Successful order fulfilment can be a competitive advantage for businesses. It is customer-centric in that it encompasses the process of meeting your customer’s needs by processing and delivering their orders. It is how your business responds to customer orders and how efficiently the orders are processed and delivered.
Improving your fulfilment rates should be a top priority as it ultimately leads to better customer satisfaction and will determine whether they order from you again – or from a competitor. Here are 5 ways you can increase order fulfilment rates through effective inventory management using SAP Business One.
- Process Orders Quickly
It all begins here. Processing customer orders is a major factor that contributes to customer satisfaction. All aspects of order fulfilment and inventory management can fall into this category as processing orders involves everything from taking the actual order to accessing the available inventory. Companies must ensure there are effective processes in place to take orders and process them through warehousing. Orders must be efficiently picked, packed and shipped, quickly and accurately, as customers can easily move on to the next business if they are not happy with the level of service. Having a software solution in place to systemise and automate the order process is critical to getting an shipment off on the right foot. - Accurate Inventory Counting
To process orders efficiently, companies must ensure they have accurate count on inventory at all times. Warehouse managers must provide reliable information about product inventory levels and availability for customer orders. Inventory miscounts can frequently occur with manual systems, and often leads to mistakes when processing orders. SAP Business One is ideal for inventory counting as it provides reliable information about inbound and outbound shipments, and can perform instant availability checks and track item stock levels. - Manage Inventory Across Locations
Maintaining order fulfilment rates can become increasingly difficult when managing inventory within multiple warehouses. Keeping track of inventory at each warehouse helps companies better manage customer expectations and process their orders efficiently. Using an integrated solution allows users to manage BOMs and link warehouses with order processing and production operations. SAP Business One helps companies keep track of their product inventory across multiple locations, ensuring accurate inventory numbers are readily available to team members, customers and vendors, where needed, at all times. - Reduce Time to Replenish Inventory
There is a fine balance between ensuring you do not run out of inventory and holding too much inventory. Having too much stock on hand can increase the costs of carrying and storing products, therefore managers should work to reduce the time it takes to replenish inventory by re-evaluating their inventory auditing procedures. Cycle Counting with SAP Business One shows managers when stock levels are below a minimum stock point and notifications are sent to those in designated roles such as purchasing managers. - Avoid Stock Outs
Customers do not want to hear “Out of Stock”. They want to place an order and receive it as quickly as possible. If an item is out of stock or not available, order fulfilment rates lower, and customers can quickly become dissatisfied with the level of service. SAP Business One allows real time visibility of inventory. The software provides you with the quantity details, adjusted by what is already committed to other customers, incoming purchases, and production orders. This level of detail can help companies be better informed, forecast inventory availability based on customer behaviours, make smarter business decisions, and ultimately create a happy and loyal supply chain and customer base.
Are you interested in finding out how other companies have used SAP Business One to help with their inventory management practices? Read this success story and find out how SAP Business One helped David Leadbetter overcome overstock with cycle counting, optimise their internal processes and build a global brand.
To see how SAP Business One can help you increase your order fulfilment rates, contact us to speak to one of our expert consultants.
