Improving order fulfilment in a technology-driven world

In a world driven by technology, the retail sector is evolving at a rapid pace, showing no signs of stopping. The rise of eCommerce, brought on by the pandemic, has brought to light several fundamental insights in the industry.

One: retailers must now be on top of their eCommerce and fulfilment strategies. Nowadays, a positive shopping experience is directly influenced by order fulfilment – the process of preparing or delivering customers’ orders. As eCommerce continues to flourish, online retailers will also need to reevaluate and improve their eCommerce fulfilment strategies.

At Akolade’s 8th Annual Retail Fulfilment Summit, attendees were equipped with effective and practical solutions to empower their eCommerce and fulfilment to retain and gain increased market share.

Enhancing Order Fulfilment

The two-day event saw leading retailers share case studies and strategies on how businesses can advance their order fulfilment processes and eCommerce strategies, including improving their customer journey and engagement, inventory and warehouse efficiency as well as optimising their last mile framework.

In one of the sessions, Craig Albiston and Ajay Veeraraghavan, Executive Director – Supply Chain and Associate Director – Digital Supply chain, respectively, discussed the topic of Order Orchestration. “Order orchestration is the process of managing and coordinating all aspects of the order fulfillment process, from the moment a customer places an order to the moment it’s delivered,” Albiston said in a LinkedIn post.

In their presentation, Albiston and Veeraraghavan shared the potential benefits of this emerging capability for traditional and pure play online retailers as well as distributors of consumer and industrial products.

“What became clear to me is that there is not a great understanding of this emerging capability that straddles the digital world of e-commerce and the physical world of distribution and Omni channel fulfilment,” Albiston revealed.

He continued that customer centric omni channel businesses can benefit from order orchestration through streamlined operations, improved customer experience, increased efficiency and reduced costs, better inventory management, and scalability.

Enhancing Last Mile

Consumers are now expecting faster delivery times and visibility over the delivery of their goods. This shift in consumer expecations means that online businesses need optimise their last mile delivery, in order to prevent failed deliveries and dissatisfied customers. A reliable last mile delivery service now no longer a nice to have but a must have.

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Many businesses find that last mile delivery is one of the most challenging parts of their delivery process. During the Retail Fulfilment Summit, HUBBED CEO, David McLean was on a panel hosted by Kate Save, alongside Andrew Ong & Mark Hewitt, to speak on giving customers more control of their deliveries by providing multiple choice.

Improving Order Fulfilment in a technology-drive world

The 8th Annual Retail Fulfilment Summit is the most prominent event for the retail industry, offering sought-after case studies from leading retailers who shine light on current problems and further educate Australia’s retail sector on how to continuously improve eCommerce and fulfilment strategies. Check out Akolade’s upcoming events here.