Getting into the eCommerce business is something that is truly exciting.  This year has shown that eCommerce is going to be one of the greatest online sales years of all time.  Millions of companies are jumping into this realm and they are coming at it with a lot of knowledge and a full-on internet that helps them with any questions they may have.  This is going to be a crazy year and one thing that I want is for people to be ahead of the curve. I want companies to be successful because we all win as consumers on the other end.  But some people end up making some mistakes and others are able to learn from them and that is what I want to go over here.

There really is an amazing way to rock the shipping department and a lot of that has to do with management and purchasing. These are two areas that go hand in hand and once people are working efficiently and effectivly they can benefit from the correct purchasing of products and goods that you are sending out to your buyers.  The best part of a great shipping department is when both of these things are working together to make a company more profitable and dominant in the market.

I truly think that having people doing the correct tasks in the best way is worth spending time and effort on.  I always like to think back to Henry Ford and how he created the assembly line to be more efficient.  An entire form of research was created from this and they study people’s movements in order to do the best job.  It really is worth doing and I think you don’t need to hire a consultant but ask a few different teams or people to all do the same task and do it all alone and see who does it the best, fastest, and most cost-efficient.  Then take the best process and use that as a template to get items in and out of your store.

I have also found that having a really good warehouse labeling system is a great way to get items and store them quickly and efficiently.  I like the ABC and numbering system which allows the average person to be able to work out the entire system in their head and even sing the ABC’s to find products. So don’t use a bad system when a simple one is used by billion-dollar companies all the time. 

Now another section that really matters is purchasing.  If you are getting your packaging supplies at a retail store or Amazon you are most likely losing out on a lot of money. I have found that many companies are not shopping enough for their boxes, bags, and all-around packaging supplies and it costs them a ton of money each and every month.  If you send items out and are eCommerce only then you really need to jump on the option to save money on each and every order you send out.  Try and find a major online retailer that is the source and not a middleman.  This allows you to cut out all the extra costs and to get your shipping items at the lowest price possible. So shop well and dominate this year.