MANAGE YOUR BUSINESS

8 tips to manage your online orders easily

5 min. read

Jan 24, 2023

As your small business starts receiving orders, you can soon become overwhelmed with orders flowing in from channels. But don’t worry, it can be solved easily. With a growing business, you need a robust order management process in order to ensure you can fulfill all your orders easily and quickly.

We've got a list of tips that small businesses can follow to manage their online orders better and provide top-notch service to give your customers 100% satisfaction.

1. Streamline your order inflow management

You may be receiving orders from various different channels. Customers may contact you on social media, you may be receiving orders from chats over instant messaging applications like Whatsapp, or even via phone calls. If your order inflow is not streamlined, very soon orders may pile up and it is possible to lose track of all the orders you have received. Further down the line, ensuring to ship these orders on time is also critical. You may want to streamline all your channels and redirect all your online customers to purchase from your online store.

SmartBiz by Amazon helps you create your own online store within minutes which you can promote across social media or chat commerce. This way, you can aggregate and manage all your orders from one place. Begin your free trial today.

Pro-tip: Manage your orders using the first-in-first-out rule. This will ensure that all orders are shipped out on time and reach the customer within the expected delivery date and no order is delayed or missed in the process.

2. Manage customer expectations

While you have limited face-to-face interaction with your customer, you can still communicate a lot via an online store. Make sure your customers are on the same page as you. Ensure complete and accurate product imagery and description so that the customers know exactly what they are purchasing. Understand what your customer expects of you and try to service their requirements. Ensure your product pages are updated with the most recent additions. For instance, displaying out-of-stock products on your page can confuse your customers

Other than product details, be upfront about other important customer requirements such as delivery timelines, availability of payment methods like COD, returns/exchange/refund policy, and customer support numbers so that they can reach out to you.

3. Develop strong supplier relations

You must have strong relations with your suppliers to ensure your business does not face zero inventory and out-of-stock issues. Inform them about your needs and goals in advance; this will help you maintain a better inventory stock. There's no harm in keeping your stock ready, is there?

4. Manage inventory

It is essential to know the status of your inventory at all times. There's no point in accepting orders if your products are out of stock. Keep track of your inventory to avoid cancellation of orders, leading to disappointed customers.

Pro-tip: You can leverage inventory insights to increase your sales. For example, you can run a clearance sale or Flat X99 sale on slow-moving inventory. You can also create combo offers on best-selling products and offer a better price on the combo.

5. Ship on time

We cannot stress enough that on-time shipping is extremely critical for an online business. As an online seller, it is your responsibility to ensure that your customers receive their orders on or before the expected delivery date. Delays in deliveries can impact brand trust, which is critical for any small business in today’s day and age. SmartBiz by Amazon offers fast and secure delivery options through ShipRocket to ensure your products reach your customers safely and on time.

6. Allow customer tracking

Customers want to know where their products are at every stage. You can provide a live tracking feature right from when the order is placed. This way customers are aware of their purchase status and know when to expect the product.

7. Perform quality checks before shipping

You should ensure you are sending the right products to the right customers. Check for any variations of the order such as color, size, type, specifications, and quantity. Quality control is important prior to shipping to ensure your customers don’t find a problem with their orders upon receipt. Shipping out the wrong type of product doesn’t only impact customer experience. It also leads to additional business overhead of having to deal with returns/exchanges.

8. Be proactive with customer communication

Sometimes things can go wrong. Products can go out of stock. Shipping can be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances such as bad weather and transport disruptions. Orders might get damaged or even lost in transit. If you're often facing such issues, find out the reason behind the same and look for alternatives to prevent such issues. However, in uncontrollable and unforeseen situations, being transparent with customers can ensure that your brand trust is maintained. Keeping the customer in the loop can preserve customer experience and trust. Send proactive communication about the revised delivery timelines and also provide customer service contact details to ensure your customers have a way to reach you for more details.

You're all set to master the art of order management and secure delivery. Ensuring order management and safe deliveries increase your customer retention rate, which can lead to higher profits.

SmartBiz by Amazon ensures that sellers do not face any inconvenience during order fulfillment. Learn more about how you can manage your online orders using SmartBiz by Amazon.