E-commerce
Fulfilling Customer Orders
After processing the customer's payment, the final step is to fulfill the customer's order to the customer's satisfaction.
In-house Fulfillment
The least expensive method for most businesses is to pack and ship customer orders in-house. You should have a designated area for packing into boxes and storing boxes awaiting pick-up by parcel services. The U.S. Post Office, Federal Express and United Parcel Service offer tips and helpful information to beginning shippers.
Outsourcing Fulfillment Services
One of the easiest methods to quickly fulfill customer orders is to outsource the process to a third party. Your product can now be warehoused, inventoried, packed, and shipped by companies specializing in fulfillment services. Most of these companies also have the capability to process telephone and mail orders as well.
The Yahoo! index provides a list of over 50 companies which offer fulfillment services.
Fulfillment Problems
Overselling - One of the most common problems with e-commerce sites is selling inventory that doesn't exist. It is crucial that inventory be monitored and re-ordered on a timely basis.
Slow Response Time - Real or perceived, online customers want their products quickly. One of the best methods of reducing customer anxiety is tell the customer what actions are being taken and their estimated time when thanking the customer for their order.
Returns - Things come back. You must develop a Return Goods Policy and clearly state it on your site. Requiring a Return Authorization number in order to return an item is one way to turn off your customers. Many online businesses require customers to call a 1-800 number, endure perpetual hold, and request a RA number before merchandise can be returned. Avoid using RAs, if at all possible.
Charge Backs - A charge-back is created when a cardholder refuses to accept a purchase on a monthly statement. Generally, merchants must keep their charge-backs to less than 1 percent of total monthly transactions, or 2.5 percent of total dollar volume.
Visa will charge noncompliant merchant accounts a $5,000 "review fee" in the first month of charge-back violation, escalating to $25,000 in the sixth month, plus a $100 per-charge-back handling fee. MasterCard is even more aggressive: After two months above the charge-back threshold, a merchant must pay a $25,000 fine per month. At six months, that fee jumps to $50,000. At 10 months or more, the fine is $100,000 per month.