The eCommerce sector has evolved rapidly over the past ten years, and marketplace giants like Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba, and others have made it possible for people to easily purchase the goods they need with a few clicks on their smartphones. The expansion of the eCommerce market has given the logistics sector the opportunity to expand and diversify its business. Since the pandemic, the eCommerce industry has grown more competitive than ever. A significant section of the world’s population began their internet shopping during the lockdown to have their essential goods delivered.
India has a lot of potential in the eCommerce sector because of the rising number of internet users and favorable market circumstances. As per Statista, the market size of India’s eCommerce sector, which is expanding exponentially, was over 22 billion US dollars in 2018. By 2030, it is predicted that this value will rise to 350 billion US dollars.
The eCommerce industry around the globe is readily dependent on shipping and courier companies for outsourcing logistics requirements, and therefore, it is essential to understand the various aspects of shipping service providers and their benefits for your business.
Table of Contents
What is eCommerce Logistics or Shipping?
An order’s confirmation, processing, and fulfillment are all parts of the eCommerce fulfillment process. This procedure consists of numerous complex and minor steps that make sure the system runs well. These duties range from warehousing to last-mile delivery. Before choosing and packing orders, creating and manifesting orders, creating shipping labels, and stocking inventory are all tasks that eCommerce shipping companies must complete.
eCommerce service providers rely on the most recent developments in eCommerce shipping to give clients an absolutely seamless delivery experience. This typically involves the use of cutting-edge technology, improved data collection, and a more systematic workflow.
What is the eCommerce Shipping Process?
As eCommerce shipping is a complex process, it encompasses several steps which are systematically fulfilled to reach the final destination:
1) Warehouse and distribution management
Most clients want their orders quickly, so stock must always be on hand. If the supplier owns the goods, vendor pickup is handled by several shipping companies. To accelerate delivery, some shipping companies provide inventory storage facilities. Many shipping options help with improved inventory and warehouse management. The increased connectivity between orders and delivery agents is the main goal of these eCommerce solutions.
2) Creation And Manifestation Of Order
Order creation is the first step in the order manifestation process. The creation of an AW comes next after this phase (airway bill). Each order’s AWB number serves as a special identifier that makes it possible to trace it. The required order information must then be put on the shipping label. Orders are then assigned for collection and packaging.
3) Transportation of order
The organization, planning, and management of order transportation are one of the key duties assigned to eCommerce shipping firms. This often includes using a fleet of vehicles owned by the company or one that is hired, rented, or used internally.
4) Final-Minute Delivery
Last-mile delivery is the term for the last stage of the delivery procedure. It describes the steps taken to deliver an order from the last transportation hub to the customer. This is the stage that, ideally, concludes with the delivery of the order.
5) Reverse Logistics
A logistics partner must be capable of handling forward logistics and reverse logistics equally if they are to provide a well-rounded eCommerce shipping experience. Orders that are canceled or returned must travel a similar route to get to the origin warehouse. Only after that can they be restocked and sold again, reducing losses.
9 Benefits of Shipping Solutions for your eCommerce Business
1. Availability of the Most Affordable Carrier Service
Multiple carrier alternatives are available to retailers when they use eCommerce shipping platforms. Modern shipping platforms enable customers to evaluate carriers and services in real-time to choose the most appropriate provider for each shipment in accordance with the retailer’s operational guidelines.
2. Simplify the shipping procedures
The merchant can easily fulfill the shipping needs from within the retailer’s system thanks to the advanced eCommerce shipping solutions. They ensure that every shipment conforms with each carrier’s labeling and communication standards, as well as with any applicable trade restrictions, by automatically finding the carrier that can offer the best prices to a certain location and in accordance with the retailer’s business rules.
3. Real-Time Shipment Tracking & Problem Management
End-to-end package tracking is a feature that most top eCommerce shipping solution providers offer, giving retailers two major advantages:
– Retailers can address processing or transportation concerns in real-time via tracking packages from the warehouse or distribution center to the customer’s doorstep.
– It enhances the customer experience by giving clients access to personalized delivery options and timely delivery updates.
4. Enabling data-based decision-making
Retailers can estimate transportation expense implications over major data sets and display the effects across variables such as weight breaks, zones, geographies, service levels, etc., by utilizing the Business Intelligence tools provided by eCommerce shipping solutions.
5. Simplified returns
You will have access to manage your returned purchases if you use an effective eCom shipping solution. For your return orders, the shipping solution enables you to create return labels, plan a reverse pick-up with or without a quality inspection, issue automated refunds, receive real-time updates on the status of your returns, and more.
6. Sales channels integration
Any decent eCommerce shipping solution will get the purchased orders automatically synced from your sales channel to start further fulfillment operations. The system will be integrated with all the sales channels you sell on, and the order will sync directly to the shipping software so that you can process these orders and provide tracking numbers and order status to your customers in real-time.
7. Economical and time-efficient delivery service
Top shipping aggregators typically have connections to multiple courier partners and, as a result, can give you lower shipping rates that let you speed up the delivery process and expand your customer base.
8. Non-delivery reports
Leading eCommerce shipping solutions will guide you in finding strategies to reduce the risk of non-delivery and ensure that your items are properly delivered. The automated system will produce a thorough report on orders that were delivered and those that weren’t, along with the valid reasons for each and which courier partner was in charge of them.
9. Delightful customer service
Outsourcing your eCommerce logistics needs to a shipping solution provider will completely transform your customers’ experience, as you will be able to deliver quick and time-saving shipments in diverse locations with real-time order tracking.
Final Notes
As an eCommerce business owner, if you are looking for different ways. to expand your consumer base, then a shipping solution provider or a shipping aggregator, such as NimbusPost, can turn out to be your savior. With the use of a highly integrated platform, NimbusPost delivers the most affordable shipping costs and gives eCommerce firms a choice to ship their products by choosing some of the leading eCommerce shipping solution providers in India.
