Before the pandemic in 2020, ecommerce was taking off, but during the pandemic, it grew faster than anyone ever expected. Today, almost every retail company is expected to have an ecommerce component to their business, which means every retail company needs one of the many available ecommerce management systems. But, how do you know which one to choose? There are literally hundreds of options available. Here are tips for choosing the right ecommerce management program for your company.
Real-Time Inventory Management
With the current problems affecting supply chains, it is critical for ecommerce companies to know exactly what their inventory levels are at any given moment. Otherwise, they might not be able to place new orders to replenish their supplies and customers will end up waiting longer for their orders. As we all know, customers don’t like to wait, so accurate inventory counts are a necessary component of any ecommerce management system.
You should be able to determine inventory levels across every channel and every location from a single access point. This will prevent you from running low on supplies to the point where you have to put up a “sold out” notice on your website. Customers don’t like to see “sold out” notices and nothing will send them to another vendor more quickly than not being able to order from your site.
Accurate inventory counts are crucial for e-commerce companies, especially in the midst of supply chain disruptions. An open source e-commerce platform can offer a cost-effective and customizable solution for managing inventory levels, ensuring a positive shopping experience for customers.
Order Tracking
Any ecommerce management system you select should have an effective order tracking feature that provides transparency to both you and your customers. Not only should you be able to see where an order is at any stage of the shipping process, but your customers should be able to see that as well. This reduces their frustration when they try to find out why their order hasn’t arrived when they expected it to, especially if it’s a problem with the shipping company and not the ecommerce company.
Order tracking also gives your customer support representatives the ability to help customers who contact them about their order. They can confidently tell a customer where their order is in the process and what to expect from there on out. By giving the tools to your customer support team to help your customers, you’re providing the kind of service customers’ demand.
Customer Service Portal
Speaking of customer service, most ecommerce companies need a way for customers to easily contact them if there’s a problem with their order. Nothing makes a customer more upset than not being able to get help when they need it. Whether you provide a phone number, live chat, or email support, make it clear on your ecommerce platform how they can get a hold of a representative and how long it will take to receive a response.
It’s too easy for ecommerce companies to hide from their customers, which has given these businesses a bad reputation. So, make yourself stand out in the sea of companies that have poor customer service by offering your customers a stellar experience.
Conclusion
These three features of ecommerce management systems are critical to just about any type of ecommerce company. If your system doesn’t offer at least these three features, consider changing your software to improve both your experience and that of your customers.