Omnichannel Order Fulfillment: The Key to Improve Retention Rates?

Omnichannel order fulfillment, last-mile delivery, delivery on-demand. Ever heard of that? The words might not roll off the tongue, but it’s a phrase you need to know. In essence, it’s making sure that the ordering process is harmonized across touchpoints to ensure a speedy and efficient order delivery for customers. Getting it right is essential for ensuring high levels of retention.

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Optimizing delivery operations has always been a hot topic for obvious reasons, but with the development of multiple channels for reaching customers, it’s becoming an ever-pressing necessity.

Omnichannel order fulfillment: What is it?

Forget ‘omnichannel’ for a second: what is order fulfillment?

Order fulfillment refers to all the steps in getting a product to a customer. Think about managing inventory, processing orders, picking stock, shipping packages, and delivering the product.

In today’s digital world, multiple channels are available for customers to interact with your company—hence why we talk about ‘omnichannel.’ You’ll probably have an online store (you can get a .io domain, as it can be easily incorporated into your company title and stick in your customers’ minds more efficiently), a brick-and-mortar shop, a mobile app, and maybe even an online marketplace. 

If we combine the concept of ‘order fulfillment’ with ‘omnichannel’, we refer to the processes whereby orders are managed and executed through multiple channels. Importantly, these channels are all integrated, meaning a customer may order via an app, use an online chat box for queries, and pick up their order in a physical store.

Therefore, a big part of the omnichannel experience is that each touchpoint is seamlessly integrated with no dead ends. And it’s not just the physical demands of placing an order that needs to be integrated. You should make sure that email hosting is included in your domain price. Hence, you have a professional business email to contact customers and ensure marketing materials such as the company logo, colors, font, and name are integrated.

Naturally, getting all of the above right is pretty important. But how important, exactly?

The importance of omnichannel order fulfillment

The online shopping experience has changed dramatically in the past thirty years. Consider, for one thing, the development of digital payments and how they rocked the retail industry.

But something happened in the last five years that’s accelerated everything.

The pandemic upended nearly every corner of our lives, and ordering online is no different. With most of the globe stuck at home, the ability to magic things to the front door at the touch of a button wasn’t only convenient: it became the lifeblood of countries living between four walls.

And it looks like consumers aren’t ready to give up this newly acquired lifestyle.

What does that mean for you? Customers want speed and convenience with little cost to themselves. Ensuring convenience is now a non-negotiable because otherwise, your customers will go elsewhere. 

Even if you can’t be bothered to speed up delivery times, your competitor certainly will. The bottom line? Optimize your omnichannel order fulfillment to keep your customers.

Luckily, we are about to tell you how you can do just that.

How to improve your omnichannel order fulfillment

You can do many things to improve your omnichannel order fulfillment; this list certainly isn’t exhaustive. Consider it a jumping-off point to get you started.

• Automation and AI

One of the smartest things you can do is automate processes within the order fulfillment chain. Many tools help you optimize each process step, such as order management and inventory tracking. Many of them use artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that looks to the future.

Multiple AI technologies can predict future returns across channels, suggest the most cost-efficient steps, and rationalize dropships. These can all be great additions to your order fulfillment tools. 

Regarding customer service, you can also use AI-powered virtual chatbots that use natural language processing to handle automatable calls, such as shipping and delivery updates. On top of this, should a customer need to speak to a live agent about their order, AI can quickly route them to the best available agent. Both of which can improve order fulfillment and ensure a good customer experience. 

• A single view of inventory

Using data analytics is the smartest way to optimize your workflow. It’s as crucial to boosting restaurant revenue for hospitality professionals as it is to checking stock levels for clothing store owners.

Suppose you want to offer a streamlined and efficient omnichannel shopping experience. In that case, you need to be able to check your inventory levels with up-to-the-minute accuracy.

• Returns management

Returns can be the ultimate headache. Many consumers fail to replace or exchange the returned items, leading to overstocking and markdowns. As mentioned above, AI technology can help evaluate locations, inventory levels, and shipping costs to optimize the process. 

This is helpful for both you and the customer, but remember to always include feedback forms in your packaging. The more data you get from customers regarding their shopping behavior, the easier it is to plan and account for the future – and this applies to returned items, too.

• Flexible fulfillment options

The driving force of optimizing omnichannel order fulfillment is delivering first-in-class convenience to customers.

Key to this is offering various services that meet the needs of different customer segments. For example, different customers want different shipping options depending on the product they’re buying. Overnight, expedited, and same-day delivery options can be appropriate, depending on the situation.

For example, Deliverect Dispatch allows businesses to choose the right delivery provider on-demand, depending on the businesses' needs.

• Strong customer service

We’ve already mentioned it, but it’s worth repeating: convenience is critical to customer retention. 

Offering impeccable customer service doesn’t necessarily pertain to the actual order fulfillment process, but it will improve the overall customer experience. 

Providing customer service agents with the best technology ensures that consumers receive more seamless and personalized customer service.

The future of omnichannel order fulfillment

Thanks to AI and automation, omnichannel order fulfillment is growing more achievable. 

AI-powered retail technologies and inventory software can streamline operations and deliver capabilities we never thought possible. From intelligent return predictions to real-time inventory tracking, we can improve order fulfillment's timeliness, cost-effectiveness, and accuracy.

But AI isn’t the only way to improve omnichannel order fulfillment. Offering flexible fulfillment options and delivering high-quality customer service are just as important.

Now you’re up-to-date on omnichannel order fulfillment and why it’s important – and you also know where to start.