Thanks to companies like Amazon, Superbalist, Takealot, Zappos, and thousands of others, online shoppers want to receive their orders quickly and in a manner that suits their busy lifestyles. By using warehousing and supply chain software solutions that are geared toward eCommerce solutions, merchants can delight their customers and make their own lives less stressful.
E-commerce Explained
For starters, eCommerce is short for Electronic Commerce. It refers to the activity of buying and selling products or services over the Internet. With the help of the internet, people can buy and sell virtually anything. E-commerce provides a platform for people to buy or sell whatever they want, whenever they want.
E-commerce now plays a vital role in our daily lives. It is redefining commercial activities around the world. Over the years, eCommerce has evolved in profound ways. In an evolutionary sense, most brick-and-mortar stores are transforming into eCommerce stores. Thereby requiring the establishment of an online presence and moving core business operations online.
A well-researched article, published by Fru Kerick in 2019 gives some explosive statistics on the rise of eCommerce. In terms of eCommerce retail sales, the world spent in the region of US $4.9 trillion in 2021. According to a forecast from Insider Intelligence, by the end of 2022, the US alone will have hit the milestone of more than US$ 1 trillion in online sales. According to Statista, by 2022 South Africa will have reached the region of US $8.4 billion in online sales. Kerick says that African eCommerce activities only represent 1% of the total eCommerce transactions worldwide.
However, there is no doubt that growth is strong thanks to high mobile penetration, secure payment options, and changing spending habits as more of the population shifts their budget to shopping online. This is set to continue to increase as more and more bargain-seekers are heading online to buy. While traditional stores still dominate the market, they are not experiencing the same soaring growth as eCommerce retailers. With this steady growth, merchants that sell online need an efficient eCommerce warehousing solution to keep up with customer demand.
E-commerce warehousing solutions can benefit both the merchant and customer in many ways:
- Customers get their products faster
- Customers can track the progress of their orders
- E-commerce merchants can track their inventory turnover rates
- Improve the inventory tracking
- Prevent lost items
- Easier returns and exchange processes
- Save time and money
Companies that ship products directly to consumers or fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) organisations face the danger of losing customers to those who can fulfil orders more quickly, accurately, and with little fuss and friction. If you want to keep your customers happy, you must look at how you fulfil those orders. In today’s fast-paced world with a savvier consumer, if you have a warehouse of any consequence, an eCommerce warehousing management and distribution solution is no longer a nice to have, it is imperative.
There’s a huge opportunity for companies that use warehouses to play their A-game when it comes to eCommerce and customer delight. It’s all a matter of choosing the right warehouse management system for their needs.
An appropriate eCommerce warehousing management solution will capitalise on the merchants’ inherent strengths and will eliminate areas of vulnerability, creating less worry for both the merchant and the customer. Key features eCommerce features supported by the Best-of-Breed systems include: –
- Multiple picking technologies
- Integration with high-speed automation equipment
- Waveless picking
- Adaptable processes geared to meet rapid spikes in orders
- Accurate Inventory
- Adaptive prioritisation to meet ship schedules
The Apex Difference
With 16 years of experience, Apex has a formidable track record when it comes to eCommerce warehousing solutions in general and Third-Party Logistics (3PL) in particular. Demand for warehouse infrastructure has increased, as the need to meet faster turnaround times while handling larger volumes of small orders, direct to the consumer has increased. Apex thrives in this space as our clients will attest.
Many of the bigger merchants must have multiple warehouse sites so that they can be nearer to their customers and fulfil their orders quicker and more cost-effectively. If one doesn’t have the right warehouse management system, it can become a nightmare for warehousing and supply chain management executives and their staff.
Our warehouse management system software helps many 3PLs seamlessly integrate into all the major e-commerce platforms so that the orders are fulfilled correctly and customers are delighted.
So, whether you are a large or smaller player in the market, getting your eCommerce solution to work well is imperative … that is if you want to acquire more clients, keep them happy, have less stress, and save time.
