One of the hard lessons companies have learned about e-commerce is that everything can go according to plan right up to the time a customer clicks the “Buy” button, but if you don’t get the order fulfillment process right, it can have negative consequences — not only with regards to customer experience and satisfaction, but financially as well. Simply put, what happens after the purchase, from checkout to final delivery, matters. What actions are companies taking to address the e-commerce fulfillment challenges? How can technology help? Those are two key questions I discussed with Hueman Ortiz, Manager of New Projects Development and Administration at Omnilife, and Walter Heil, Senior Vice President, Americas at Parcel Perform, on a recent episode of Talking Logistics.
E-Commerce Challenges at Omnilife
Omnilife is an international manufacturer and distributor of nutritional supplements, as well as personal care and beauty products, with plants in Mexico and Columbia and distribution throughout the Americas, Europe and Russia. They use multiple parcel carriers to fulfill their e-commerce orders. Hueman explains that the challenge is that customers and distributors across this complex network want real-time visibility to their orders and shipments.
Previously, as Hueman explains in the clip below, Omnilife attempted to address this challenge using multiple communication methods such as text messages and emails, which was a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.
Another challenge was handling disruptions such as an order getting lost in shipment and needing to be replaced. They needed internal visibility to these problems so they could respond quickly to meet customer expectations. Creating this level of internal and external visibility required integrations to a broad spectrum of carriers and systems. Ultimately, not meeting these challenges can impact customer satisfaction.
Walt adds that these challenges are common across the e-commerce world. He notes that previous attempts to provide customers with this information often involved giving them links to the websites of FedEx or UPS, for example, to track their packages. But that causes a loss of control over the customer experience and brand image, as he explains in the clip below:
After all, if the product is late or damaged the customer will blame the brand owner, not the parcel carrier. Therefore, companies like Omnilife want to provide an end-to-end branded customer experience throughout sales and fulfillment, which can be especially challenging with international operations.
Seeking Solutions
Hueman says when seeking solutions to their previous challenges, key requirements included providing shipment visibility to customers and notifications of any disruptions that may occur. They also wanted to unify their brand presentation to customers to improve brand image.
Another factor in their evaluation, which he explains in the clip below, was the ability to gather and analyze data on carrier performance, which enables Omnilife to evaluate how each carrier is serving their customers and to compare carrier performance against each other and industry norms.
Walt adds that having the data Hueman mentions allows companies to set realistic service level agreements (SLAs) with carriers and provide more focused delivery windows with customers. “This allows companies to improve the customer delivery experience and reduce SLA violations, and the costs of those violations” he says.
He also notes that having better delivery performance data can enable retailers to offer multiple delivery/cost options to customers at time of checkout which can make the retailer more competitive and improve cart conversion rates.
Hueman states that besides providing the above capabilities, their vendor selection criteria came down to, first, how well the vendor would provide the needed integration across their network via a single platform; second, the cost and time required to implement the solution; and third, the reliability of the vendor in providing these services across geographies and over time. Omnilife decided that Parcel Perform best met their criteria.
Defining the Benefits
I asked Hueman to summarize the benefits they have received from the Parcel Perform implementation. He says, “If you want to increase your level of service, if you want to increase your competitive advantage, you have to consider these types of solutions. You are able to both reduce and better react to incidents that happen down the chain. Having shipment visibility and being able to react and also inform customers makes a difference. And being able to analyze carrier performance is fundamental to our strategy.”
Hueman also shared how his team was able to articulate the benefits of the solution to management to obtain funding approval, and Walt added further cost/benefit information. I encourage you to watch the full episode for their insights and advice on those topics and more. Then post a comment and keep the conversation going with your questions and comments.
