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How Strategic Warehouse Multichannel Fulfillment can help Budding Entrepreneurs? 88 per cent of consumers are willing to pay for same-day or faster delivery and mobile shopping has also taken 17per cent stake in shopping sessions

By Vikas Garg

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The rapid evolution of technology has taken the business world ahead by leaps and bounds. In the last decade, e-commerce has risen as a champion of the modern business world and leading the market. As per Statista, retail E-commerce sales worldwide was registered to be USD 2.3 trillion in 2017 and expected to grow to USD 4.88 trillion by 2021. The expansion of e-commerce has opened a new horizon for entrepreneurs to grow and flourish, but with this, a lot of challenges have also entered the online market space. One such critical issue is "Consumer Satisfaction', which has become the key to success for every entrepreneur.

Logistics and shipping frame the backbone of e-commerce, where the consumer demands timely and accurate deliveries of their orders. With increasing consumer demands and continuous consumer behavioural changes, it has become essential for entrepreneurs to outshine their competition and attain success.

The entrepreneurs need to offer their products/services through multiple sales channels, that too with efficient, speedy, and accurate delivery. This gives rise to the demand for a new strategy through which sellers can meet their customers' requirements and demands. Thus, strategic warehouse multichannel fulfilment has become integral to business growth and success. Entrepreneurs across the world, from SME to established enterprises, are increasingly incorporating multichannel fulfilment to retain and increase their consumer base.

Better, Faster and Effective Service at the Centre of Business Growth

As per the Global Consumer Insights Survey – 2018 by PwC, with the rapid changes in consumer behaviour and evolution of consumer optimism, 88per cent of consumers are willing to pay for same-day or faster delivery and the mobile shopping has also taken 17per cent stake in shopping sessions. All these facts urge entrepreneurs to strategize in a consumer-centric approach with an aim to create a broader, diverse clientele across various online channels focused on providing best-in-class customer experience.

All three aspects of end-to-end delivery – picking, packing, and shipping can be optimally benefited with multichannel fulfilment. Adopting a robust warehouse management system that manages fulfilment through various channels can help in maintaining product location, order information, and customer requests at all stages. This doesn't just help in speedy delivery but also reduces the chances of error, which eventually results in better customer experience.

In the era of the growing economy, entrepreneurs that are shifting from traditional single-channel fulfilment systems to multichannel fulfilment systems have greater chances to succeed and grow. Creating an efficient warehouse multichannel fulfilment system reduces financial and marketing risks to a great extent. Warehouses that are connected to 3PLs or special purpose fulfilment centres help entrepreneurs in building strong supply chains. Furthermore, advanced WMS with multichannel fulfilment helps entrepreneurs with better integration in the online marketplace, client-wise segregation of inventory, batch picking, product sorting, order consolidation, billing, and timely delivery.

The evolved warehouse multichannel fulfilment systems aren't just beneficiary for budding entrepreneurs to expand their business outreach and enhance their consumer experience but also facilitate effective business execution with minimum risk and good ROI. Entrepreneurs that partner with multiple 3PLs, Last-mile fulfilment and Logistics service providers in their budding phase also have higher chances of succeeding in business.

WMS with Multichannel Fulfillment – the Need of Tomorrow

Some of the SMEs and enterprises can even achieve a CAGR of 15per cent or more with a strategically effective warehouse multichannel fulfilment. Entrepreneurs can establish multichannel financial incentives and leverage the benefits of cross-channel coordination by adopting for shared ownership across channels in a defined geography. This will not only help in reducing the expenses but also will help in maximizing profits with business growth. By defining multichannel KPIs, entrepreneurs can opt out maximum advantages and establishes themselves as reputed brands through exemplary product/service delivery. Today, the rapidly evolving e-commerce industry has paced out the traditional single-channel fulfilment systems. For modern entrepreneurs to grow in the future business world, warehouse multichannel fulfilment has become a necessity.

Vikas Garg

Co-founder, Shipway.in

Vikas Garg is the Co-founder of Shipway.in. He is equipped with knowledge and skills to resolve various contemporary problems of the e-commerce businesses and their customers. And, he is passionate about building products that really create a difference.

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