Fulfilment
The entire process of order fulfillment is called fulfillment. These are all the steps from the moment an order enters the back office system to the moment of delivery to the customer. So fulfillment involves all the logistical steps for web shops or other types of sales.
The most important part of fulfillment is IT. They deal with the link between order system, web shop and warehouse. The customer 's order system must be linked to the warehouse's WMS (Warehouse Management System). The consumer wants to be well informed about his or her order through an IT communication system. Therefore, it is important that the status of an order be communicated to each other at all locations to avoid confusion.
The fulfillment process
The fulfillment process consists of a number of steps. These steps apply to web shops as well as to other types of sales processes. For example, you can think of supermarkets, clothing stores or interior design stores. The six steps of the fulfillment process are:
- Goods receipt
- Goods coming into the warehouse
- These goods are received, counted and checked by employees
- They are then entered on the Warehouse Management System and stored in the designated location
- Goods Storage
- Storing the goods in the warehouse is almost always customized
- In fact, the storage conditions for clothing are different than for apparel, so pay attention here
- By recording stored goods in the WMS, both the customer and the employee are up-to-date on the stock of a product
- Order Processing
- As soon as an order arrives, order picking begins: collecting all the selected products and preparing them (for shipment)
- Sometimes a product still needs to be assembled before packaging and shipping
- Order processing is also customized, especially when there is a short time frame between shipment and order entry
- Packing
- When the product is complete it can be packaged or wrapped
- This can be in a simple shipping box, a gift box, personalized orders to sealed pallets
- This depends on what kind of products you sell and what service you provide with them
- Shipping
- When the complete order is ready for shipment the carrier takes over
- This can be done from within the company itself or through a transportation company that is partnered with such as PostNL
- Report
- When the WMS is properly synchronized, the entire fulfillment process will be reflected in it thanks to accurate reports
- This allows you to keep a good overview of the accurate amount of stock, packages shipped, returns and costs incurred per order
E-fulfilment
The term e-fulfilment is about e-commerce, in other words, web shops. The difference with webshops is that nowadays consumers want to be involved in the whole process. From the moment they have ordered, they want to know when the package will arrive, where it will be during shipping and what time it can be delivered. This is not necessarily a must for web shops like Bol.com, but it does create more trust with the customer. Once the entire process is complete, the customer receives a comprehensive report from the order system. This process goes smoothly when the Warehouse Management System is in sync with all parties.
