Tag: East Coast Fulfillment Warehouse

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Ecommerce Management Resolutions for 2023 – Are You On Track?

businessman looking at hand drawn business concept sketch

For 2023 you made a resolution to lose weight, read more and eat your vegetables. Have you given any thought to New Year’s resolutions that you made for your Ecommerce business? With May upon us, it is time to review what you resolved to do with your business now to see that you are on track to meet your goals.

Our fulfillment warehouse team is here to offer some helpful suggestions to help you stay on track or catch up.

1. Step up your customer service.

If December is a month of sales, January is a month of returns. People are taking stock of their gifts, sorting out which ones to keep and which ones to send back.

While no business enjoys dealing with returns, how you handle them will greatly affect how customers perceive you. Gracious and professional customer service will leave people with a favorable impression. In many cases, you may even manage to turn those refunds into sales.

If you did not review your return policy and customer service, now is a good time for a checkup.

2. Get creative with marketing techniques.

Post-holidays, customers go into January with a shopping hangover, leaving sales as cold as the temperatures. Dig deep into your marketing bag of tricks for creative ways to generate sales. There is still time to do some constructive promotion planning this month to assure you meet your sales goals.

Consider these possibilities:

• Review abandoned shopping carts from the last few months and send emails to gently prompt customers to complete the sale.

• Encourage shoppers to redeem gift cards at your online storefront.

• Make judicious use of discounts and coupons. For example, make them contingent on a minimum purchase to drive multiple sales.

3. Analyze your inventory.

After the controlled chaos of the holiday season, inventory numbers may be off. Now is the time to reconcile quantities on hand and current pricing to avoid disappointed customers.

Did you turn up some products that didn’t move as well as expected? Run a sale to help clear out those items and make room for new products.

If you skipped this review earlier in the year, now is a good time to take stock of your inventory and do clearance sales or routine reorders.

Team Up with Our Fulfillment Warehouse

Inventory reporting and quality customer service are just two of the benefits provided by partnering with Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics. Contact us today for more information.

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Does Amazon’s “New Normal” Come with New Problems?

Fulfillment Company Warehouse

In 2005, when Amazon debuted their revolutionary Prime membership program, the centerpiece was unlimited free two-day shipping. As Jeff Bezos declared in the announcement, it was “all-you-can-eat express shipping.”

In an effort to remain the gold standard of online shopping, many items have since been upgraded to next-day shipping. But as with many companies, Amazon has been forced to adapt as the pandemic altered the retailing landscape. What does Amazon’s “new normal” mean for the sellers who rely on their fulfillment services?

Fulfillment by Amazon: The Answer for Third-Party Sellers?

A year after Prime began, Amazon upped the ante by creating Fulfillment by Amazon. This program allowed third-party sellers to store their inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, where the products were cataloged and shipped to customers. FBA sellers also benefited by having their products eligible for Prime.

How powerful is FBA? Research found that three-quarters of Amazon’s top 100,000 sellers utilize the program. The number jumps to an astounding 90 percent for sellers based outside the United States

How the Pandemic Changed Amazon and Online Retailing

While Amazon was already the king of online retailing, demand became even higher as the onset of the pandemic caused widespread closure of brick-and-mortar shops. The first blow to third-party sellers came in March 2020, when the company cut off inbound FBA shipments of everything but high-priority products such as medical supplies.

The essentials-only mandate eased up in July 2020, but that didn’t mean FBA was back to “normal.” Quantity restrictions went into effect, limiting the amount of warehouse space that would be allocated to new products or those with more modest sales history.

One of the benefits of FBA is that products could flow through the warehouse and out to customers on a consistent and reliable basis. Some sellers found their inventory limits didn’t match demand, causing out-of-stock situations and hampering their ability to grow.

Inventory Limits by Any Other Name

In an announcement dated April 22, 2021, Amazon proclaimed that they had listened to feedback from their sellers and were removing limits based on ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number, which is assigned to every item in the company’s catalog). The bad news? Limits were now being set at the account level.

Despite Amazon’s efforts to play this up as a positive change, sellers were devastated. As one explained, instead of impacting only a few of their items, the reduction in space now had to accommodate his entire product offering. Adding insult to injury, the change took effect on the same day as the announcement, leaving sellers scrambling to conform to these new restrictions.

The Fallout Continues

While the Amazon customer experience remains relatively the same, it’s a whole different story behind the scenes. Inventory limits and other changes, such as long-term storage fees being charged monthly instead of annually, make it clear that Amazon has positioned FBA for short-term supply.

Sellers no longer have the convenience of using FBA as a one-stop solution for their storage and shipping needs. More and more are looking already to turn to additional third-party logistics companies for backup warehousing. They also face the uncertainty of knowing that Amazon can and will change the rules with little or no notice.

Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics: Working to Promote Your Success

Do you sometimes feel like David fighting Goliath? Our Amazon replenishment warehousing service provides a cost-effective solution that’s responsive to your particular needs.

Features include:

• Lower storage fees

• Climate-controlled warehouse space

• Amazon-compliant labeling, packing and prep

• Software that interfaces with Amazon as well as the industry’s top shopping cart systems

Contact the team at Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics today to learn more and loosen the grip Amazon has on your ability to grow.

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The Technology Behind Successful Ecommerce Fulfillment

Fulfillment Warehouse

Online sales in the United States have more than surpassed expectations. In 2012, online sales hit a record $226 billion, and accounted for 7% of all total retail sales. Experts projected $327 billion by 2016, but they were wrong… Total online sales in 2016 were $394 billion! If your fulfillment company isn’t participating in the ecommerce segment, no doubt you know that you’re missing out on an exceptional opportunity!

In this article, I’ll focus on the technological capabilities a warehouse needs in order to implement an ecommerce fulfillment service. The article isn’t going to be about listing the pros and cons of the Top 10 software programs on the market, because I don’t know your current capabilities or strategic goals. Instead, I believe that the most productive approach is to breakdown the process to help you identify where you can improve your systems.

Let’s talk about process integration. Ecommerce clients will typically approach a fulfillment company with an established business infrastructure. Integration means adapting your systems to plug into those of your customer. The processes that are frequently affected are:

  • Order Capture & Management
  • Picking/Packing & Shipping
  • Synchronizing Order and Inventory Status
  • Visibility
  • Client & Customer Service

Order Capture & Management

There are more than 300 ecommerce shopping cart companies on the market. Your company needs to be technically capable of adapting to the wide variety of methodologies for communicating with those carts. Orders from carts need to be harvested on a regular basis, controlled to insure none are dropped or duplicated, and converted into a form that is compatible with your system.

I believe this area represents the greatest technical challenge for fulfillment companies in the ecommerce space. Your tool bag for interfacing with a client’s systems must include a wide array of technologies, including the ability to interact with flat files, Application Program Interfaces, Web Services, File Transfer Protocol, call center systems, and the occasional manual-order entry. IT resources to plan the implementation and support this process need to be broadly skilled and creative. Administrative resources that perform the daily-order harvesting routines need to be highly attentive to detail.

Picking/Packing & Shipping

This process is probably the most straightforward. Picking slips are generated, product is picked and boxed, and shipping labels are applied using traditional fulfillment methods. Although there may be special requirements for packing slip and box branding, those requirements don’t vary much from conventional fulfillment. It is essential to operate at a very fast past as ecommerce performance is measured in hours and the volume of orders is measured in thousands per day.

Synchronizing Order and Inventory Status

Ecommerce fulfillment requires that the client’s shopping cart has the most recent inventory and order status information. Your systems need to regularly communicate inventory availability to the cart to ensure that a client’s customer is made aware of out-of-stock situations before placing an order. Customers also need to be able to reference the shopping cart to find the status of their order. Process synchronization between your operation and that of your client is an absolute necessity.

Visibility

Ecommerce fulfillment is very fast moving! We used to joke that customers would press the “buy” button and run to the front door looking for the UPS truck! With Amazon’s latest experiments in same-day delivery, this joke is almost a reality. Given the speed of ecommerce, it’s important for your clients to be able to have a real-time window into your process and inventory. At a minimum, clients should be able to see orders and inventory in near real time. The leading-edge, ecommerce fulfillment companies have taken a more pro-active stance by publishing “alerts” when important events are happening in the fulfillment process. Alert examples might include: Product X is running low on inventory; a new shipment of stock has arrived; or a customer has returned an order.

Client & Customer Service

The fulfillment process is heavily impacted by fast-paced marketing and promotional decisions. Ecommerce client support typically requires a designated coordinator to represent the client’s requirements to the fulfillment organization and to coordinate program changes. The volume and minutiae of detail often warrant the implementation of “issue logging” and “project workflow” processes within the organization. Given the pace of the business, these processes are best automated.

Some clients, particularly the Entrepreneur and Offshore segments, may ask the fulfillment organization to manage customer support. This might involve call-center work, authorizing returns, handling the occasional complaint, and so on. These client groups often have too small a volume to outsource their work to large call center. Having an arsenal of exceptional customer-support tools, therefore, positions you to capitalize on a good revenue opportunity.

In summary, successful ecommerce fulfillment relies on solid technical foundations. Warehouses and 3PLs must understand that ecommerce clients have very different needs (and expectations) for the technical aptitude, agility and pace of their fulfillment partners.  To fully capitalize on the ecommerce segment, your fulfillment service must meet–and exceed–these requirements.

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Building an E-newsletter List? Make Sure You Are CAN-SPAM Compliant

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Have you ever felt burned by getting a piece of mail from your bank, cable company or insurer whose envelope blared “Important Account Information Enclosed”? You know the outcome: You opened the envelope, that “important information” turned out to be an ad.

Translate that print tactic into untold millions of e-newsletters in distribution, and you will understand why the CAN-SPAM business compliance guide was created.

Email a Powerful Attraction Tactic

Even in an age of Facebook “likes” and Twitter “tweets,” email and e-newsletters — when handled right — continue to be a robust tool for marketers.

  • According to 2011 statistics published by Exact Target, 42 percent of subscribers are more likely to purchase from a company whose emails they subscribe to.
  • The other side of that coin? Content Marketing Institute notes that the e-newsletter open rate can go as low as 8 percent, with monthly newsletters averaging in the low-20 range.

So the audience making up your e-newsletter lists needs to be one you screen carefully — those on your list should be the people most likely to find your information valuable enough to subscribe and to read at least occasionally with few opt-outs. If you use purchased e-newsletter lists, ensure they are from reputable sources consisting only of “opt in” subscribers.

Keeping Out of Trouble

Once you’ve identified an audience to invite as subscribers, you must establish an acceptable template for your message. Just a few false moves, and your carefully crafted e-newsletter could end up in the spam folder.

CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003) establishes standards for commercial email, including e-newsletters. It spells out what you can and cannot say, and sets penalties for violations.

Under the CAN-SPAM rules, for example, you are required to:

  • Identify the nature of your message as an e-newsletter.
  • Tell recipients where you are located. Your e-newsletter must include both an email return address and a valid physical postal address.
  • Tell recipients how they can opt-out of your e-newsletter, and honor their request within 10 business days.

Conversely, the CAN-SPAM law prohibits:

  • False or misleading header information. In other words, the “To,” “From” and “Reply to” headers must accurately identify the person or company initiating the email.
  • Deceptive subject lines. No false promises, “gotcha” wording or other text that doesn’t reflect on the actual content of the e-newsletter.
  • Sending through an open relay or using harvested email address (both examples of technology that allows spammers to find and use lists).

And of course, the CAN-SPAM act requires you to truthfully describe any products or services you are offering for sale in your e-newsletter — and if you are positioning this information as an ad, you must identify it as such.

How to Attract More Subscribers

Subscribers can quickly become un-subscribers, so identifying and attracting new audiences is an important part of your e-newsletter strategy.

How can you encourage people to opt-in?

  • Promote your e-newsletter on your website’s homepage. Keep a colorful sign-up icon near the top of the screen, as you can never rely on visitors scrolling all the way down.
  • Invite new customers to subscribe. If someone makes a purchase through your website, follow it up with an email invitation to the newsletter. You can use the same tactic with visitors who leave contact information on your landing page.
  • Include a “send to a friend” link on every e-newsletter to encourage forwards from subscribers.
  • Promote your e-newsletter on your social media pages; include sneak-peeks of articles or offers that subscribers will find in the newsletter.
  • Offer a free gift to new subscribers. It can be a special deal or item associated with your business, or something general, such as a drawing for an iPad. (However, all giveaways and drawings must be “no purchase necessary” in nature and something anyone may enter.)

Test and Test Again

The way you handle your e-newsletter lists may change once you see how many people opt-in and opt-out of their subscriptions. As with most forms of web marketing, e-newsletters can benefit from testing and measuring results to create the ideal marketing tool for you.

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Boosting Your Business with Loyalty Programs and Incentives – 3 Considerations

As online shopping continues to make the consumer marketplace broader than ever, incentive-based programs remain an effective way to gain, nurture and retain customers. Not convinced? Consider these eye-opening statistics:

• According to a January 2016 report in Chief Marketer, the average North American shopper is a member of 13 loyalty and promotional programs.

• Jupiter Research has found that 80 percent of Internet users enter a sweepstakes at least once a year.

Planning Your Promotional and Loyalty Programs

Promotional programs should be planned carefully to get the most bang for your buck. Here are three factors that play a crucial role in the success of any rebates, contests or loyalty rewards.

1. Big Data
While the term may not sound particularly sophisticated, it gets right to the point: “Big Data” refers to the massive sets of information that can be captured and analyzed to uncover consumer habits, patterns and trends. The amounts of available data are increasing exponentially, so the key is getting your arms around it up-front to keep it organized and consolidated in a way that allows for thorough and accurate analysis to allow you to have actionable information for your promotion.

2. Social Media
Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become popular vehicles for promotions, and growing channels Instagram and Snapchat have quickly joined the party. It pays to partner up with a promotions expert who understands how to best leverage social media for easy participation and maximum returns.

3. Rise of the Millennials
Millennials are defined as young adults born between the years of 1980 and 2000. Members of this tech-savvy generation are more willing than their parents to allow access to personal data and web habits when the results, such as personally targeted offers, benefit them. Combine that with an expected spending power of $1.4 trillion by the year 2020, and it’s clear that millennials should be a big part of your promotional plan.

Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics: Your One-Stop Solution

For 2020 plan on focusing on growing sales and boosting your marketing efforts and let us handle the rest. We have more than 25 years of experience handling fulfillment services ranging from receiving and warehousing goods to credit card and rebate processing. Contact us today to learn more about how we can be a full-service solution for your fulfillment needs.