have more valuable time to spend evaluating the statistics so that you can better optimize your inventory strategy.
And, of course, this also means faster delivery, which for the speedy fulfilment-loving customers of modern times have shown us, can translate into big dollar signs for your business!
