eCommerce and its Digital Innovation

eCommerce and its Digital Innovation

If this past year taught businesses anything, it’s that staying relevant amidst rapid innovation of new processes and technologies is critical for survival.  Many eCommerce businesses were poised and ready for the rapid growth that the pandemic brought to online marketplaces and its suppliers had already optimized and automated processes or were able to pivot and adjust quickly. 

But not every business can maintain momentum for years at a time. Can your eCommerce business maintain its growth in the Covid surge marketplace of 2021?

 

eCommerce Continues to Grow
In 2020, suppliers had more pressure than ever to keep up with the demand of consumers on a moment’s notice with the announcement of many states enforcing shelter in place mandates.  

Overnight, suppliers were expected to provide everything from luxury food items to furniture and home goods for renovation projects to pet supplies for consumers stuck at home and making changes to their environment. According to Forbes, an estimated growth of 9.5% was blown out of the water by the actual 24% growth rate in 2020. This shift in the digital channel is only expected to grow as 2021 has promises of a vaccine, but with several cities and states under shelter in place orders.

 

Optimization is Critical
Growth is easily achieved through optimization, but knowing what and how to optimize are usually the toughest challenges for an organization to decide.

Simplify through one software solution.

Automation of your order processing and fulfillment needs allows your eCommerce business to keep up with the ever-increasing consumer demands. It also drives labor costs down and increases capacity to fulfill new orders immediately, without the hassle of hiring and training new staff – allowing you to pick, pack and ship!

 

Strengthen relationships with sales channels.

Implementation of a software solution allows you to optimize your business through timely deliveries to consumers, while managing compliant retailer transactions, real-time inventory and shipping documents, and in return serve as a trustworthy and reliable supplier to your sales channels.

Suppliers have more pressure than ever to level up to the brand standards consumers expect when purchasing products from the major marketplaces like Amazon, Target, Wayfair and many others. Optimization keeps eCommerce businesses viable and competitive.

 

Delivery Costs Rapidly Rise
eCommerce rose to the occasion when consumers were in need throughout the shelter in place orders and holiday season in 2020, but at the cost of astronomically higher shipping prices to maintain consumer expectations of two-day shipping with the long list of logistical limitations caused by Covid. 

Many marketplaces are looking for innovative solutions to enhance product delivery to reduce shipping costs, with the end goal of not having to raise prices for consumer. In addition to new shipping methods, many organizations are strengthening their digital presence and simplifying the order process in the hope of reducing errors and better managing the higher purchase volume. 

 

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

As your business looks to optimize processes and remain relevant, simplify your processes with OPAL.

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.

To learn more about how to optimize your eCommerce business with OPAL, click here!

 

Surviving 2020 to Thriving in 2021 with eCommerce

Surviving 2020 to Thriving in 2021 with eCommerce

As we bring this holiday season to a close, it’s time to reflect on everything that brought us to a record year of growth for online holiday sales. As Covid numbers continue to skyrocket across the nation, some consumers choose to stay home and shop from the safety of their own home, while others are being forced to do this due to shelter-in-place regulations determined by their local government. Both put pressure on the eCommerce and supply chain & logistics industries to deliver a record number of products for a happy holiday season!

Holiday Consumer Trends in 2020
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) survey in October, 96% of retailers polled expected their online holiday sales to increase and the consumers polled confirmed this assumption – more than 60% planned to shop online, up from 52% in 2019. 

In addition, 76% of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers were purchasing gifts for the holiday and 54% of consumer holiday purchases were influenced strongly by sales and promotions at stores. It seems many were holding out to see if the promotions run in October and November would be better on thanksgiving weekend, but 53% said the sales and promotions were exactly what they saw earlier in the season.

Small Biz Daily highlights that 73% of consumers have tried new shopping behaviors this December and are more open to trying new stores and brands, whether they tried curbside pickup or delivery apps, new brands, or different retailers and websites. In addition to behaviors, the top growing online sales are in skincare, makeup and accessories, with household supplies trailing behind them.

What this Means for eCommerce
Covid has definitely left its mark this year and changed consumer behavior for the near future – whether its state regulated shelter-in-place lockdowns, essential vs. non-essential businesses, online shopping vs. retail shopping, or simply keeping the workforce healthy and able to make deliveries to consumers, there’s so many challenges and issues out of your control as a business owner.

What is in your control, is your ability to look back on this holiday season, and 2020 as a whole, to see what processes worked and areas of opportunity for your organization.

  • Automation: drives labor costs down and increases capacity to fulfill new orders immediately without the hassle of hiring and training new staff.  Also, it strengthens your backend processes so that you can deliver more product quicker.
  • EDI: transactions with all retailers, suppliers and warehouses can drastically eat away at your profit margin, but a software that includes this in its monthly fee reduces costs.
  • Inventory across multiple sales channels: without automated real-time inventory, this manual process is tedious and likely to cause over-selling or underselling with how fast consumers purchase across multiple sales channels. 

One software can solve all of these headaches in one easy solution — OPAL. After this holiday season, treat yourself to a software solution that can automate and streamline your processes, while also saving you money with free EDI and reductions in labor costs.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.

To learn more about how to make your eCommerce business scalable with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!