For many successful businesses, the mantra of ‘The customer is key’ has very often been the cornerstone which underpins their success. Companies who can deliver on time, every time and ensure that the orders or services provided are fulfilled accurately very often generate much more repeat business than those companies who do not succeed in these practices. Having an operation which has an efficient order fulfillment strategy at its centre is a common factor of successful businesses.
The way in which order fulfillment is carried out can often be the main reason why customers will count an experience as either positive or negative with a company. For example, market research companies often approach customers to ask them about their experiences of dealing with mail order or e-Commerce businesses and will often publicly publish the findings of these research sessions. If a customer had a negative experience, they are likely to divulge this information to the research company, which could reflect negatively upon the business they refer to. With this in mind, many businesses strive to ensure all orders are fulfilled correctly and on time purely from a reputation management perspective. Customers – be it direct consumers or business to business clients – are often a company’s best asset when it comes to recommendation and advocacy, so it is imperative that businesses ensure that their order fulfillment teams are working with this in mind.
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for companies to outsource their order fulfillment and warehousing requirements to third party logistics companies. Many businesses report that this increases efficiency and ensures that these operations are handled by experienced professionals, resulting in a positive customer experience. Here at the ILG, we work directly with our clients to ensure we understand their order fulfillment needs and provide the services required to ensure customer expectations are met.