Between speed and reliability, here are the keys to efficient order processing

Every year, e-commerce market figures reach record levels.

To keep pace with the explosion in online sales, companies have no choice but to adapt and optimise their organisational processes. And they do this in order to satisfy customers who are used to increasingly competitive delivery times.

What are the challenges you face in terms of logistics? What tools should you adopt to improve your efficiency? How can you ensure optimum management from production to product delivery? We tell you everything you need to know about order processing!

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What is order processing?

As the name suggests, order fulfilment involves taking full responsibility for an order placed by a customer.

Sometimes referred to as fulfilment, this complex logistics process involves several successive key stages. Between the customer placing the order and receiving it at home, the product can travel from one warehouse to another, covering hundreds or even thousands of kilometres.

☝️ Order processing therefore poses a number of challenges for companies.

What are the challenges of order processing?

Optimising your order processing strategy will help you meet the challenges that are crucial to your company's economic health. Good management of this process contributes in particular to :

• increase customer satisfaction
• increase sales volume
• limit logistics costs.

Ensuring customer satisfaction

Online shopping is now an integral part of consumers' daily lives. And the various studies carried out on the subject will not say otherwise.

💡 Here are a few key figures:

• around 39.4 million French people placed at least one order online during 2023, with an average basket of 60 items per year (source: Fevad);
• 88% of those surveyed consider the impact of e-commerce on their daily lives to be positive (source: Fevad);
• 1 consumer in 2 attaches importance to the free delivery option (source: Worldline);
• delivery is an important criterion for 88% of buyers (source: Uber direct).

Clearly, customer satisfaction is one of the key issues when it comes to processing orders. If we hope to build customer loyalty, we need to offer them a comfortable and reassuring experience, from the moment they place their order until they receive their product.

This re-enchanted customer experience involves in particular :

• using a secure payment method
• being able to track the progress of your order in real time (leaving the warehouse, product in transit, etc.);
• to have satisfactory delivery options (the possibility of choosing the delivery point of their choice, choosing the day of delivery, free delivery after a certain purchase amount, etc.);
• the shortest possible delivery times;
• to receive the parcel in good condition (undamaged packaging or product);
• to benefit from a professional delivery service (i.e. not to have the unpleasant surprise of receiving a bogus delivery notice when you had taken the whole day off to receive your parcel, etc.);
• to be able to easily return the product to the sender and benefit from a responsive and competent after-sales service.

😀 So putting in place an effective order processing strategy is akin to a virtuous circle. By intelligently managing your e-commerce site, your stocks, your warehouse and your shipping processes, you mechanically contribute to increasing sales volume through customer loyalty and reduced delivery times.

Rationalise and optimise costs

When it comes to order processing, errors and slowness are your worst enemies!

The longer it takes to process your orders, the more money you lose. As mentioned above, excessive delivery times often scare away customers who are in a hurry.

Similarly, if order processing is too slow, you incur additional costs. Merchandise that spends several days in the warehouse before being packed and dispatched costs the company unnecessary money (storage costs, space not freed up for other products, etc.).

Good order management also means fewer errors and, by extension, lower costs. In fact, when you add them all up, the errors that occur during order processing can add up to a hefty bill. Whether it's a failure to update stock levels, a delay in ordering products, delivery to the wrong address or damage to the parcel during transit, the costs involved in rectifying these mistakes add up and end up weighing on your finances!

The 6 stages of the order processing process

Generally speaking, there are five main stages in the order processing process within a company.

Let's find out what they are. 👉

0 - Goods receipt

Receiving goods can be described as the first stage in the order fulfilment process.

If a company does not produce its own goods, it must start production with a service provider, transport them and then store them in its warehouse.

1 - Recording the customer order

Unsurprisingly, the placing of the order is the starting point of the handling process.

The order is officially registered as soon as the consumer validates and pays for their purchase on the e-commerce site.

Although simple on the face of it, this stage in the order-taking process nevertheless requires us to receive and centralise the data essential for dispatch and for tracking the parcel with the customer.

💡 And in a market where distribution channels are multiplying, it's best to be able to rely on appropriate technological solutions. One example is VistaFlow, a software package that is revolutionising the processing of orders received by email. How do you do this? By integrating them into your ERP system, by extracting the information contained in the order forms. Aimed at organisations that receive non-uniform order forms, VistaFlow is designed for continuous improvement, thanks to its automatic learning capabilities.

2 - Picking

Once the order has been registered, it is transferred to dedicated teams in the warehouse.

Depending on the system set up by the company, a human operator or a machine is responsible for fetching and placing on the packing table the products to be assembled in the parcel. This is known as the picking stage.

3 - Packing

To make transporting the goods easier (and, above all, to avoid breakage during shipping!), it's a good idea to go through the packaging stage.

The product must be properly protected and packaged appropriately.

4 - Dispatch

Now that the parcel is properly packed, it is finally ready to take the road to its future owner.

After being scanned and identified, it is received and loaded by the carrier for onward delivery.

The consumer receives a notification that shipment has begun.

5 - Delivery and acceptance

This final stage in order processing is now in the hands of the company responsible for delivering the parcels received at the warehouse.

The consumer, as well as your customer service department, must be able to identify the route taken by the parcel and obtain an accurate estimate of its delivery date.

Of course, you need to ensure that the product is delivered in accordance with the instructions left by the customer (to their home, to a relay point, etc.).

A final notification that the parcel has been successfully received completes the order processing.

6 - Returns management

A subsidiary stage, but a very important one nonetheless, returns management involves ensuring a satisfactory customer experience if the parcel is returned to the sender.

With this in mind, make sure you define and apply a strictly controlled returns policy to avoid abuse and other additional costs.

How to optimise order processing? 4 best practices

To help you optimise your order processing, here are a few tips to incorporate into your logistics strategy.

#1 Actively monitor stocks

There's nothing worse for a customer than coming across an item that's out of stock!

So to avoid having transactions slip through your fingers, we strongly recommend that you automate stock availability updates in real time!

#2 Centralise and exploit the data collected

More than just a question of visibility, collecting data from order processing enables you to implement strategies that are relevant to your business.

Order volumes often vary from one year to the next, and some products are subject to seasonal fluctuations.

By finely analysing the data collected, you'll be able to manage your stocks more accurately, for example, or strengthen your after-sales team during busy periods.

#3 Keep the customer informed

As a consumer, it's very unpleasant to suffer from a lack of transparency on the part of the company you've ordered from.

Where is my parcel?

Why haven't I been notified that it's being sent?

Will delivery take place on the requested date?

These are all questions that, if not answered clearly and precisely, are likely to worsen the customer experience.

#4 Automate as many tasks as possible

To minimise errors and save time at every stage of the order processing process, we recommend that you automate as many tasks as possible.

Whether you use order management software, install a picking station in your warehouse or set up a chatbot dedicated to after-sales service on your e-commerce platform, there are a whole host of ways to make order processing more fluid.

What tools can be used to improve order processing?

Automation goes hand in hand with simplification!

To improve order processing within your company, there are a number of highly relevant technological solutions. Unsurprisingly, we're thinking mainly of software specially designed to ensure that orders are properly managed.

👉 There are three main types of solution:

• the Order Management System: this is mainly used to centralise and synchronise all the data collected from the various sales channels and to collate information relating to transactions ;

• the Warehouse Management System: this enables effective monitoring of stock levels (real-time updates, automatic ordering below a certain threshold, etc.) and the preparation and management of shipments;

• the Transport Management System: this aims to achieve optimum control over the costs and organisation involved in managing carriers and delivering parcels (automated routes taking into account journey time to optimise the round, etc.).

💡 Depending on your company's needs, you should opt for one of these specific solutions, or choose a complete software package, incorporating all these functions.

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Order processing: what's important?

In short, order processing deserves your full attention. From the moment the customer buys a product to the moment they receive the parcel, there is a succession of stages with decisive stakes.

Between the need to strive for the greatest possible customer satisfaction with a view to building customer loyalty and the imperative need to optimise the costs of storage, preparation, dispatch and delivery, there is a huge amount at stake. preparation, dispatch and delivery of parcels, order processing is a priority for any company whose business model is based on e-commerce.