Order accuracy is one of the most important metrics to track in ecommerce because it directly relates to trust between a brand and its customers. However, a lot goes into preparing an order before it is delivered, and reducing common picking and packing errors within an ecommerce fulfillment center can be difficult. You can improve order accuracy and meet customer expectations by implementing the right systems and processes. Taking small steps to continually improve your order accuracy rate can result in huge benefits for your business that are worth the extra effort.
BEST WAYS TO IMPROVE ORDER ACCURACY WITHIN ECOMMERCE FULFILLMENT CENTERS
1. Set Order Accuracy Rate Goals
Without clear direction, it’s easy to let your order accuracy rate slip or remove it from your list of key metrics to monitor. Make a point of setting goals for optimizing and improving it. Begin by determining your current order accuracy rate, and then establish a reasonable goal and time frame for action items. If you’re working with a group, clearly communicate the goal and how each team member can improve the rate.
2. Analyze Product Velocity
It makes no sense to place products that do not sell frequently in the front of your storage racks and the most popular items in the back or on the top shelves. When it comes to order picking, you’ll want to carefully analyze product velocity to strategically “slot” your products. Many warehouses employ velocity-based slotting, considering how frequently specific products leave. Analyze your product velocity, travel time, and other factors to find the best location for this frequently turned inventory.
3. Enhance The Inventory Management Process
Your inventory management process can significantly impact how accurately orders are picked. Order problems are frequently caused by disorganized inventory and a lack of stock control in your warehouse or insufficient inventory to fulfill orders. Investing in inventory management software and other tools can assist you in tracking inventory, forecasting future demand, and automating tasks such as setting up reorder points to avoid stockouts.
4. Improve The Picking And Packing Procedure.
Most order processing errors occur during the picking and packing phases of the ecommerce order fulfillment process, so take the time to evaluate areas for improvement across your distribution centers to reduce error rates. Get feedback from your team on what can be improved, optimized, or even automated across print on demand fulfillment operations to reduce common errors. Warehouse slotting, or the process of storing ecommerce inventory in the most convenient location for the selector, is one solution to this problem.
5. Leverage the Right Technology
Implementing fulfillment center technology is one of the most effective ways to improve order accuracy because it reduces the amount of manual labor required to fulfill and ship an order. A warehouse management system (WMS) allows you to automate processes that allow order pickers to focus on speed and accuracy while providing additional validations and quality checks at each stage of fulfillment. By implementing a WMS, you also gain full visibility into real-time inventory levels and storage, staff productivity, and fulfillment workflows within a warehouse.
6. Analyze Error Data
Even with the best processes and technology, some picking errors will almost certainly occur. You will often be able to identify additional opportunities to refine your warehouse organization, change your picking strategies, or implement new automation solutions that will result in additional gains. Implementing these best practices to improve picking accuracy in your warehouse will help you drive efficiency and establish your company as a leader in customer service.
7. Maintain Accurate Inventory Data
No strategy for increasing the accuracy of your picking activities will be effective unless it is built on a solid foundation of timely and accurate data. You need to easily identify and quickly locate products using rack labels and internal signage. One of the most effective methods is using a warehouse management system (WMS) with RFID tags. RFID labels have unique identifiers encoded and can be scanned remotely and in bulk. These provide real-time inventory data, virtually eliminating the possibility of a routine error or mismatch.
FINAL WORDS
One of the most important indicators of ecommerce success is the accurate delivery of a new customer’s order. While there are strategies you can use to improve order accuracy, the bottom line is that delegating the fulfillment process to the print on demand service provider experts is one of the simplest parts of the business for an ecommerce brand to outsource.
Our goal at Fulfillplex is to help you save time on logistics operations while providing best-in-class fulfillment technology to help you run your business more efficiently. As a top ecommerce fulfillment company, we add value to our clients by providing the most dependable, effective, and customized order fulfillment services available to meet your demands. We also use high-quality software systems to manage your warehouse, so contact us now if you’re looking for the right fulfillment company.
