We have produced a “best practice” guide for any business looking to structure an online store that has a 3rd party orgnisation managing the supply chain from order processing through to delivery.
Who are we and why you can you trust our check list?
We are an established full 3rd party logistics provider with many years’ experience supporting clients across a broad range of business sectors with bespoke e-commerce and multi-channel UK and global distribution solutions.
The above video is a peek at the storage and order processing of products for one of our long-standing clients Medico Beauty here at our warehouse in Wokingham.
Medico Beauty (the sole distributor of the CosMedix brand in the UK) have a well-designed e-commerce platform. Every sale is made via their website. It’s a fully automated and streamlined process and the resources that would have gone into processing orders, have been re-directed to their digital marketing and developing other areas of the business.
Your e-commerce check list:
- What’s your product range – What is it that you are selling?
- How many different product types or lines do you have and how often are new ones added?
- What are the typical SKU dimensions – weight and size?
- Are any of your products flammable or classified as ‘Dangerous Goods’?
- How are SKU’s identified and labelled (barcodes, QR codes or other security markings)?
- What are your average weekly order volumes? Do you have seasonal demand peaks or troughs?
- How many of your orders contain more than one item?
- What are your packaging requirements (carton, jiffy bag, or envelope? Loose fill, bubble wrap, etc? Do you supply your own?
- What number of pallet spaces is required? Is this likely to increase over time?
- What is your target delivery time to customers? Is it different for B2C and B2C?
- UK Delivery – What type of delivery service/s do you require? First Class, Second Class, Courier, or Other?
- Overseas Delivery – What delivery service/s do you require? Standard, Priority Postage, Tracked, or Courier?
- Overseas Delivery – Which countries do you ship to?
- Do you process returns, if so, what are the approximate volumes of returns received?
- Are you selling from your website or other online platform, e.g. Shopify, Magento or Amazon?
- How do you envisage sending order data to a 3rd party, i.e. API, CSV file? And how often i.e. real-time, daily file, etc?
- When transferring your product to a 3rd party would this be palletised, loose boxes, or other?
- What paperwork do you need printing i.e. single or double-sided pick sheet, generic or personalised letter etc?
- What reports will you require and how often?