Order Fulfillment

When reviewing a software vendor’s proposal, evaluate the services as well as the training that the vendor offers. Some vendors underbid the training and services; watch out, as that will cost you more than you budgeted. Get in writing the number of days each training session will take and for how many people, then do the same for project management. Talk with other companies that have converted to find out what their experiences have been like. Compare this against how much time you really feel is necessary to properly implement the system. Learn much more at the upcoming two-day interactive workshop, Evaluating, Selecting and

Editor’s Note: Beginning this week, we’ll bring you an operations and fulfillment tip of the week, courtesy of the consulting firm, F. Curtis Barry & Co. These tips will lead up to our inaugural interactive workshop for multichannel merchants on choosing direct commerce systems. (See below for more details.) — Paul Miller, editor-in-chief While converting from one order management system to another, it’s best not to try to convert the open customer orders and open purchase orders. Instead, rekey these to eliminate the risk of improper conversion. This also gives the staff a little extra “practice” with the system. Catalog Success and F.

Gen Y apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters doesn’t bulk-mail catalogs, but it does operate a thriving direct-to-consumer business from Web sales and orders placed in its stores. Like many other retailers that historically only dabbled in direct sales, American Eagle farmed out its fulfillment to a third-party firm. But as Web orders continued to increase, the company realized the need for its own fulfillment center. So one was built last year in Ottawa, Kan. The facility has a unique fulfillment operation that adapts to changing work volume requirements and available labor resources, said Steve Lyman, the retailer’s vice president of distribution, during a session

1. Forecast based on demand instead of sales. Improve the accuracy of your buys by considering changes in demand, rather than basing your entire decision on past sales performance. 2. Consolidate demand streams across all selling channels. This allows you to take advantage of special pricing while gaining internal efficiencies that save money. 3. Identify when inventory needs will occur. Then schedule shipments accordingly to reduce inventory costs and back orders while increasing sales and the overall customer experience. 4. Plan multiple smaller buys. This enables you to optimize pricing and shipping, reduce warehousing costs and back orders, and it makes it easier for

There’s postal, then there’s everything else. This is our everything else issue. Not quite everything, of course. This is our operations and fulfillment-themed issue. And considering that an overwhelming majority of catalog/multichannel merchants handle their own fulfillment according to our quarterly Catalog Success Latest Trends Report, which focuses on management issues, the buck stops here with fulfillment. In our special cover report, Kate Vitasek, who helps companies evaluate their operations, and call-center guru Liz Kislik provide advice on fulfillment-center benchmarking, performance metrics and call-center rep attentiveness. This issue offers plenty of the other everything else, too, including a multipoint plan on hiring interns, a

It’s a problem as fundamental as supply and demand: When supply fails to meet demand, you have to back-order. When supply exceeds demand, you have overstock. When it all works according to plan, pinch yourself; you may be dreaming. Or, you may be one of the smart multichannel marketers who bucks business as usual to adopt a more realistic approach to the planning and purchasing of product. An approach called “continuous inventory” yields several benefits: • more predictable demand streams; • more accurate inventory levels; • special vendor pricing; • optimized shipping; and • improved customer experiences. The best part about continuous inventory

When establishing fulfillment center metrics, catalogers should use performance measures to drive a change in behavior. These help you track progress and meet goals. Turn that valuable data into meaningful and actionable information, otherwise it's analogous to having a data dump. Which metrics should you track? Consider your company’s goals and objectives, improvement opportunities, strategic projects and what’s most important to your customers. You may find that the most popular metrics often aren't the most useful. For example, the top metric, on-time shipments, shows how effectively your warehouse ships orders. But not if customers received their orders when they wanted or if orders were

We hope you get the most out of this special report on operations and fulfillment. We chose a balanced array of three topics that should give you plenty of money-making and cost-saving ideas. Specifically, the articles focus on the top operations benchmarking strategies, the most useful and usable warehouse metrics, and an assortment of ways to keep your call-center reps happy and interested in their jobs. —Paul miller, editor-in-chief 7 Steps to Self Assessment: How better benchmarking can maximize performance in your fulfillment center by Kate Vitasek 5 Most Useful Fulfillment Metrics: Ponder your goals, gauge your progress and line up areas

Do you wonder how your fulfillment operation performs against others in your industry? Do you know which processes you’re handling well and those that need improvement? Or even which processes have the most impact on customer service levels? Or which of them lower warehousing and fulfillment costs while improving performance? Benchmarking, the process fulfillment managers use to draw meaningful comparisons between their companies’ performances and industry standards, can provide answers to all these questions. First, consider the two types of benchmarking. • Performance Benchmarking compares quantitative performance results, or metrics, to those of several different companies or to industry standards. Its objective is

Bounceback programs are often limited to inserting a copy of your most recent catalog — preferably with a different cover — into the fulfillment box. But as shipping rates, fuel surcharges and paper costs all increase, more catalogers are opting against this approach. They’ve run the numbers, and their incremental sales from those catalogs no longer justify the expense. If you’re in this position, or are wondering how to leverage shipping expenses, try a strategically planned and formally managed bounceback program. A bounceback program can help build your brand, improve customer retention and develop a new revenue stream, regardless of whether you’re in B-to-C