July 13th, 2010 by J Ackley
As we purchase more products from our computers and mobile devices, we expect a certain amount of feedback and information that assures us our new gadget will make it to its new home safely. Many do not think past the point of receiving a tracking number, and some will check and make sure their payment was billed correctly. Most of these services are required to provide good customer support and keep your client happy. What many do not think about is what happens right after an online or mobile purchase is made.
If you have ever visited a warehouse you will soon understand how a business can be affected through your service and technology in its operations. The success required to be an effective warehouse is a continuous communication connection that extends full circle from client, to the fulfillment team, and finally back to the client.
What makes a fulfillment operation stand out? The first and foremost is your people and the service they can offer your client. After you have that in place, you must develop sound processes and find or develop software that will fit the needs of your warehouse and the client. There is a set of core needs that I will discuss.
Receiving: Products are delivered to the warehouse in many ways, shapes, and forms. Systems must be flexible to allow upstream communication from the vendor to the warehouse. Allowing vendors to input their own receivers that notify the warehouse ahead of time of inventory availability allows just-in-time capabilities.
Order Fulfillment: Flexibility is the key for any operation. Having the ability to capture orders from your B2C (Business to Consumer) or B2B (Business to Business) ecommerce website and feed them real-time to your warehouse from any location requires a thorough understanding of your client and their immediate needs. Bi-directional communications between your warehouse and your ecommerce site allows immediate warehouse inventory visibility to the client, with click-through tracking being fed from UPS or FedEx straight to your client in e-mail or embedded in the client’s ecommerce site.
Client Visibility: There are two sub-sections that a client could be considered in this category. One is a B2C model dealing mainly with retail and the other is a B2B, which would include more of a third party logistics warehousing needs.
- B2C: Today’s consumers have very little time to research orders and log into multiple locations to make sure their order has been completed, charged, and shipped. A system should take the push approach that requires little effort from the consumer to find out the status of their order. By pushing e-mail/text/dashboard tools out to the consumer it creates a personalized shopping experience to know if their order is processing, shipped, and where and how soon they will receive their package.
- B2C: This approach requires an open book approach to your client. Your client should have browser capabilities to log into your warehouse and see where their product is at any point and time. This also creates an environment for ad-hoc orders without having to send e-mails or phone calls. This encapsulates all order history in one place, which leads to consistent reporting.
Reporting: Most companies still use Excel as their main source of reporting. While this is a good tool for many functions, how much turn around time does it take to get those numbers from the warehouse system out to a readable format and sent to the client? As I mentioned earlier, reporting and having browser access to real-time reports that are readily accessible should be the standard. There are many reporting needs including stock status, turns, forecasting, and low stock to name a few. You should also allow for ad-hoc and flexible custom reporting needs based on your client.
This overview is a nice starting point to understand some of the basic requirements a customer must have for today’s fast paced economy. Do you feel like you are giving the best service and visibility to your products?
Tags: b2b, b2c, mobile, tracking, warehouse
May 3rd, 2010 by Brad Buchert
He is scanning what seems to be some sort of multi-function, universal machine that the person in front of you has in her hand. Wait a minute; the cost of some of her items is going down. Maybe this shopper is a VIP; she seems to have a new kind of high-tech, discount device.
Incidentally, there are about 60 million other “VIPs” who carry the very same “high-tech discount device” as the shopper in front of you at the register. That’s the estimated number of Smartphone users in the United States at the end of 2009, according to Nielsen and CTIA. That number is growing, and rapidly.
The cashier was scanning mobile coupons from the shopper’s Smartphone. This process is certainly not new, but is relatively young in ad marketing. It’s as easy as texting a keyword to a particular code, opting in, and choosing your coupons. Then, sit back and wait on the discounts to hit your phone.
www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles // CC BY 2.0
Mobile marketing is and has been a buzz in the industry for a while now, and it’s not going away. More and more people are buying Smartphones every day. And, with this, the potential within the mobile marketing sector is growing exponentially. This method’s potential is due to several things. Notably, ease of use (explained in the previous paragraph), the elimination of paper waste, and a higher redemption rate than traditional coupons.
Paper waste is virtually eliminated using this method. No coupons are printed. The deals simply go straight from the computer screen to your phone. Redemption rates have been shown to be all over the board where mobile coupons are concerned. However, the vast majority of records show between a 5-20% redemption rate. This is a big improvement over the redemption rates of traditional coupons, which is generally around 1%. This is mainly due to the user having control over which offers they receive. All of these are very good reasons to use this more and more readily available service.
So, if you’re looking for a way to save some cash – and let’s face it, in this economic climate, who isn’t? – you have some options. Sure, you could have just one double cheeseburger rather than the usual two. Or, you could pull out your cell phone that is rarely more than 18 inches from your pocket, purse, or ear and start saving on your everyday purchases. This is an easy choice for me. I love double cheeseburgers. What will you choose?
Tags: ads, marketing, mobile, smartphones
April 26th, 2010 by Wes Shaw
I am excited to announce that this is my first blog. For what seems to be the last twelve or thirteen years (my Google search indicated blogging really took off in the late ‘90s), I have been living under a block…I mean rock. What can I say? I am a late adopter; always have been. I got my first high-def TV two years ago. I got my first iPod in 2006, five years after it was introduced. My first DVR…last year. You get the picture. I’m not sure why I do not embrace technology sooner, but something always seems to be holding me back. I think maybe I like bucking the trend. The weird thing is that after I make the purchase I realize I spent more time and energy trying to buck the trend than just enjoying what technology has to offer.
Being the late adopter, I obviously do not have a Smartphone. However, I have already decided that is going to be my next “big” technology purchase. I am coming around to the idea that, as a consumer, it’s nice to have everything I could possibly need at my fingertips. I can watch a game, play a game, bet on a game, or check scores, all with the touch of a button. As a consumer, that’s an exciting proposition to me.
So let’s think about this from an advertising perspective. I am exposed to hundreds of ads a day that aren’t relevant to me. Mobile messaging offers that relevance, because the messages are from sources that I have opted in to. Instead of spending a lot of time looking at ads in other media vehicles (TV, print, radio), I could have only relevant messages sent to my phone from the companies I choose. Obviously, this means brands are racing to find ways to be relevant and connect with consumers. Some brands are starting to get the hang of it. You can search the Internet and find some great examples of what companies are doing in this arena.
Mobile has to be the first ever ad platform that can satisfy the consumer and the advertiser simultaneously, which is exciting from an advertising standpoint. So my advice to advertisers is to not be like me and be a late adopter. Start figuring out a strategy to build a database of your customers’ cell phone numbers before it’s too late. The next step is tougher, as you must walk the fine line between sending customers the right offers at the right frequency without overwhelming them.
So next time you see me I will probably be checking out the latest issue of Wired at a bookstore I found on my Smartphone and making a list of all the newest technology gadgets I’ll wait a few months to buy.
Tags: iPhone, marketing, mobile
