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Supply chain strategy is now more complex than ever. For some companies, the supply chain is even more complicated once they start doing e-commerce.
The struggle is one of efficiency and fulfillment. If you don’t know what to expect, a deluge of orders could see you scrambling to make shipments and meet customer demand. Or, demand for a steady seller could plummet as consumer focus shifts to a trending item, leaving your warehouse overstocked and under-prepared. Either way, you’re faced with internet consumer trends that can dovetail with traditional commerce or diverge from it.
The traditional model of supply chain management was relatively straightforward. If you were a distributor, your fulfillment process was predicated on demand generated by brands and brick-and-mortar stores. Many brands had well-established models for determining consumer demand based on tried-and-true advertising channels, seasonal shifts, sales projections, and retailer reports.
If you were a brand operating under the traditional supply chain management paradigm, volatility was relatively low compared to what it is today.
You told manufacturers and warehouses to maintain a baseline supply to account for volatility and sales projections in your primary channel. Then, additional supply depended on how much work you put into cultivating a customer base through auxiliary channels such as trade shows, catalogues, and live events. Spreadsheets and hard copy books underpinned the whole process.
Once the internet and online shopping entered the picture, volatility became more commonplace. The internet can amplify trends, and e-commerce makes it relatively easy to order anything, any time, from anywhere. Moreover, search engine algorithms can wreak havoc on your brand’s visibility.
The landscape has shifted and is still changing dramatically. When it comes to retail supply chains, Amazon leverages a cost of shipping 20% lower than that of multichannel retailers. This allows Amazon to dominate e-commerce, while multichannel retailers may lose out on products that consumers want to purchase online.
In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis underlined the volatility of supply chains. Sales of certain consumer-packaged goods, such as oat milk, jumped as much as 305% due to “pandemic pantry” preparations. Brands were not able to foresee this demand. Thankfully, e-commerce was a boon to retailers, because some suppliers provided them with mobile apps for sourcing orders. These apps rely on data sharing so that suppliers can view retail stock and make quick orders to manufacturers.
Data sharing can decrease volatility for all nodes in the supply chain. Essentially, real-time data access allows your brand to visualise the entire picture of supply and demand.
With access to retail data from POS systems and inventory apps, you can see how much stock is on shelves and in stockrooms. You can also view trends in your niche by looking at retail reports.
When consumers share their data via surveys, questionnaires, social media platforms, and cookies, your brand is able to make product-demand projections. Analytics solutions, such as Google Analytics, allow you to understand your audience from a demographic and locational perspective.
In turn, with supply chain management software, you’re able to see where manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping are in the fulfillment process. Then, you can be transparent with the customer about when their order will arrive.
With access to data, brands need automation — it’s nearly impossible to overstate the impact that automation has on supply chain efficiency, and therefore, customer satisfaction. In 2011, Amazon was already on top of automation innovations with features such as 1-Click checkout.
Amazon’s e-commerce platform automated the process of placing orders. Combined with product suggestions and fast shipping due to integrated supply chain management software, Amazon’s service captured an American Customer Satisfaction Index score of 87. Through continued automation and breakneck efficiency, Amazon’s valuation went from $100 billion in 2011 to $1 trillion in 2020.
Automation isn’t just for an e-commerce titan like Amazon. Any brand that wants to automate their supply chain can do so easily. All you have to do is integrate an e-commerce store with your enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which includes supply chain data and process automation. Doing so can increase your order processing efficiency by 53% and boost sales by at least 8%.
Managing your supply chain with an integrated e-commerce shop is difficult if you don’t have a strategy in place to satisfy the influx of customers and orders. This being the case, consider the following strategies for streamlining your e-commerce operations:
All told, streamlining your supply chain through automation has a surprise effect: it allows you to focus more on listening to your customers. With ERP-integrated e-commerce software, you can work to give your customers what they want and need, right from when they click a button.
For more insight, download the supply chain e-commerce guide for manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.