With every business model, you have various ways of delivering your product to your customer. In retail, it can be an item on the shelf in a brick and mortar shop. In wholesale, it can be delivered by the pallet on a lorry, and if it’s an international customer, then it could be a mixture of land, sea and air freight. But online as a retailer, it can be tricky.
Traditionally for B2B, if your customer requested a quote from you, part of your quoting process will entail getting an estimate from a carrier. At that point, you can decide which would be the best option given the type of shipment, the timeline and even have the ability to negotiate a rate for that specific shipment, especially if it’s with a carrier you normally work with regularly. In today’s Multichannel e-commerce focused world, that’s a little more tricky. You can’t have this same process with an immediate online order. You don’t have the time to contact multiple carriers to get the best deal for your customer, so what happens?
When you’re running an e-commerce business, your procedures will need to change. From product discovery to checkout, the entire process needs to be seamless for your customers; and this includes shipping, which means some sort of delivery system will need to be in place. Since the nature of e-commerce is immediate, you will need to prepare your carrier costs in advance, which will mean flat rates for various carriers.
With online delivery, customers typically have options for standard delivery, 1-2 working days, next day delivery, and tracked. Each of these have a different cost variable. But then you have some products or package dimensions that certain carriers may not deliver, or some areas where they charge a premium compared to other carriers.
This is where multiple carrier options can be helpful. Say, for instance, your product is very flammable and needs to be carefully transported. One carrier might charge an additional premium since there is a higher risk involved in this type of delivery, whereas another might not; but the carrier that charges a slightly higher rate also has faster delivery options which your customer may want if they need your product sooner rather than later.
 Consider particular criteria of incoming Sales Orders and pre-define what actions should be taken on these orders, letting the system do the hard work for you. |  You can’t go wrong when you put a customer first when regarding how you will operate as a company. Customer choice is key and this looks perfect. |
Each customer has different needs and carriers have different solutions at variable rates, so the best route of action is to be able to allow your customers to make those decisions rather than forcing them into a couple solutions. This is where an e-commerce platform with a rule-based carrier system comes into play.
Rules-based carrier systems allow customers to choose their carriers based on their personal preference, such as next day tracked or 1-2 business days delivery, but it also helps you as a business. If you have multiple products on your online shop, but some carriers don’t support all of those products, a rule-based system will automatically eliminate the carriers that don’t support that particular product type, so that it doesn’t show up as an option for the customer at all, removing any chance for error or confusion.
With TradePeg’s rule-based carrier system, you will also be able to test this before it goes live, allowing you to tighten up any loose ends or make any corrections before it goes live. And there is a failover system in place as well, ensuring that you always have a backup if something goes wrong. Failover systems are key to running a smooth operation that relies on technology. In the event of an outage of any scale, the failover system will kick into gear and take over the heavy lifting until your normal systems are operational, with your customers being none the wiser. This is a completely smooth transition and ensures that your e-commerce system is always operational so your business has little to no downtime, and your revenue will remain unaffected.
TradePeg’s robust and easy to use system doesn’t end there. It’s designed with efficiency in mind, so automation is one of the cornerstone features, reducing human error in your operations and reducing the number of tasks that you and your team need to think about. Automation saves loads of time and a money in the long run, while making your operation much smoother. Integrated accounting means that it will sync with most accounting software options seamlessly, so that’s one less thing you have to worry about; everything is in one place.
But what’s really great about TradePeg is that it’s an enterprise grade solution without the cost and hassle of an enterprise solution, built for mid-market wholesale and multichannel e-commerce businesses. Built in-house, it’s designed to handle all of your business’ requirements and collaborate with 3rd party integrations so that you’re using on centralised platform; simplifying your operational workflow.
TradePeg’s inventory management software solution offers powerful enterprise-grade features to mid-market wholesale and B2B/B2C multichannel e-commerce businesses at a value point suitable for SMEs. Our suite is built entirely in-house, continually evolving to meet customer requirements, allowing you to handle all of your business’ requirements and collaborate with stakeholders using a centralised and integrated platform. TradePeg’s order management software works to streamline your operations, maximise efficiency and reduce errors while seamlessly integrating with your favourite accounting software, carriers and marketplaces.