How Order Processing is Changing the eCommerce Landscape?

Ever wonder how automated order processing is helping companies to accelerate their services?

Have you ever thought how inconvenient it is for restaurant owners to check their system from time to time just to check if someone placed an order?

Just imagine the time spent on checking on new orders instead of processing, preparing and delivering them. It is so troublesome. It may cause some orders to fall through the crack due to the manual nature of the process.

This is the same for ecommerce companies.

That is why automation order processing is important to any industry because it can shorten delivery times, decrease human error, and streamline the entire order management process.

Not only that. It can do so much more to help you with your bottom line.

If you are interested to know more about how order management and order fulfillment services are changing the ecommerce landscape, read along!

What is Automated Order Processing?

Automated order processing refers to the use of technology and processes to expedite the processing of orders by removing the need for manual labor. 

Order processing automation can assist eliminate human error, increase operational efficiencies, and speed up the fulfillment and shipping process.

In a call center context, it means taking customers’ calls, taking their orders, entering the necessary information into a dedicated system to place the order.

Once done, the restaurant or business will receive the order and the agent will keep the customers updated until the delivery arrives.

The Role Order Processing Plays in eCommerce

Larger, corporate ecommerce organizations are more likely to adopt order processing automation. But we are already in 2021 and that means, anything can be possible.

Small and midsize corporations can now have the service of 3PL or a third-party logistics company.

The purpose of a 3PL provider is to essentially take the chaos out of the supply chain process. A company hires 3PLs to outsource their logistics operations for part, or all, of their supply chain management functions.

Call centers can act as SMEs 3PL. They can assist you to automate your order management process to decrease time-consuming manual entry activities.

How is Order Processing Changing the Landscape of eCommerce?

Ecommerce is the sale of products and services over the internet, and the fastest growing segment of our economy. Even the tiniest firm may reach a huge (or global!) audience at a low cost through ecommerce.

But going global (or even domestic) requires a complex system of order taking and order status processing systems.

However, as mentioned, call centers can help SMEs to achieve optimal productivity and efficiency with an order taking business model made for them.

Even more so, here is how order processing is helping ecommerce businesses.

1. Optimized Customer Service

As a business, we are all about providing the best kind of service.

With an automated order processing service, sales reps have fast access to all key client account information because of their order processing software like CRM.

With an agent, you can help customers immediately without going through the labyrinth of papers and information. They can focus on assisting and serving your customers, while you work on improving the quality of your product.

2. Emergency Logistic

Emergency logistics is a term used by the logistics, supply chain, and manufacturing industries to denote specific time-critical modes of transport used to move goods or objects rapidly in the event of an emergency.

The reason for enlisting emergency logistics services could be a production delay or an  urgent need for specialized equipment to prevent events such as aircraft being grounded, ships being delayed, or  telecommunications failure. 

The Order Processing team can quickly inform customers about these delays by notifying them.

When these kinds of things occur, it usually sways customers to the switch brand. But with a dedicated team, they will be able to fill the worry of customers by communicating solutions.

3. Improves accuracy and eliminates errors

Order Processing can help you get 100% order accuracy.

Inputting order and customer data by hand can result in greater human error and mistakes. This might lead to problems later in the order management process, such as the erroneous order being fulfilled and shipped. 

However, with an automated processing software and team, you will not only expedite the procedure, but it also reduces human error and improves order accuracy.

4. Maintains High Customer Satisfaction

Customers want to know if their order is being processed straight away. Correct?

With Order Processing Services, customers can be notified when an order has been received, processed, prepared, and sent. 

Providing order status keeps your clients informed, keeping them up to date on the status of their orders at all times, from processing to shipment. 

Just imagine how customers will be pleased as a result of fewer customer support emails.

5. Pricing Validation

With a sales order automation software, you can systematically compare the customer purchase order price to the true price and highlight and address differences.

How?

Here’s an example: 

Orders are made via fax, paper, or email. 

Your sales team will receive it and they can immediately run it through the system. An order processing automation software can automatically capture the image and all of the order information contained within like materials, quantity, customer number, etc. 

In short, all the data is automatically matched to the information found within your system. Everything will be validated for discrepancies before moving forward.

This allows you to catch any differences as soon as the order arrives in order to avoid bottlenecks down the line and keep your order processing as streamlined as possible.

6. Speed

Service speed is critical in the fast-paced environment of modern business. 

Many waiting times can be eliminated thanks to the nature of modern digital technology. 

Users can now instantly check stock levels, avoiding the need to comb through warehouses and stock reports that may become out of date nearly as quickly as they are created.

Moreover, digital order-processing systems allow for instantaneous price-changes, allowing promotions to be applied easily and quickly to many different goods simultaneously.

While there is no technology that has been devised yet, which will allow goods to be shipped across the country in an instant; by eliminating tiny sources of slowdown, we can ensure that any unnecessary waiting is cut from the chain.

7. Collection of Customer Data

An automated system not only collects sales order data but also customer information. 

This includes details such as the number of orders, client order history, frequented delivery locations, contact information, and more. 

Collecting this data helps businesses improve the customer experience,  provide better customer service, and make better data-driven decisions.

With customer data, you can target the market successfully or even create your specialized products for them.

8. Improve the Happiness of Your Department

And last, but not least—your staff. 

The final benefit for order processing software is an increased happiness and well-being for the people that make up your department.

Research suggests that being happy helps creativity since it frees up space and helps raise people’s mental flexibility, thereby increasing the chance of them creating something new. 

Achor’s research showed that employees who are in a happy mood make better and more accurate decisions compared to unhappy employees.

Meaning, they are more inclined to be productive and efficient.

Besides, at the end of the day, it’s the staff who make up your department who will contribute in growing your company and helping it to succeed.

By reducing the hours spent on tedious data entry, there will be more opportunity for time and energy spent on work with a higher ROI for your company.

Thanks to an increase in accuracy, your staff will also receive fewer customer complaints. This will also help to improve the morale of your customer service department.

Use sales order automation to take away your department’s most common annoyances. It’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to win their support.

Conclusion

One of the most important indicators of ecommerce success is the accuracy with which a new customer’s order is delivered. 

While there are techniques to increase order accuracy, leaving the fulfillment process to the specialists is one of the easiest areas of the business for an ecommerce brand to outsource.

Automating order processing can help streamline the fulfillment and shipping process, increase customer satisfaction, and improve operations.

It is a viable solution to consider in your ecommerce business. So what’s stopping you from trying it out?

In fact, many companies already have order taking service as part of their day-to-day operation. It has already changed the landscape of ecommerce by making it fast, accurate and reliable.

Order Processing Service Provider You Can Trust

We are Order Taking Philippines, the #1 Order Taking service provider for SMEs.

We are an ISO-certified company with 10+ years of experience in the industry. You can guarantee that behind everything we do is attention to data security.

If you want to know more about who we are and what we do, just shoot us a message.

You can contact us by clicking here.