ECOMMERCE
Warehouse e-commerce STRATEGIES
Is your warehouse truly ready?
Words Dick Friedman
A
lthough some wholesale distributors obtain a small number of sales through their websites, a website that enables house accounts to do inquiries and place orders is not true e-commerce. And the traditional warehouse arrangement and processes may not be suitable for e-commerce, which will grow significantly (although not necessarily profitably). Those distributors who want to boost revenue by getting new types of customers and more sales, can learn if their warehouses are prepared, and if not, how to prepare them by reading on.
What is e-commerce? E-commerce is the 24/7 fully automated process of the “public” and house accounts performing item-availability and price inquiries, generating 40 INCLEAN NEW ZEALAND May 2022
priced quotes, entering priced orders, generating invoices, paying by credit card (or on account), inquiring into quotes, orders, open invoices, and accounts receivable items. All printed documents must contain one or more bar code representations. Be prepared for extensive lessthan-carton-sales to the public. No people are needed for quoting and order entry. However, the purchasing department must be able to order larger quantities (and perhaps new items) without e-commerce. People are also needed to respond to phone calls and messages sent via the website. And people will almost certainly be needed to add information to the database about each item for sale. The enterprise resource planning system (ERP) and e-commerce software must contain all needed functions, be fail-safe, and be able to handle dozens of simultaneous transactions.