With the endless possibilities of many shops present in the online world, online sellers seem to have a hard time meeting the delivery expectations of online shoppers. Every buyer wants fast, free, and multiple delivery options when in search of a product, and if something goes wrong (the products are not delivered on time or accurately) they aren’t forgiving and will easily replace you with your competitors.
One poor delivery and you are out of their buyer’s list.
Not a single retailer wants a scenario like this and the best to avoid is to keep the existing customers, making them loyal to your brand and attract new potential ones to add more value to the business and increase your revenues. Always follow their wishes and needs and adapt your products according to them.
What you can do to provide the best delivery of your products and get satisfied customers is to consider how your operations are done and focus on the whole supply management of your retail business.
Some practices of using Retail Supply Management can help you lower your supply chain costs and get an advantage over your competitors.
Set Up a Chain Council
Everything will be easier when you set a person to be your Supply chain council to manage all the supply stages more effectively using the best strategy. If you don’t have a team of leads for each stage of the supply process, you shouldn’t expect happy customers or on-time delivery. Identify which of your employees could lead each stage as well as the problems and delays that happened, or might happen which can slow the delivery of the products from the production to the customer’s hands.
Implement Effective Technology
Following the trends and implement new technologies in your supply management is important, especially when you have to think of demand planning, inventory control, warehousing, fulfillment, customer service, and transportation, as well as the return of the products. Undoubtedly, many things need to be synchronized in order to get the best results as a retailer, and investing in retail supply chain software seems like a smart idea.
Maintain Healthy Supply Relationships
Think of a supply chain process as an alliance, where it all depends on the sides involved, and couldn’t reach the goal without working together and enhancing great communication between. Two-way communication is essential for a healthy and successful relationship between the suppliers, employees, and clients. This will allow all parties to share objectives to continue the value and process of improvement, measure performance, and implement a platform for conflict solving.
Minimize Risk through Regular Reviews
Regular meetings between retailers and supply chain teams and reviews are very important for effective supply management of retail businesses. This will certainly help any streamlined operations and bottlenecks, also decreasing the risk of fraud and theft. Choosing competent reliable suppliers, that are financially strong is also going to save you time instead of replacing them often.
If you do regular check-ups on the inventory, the logistics, and the delivery process, you won’t meet any problems and will lower the chances of correcting problems that might be a cause a customer is no longer buying from you.