EDI

Creating Trust through Transparency with Online Sales

As more people have shopped online during 2020 than at any other time, consumers’ trust in online retailers has become more important than ever.  However, if a retailer fails to recognize the widening gap between customer expectations and the service and product they deliver, this can lead to disappointed customers, who will ultimately shop somewhere else.

Research has shown that there have been more online shoppers due to the pandemic during 2020 with a growing number of e-tailers to choose from, however the quality of service has varied greatly among retailers.

Some of the problems consumers have encountered include late or non-delivery,  purchasing a product that is available during the online shopping process only to find it is unavailable at the checkout, and difficult or impossible follow-up with the merchant after delivery or tracking down a product that has not been delivered.

The reliance on online shopping is expected to continue and increase during 2021, placing more pressure on supply chain, inventory management and customer support and retailers will be required to take ownership of the end-to-end customer experience.  Once a customer gains trust in an online brand and the service and products they offer, they will not only shop at that store again, but happily refer the retailer to friends and family.

Implementing tools to manage operational complexities and improve customer communications in order to provide a transparent transaction from the buy button right through to product delivery is sure to set the savvy retailer apart from the competition.

Retailers who are looking at ways to improve upon their customer support and product delivery service levels of 2020 are sure to be the winners in 2021.

xocbox provices retailers with the tools to manage their online and retail operations, including order and inventory management, and customer communication tools.  Contact xocbox to learn more.

online shopping multi-channel
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xocbox helps optimize shipping times and costs

We were recently asked if we could help one of our customers reduce the cost and time it takes to ship products to their customers and also maximize the potential for them to avoid buying from warehouses where certain products were out of stock, and instead ship from the next nearest warehouse where products were available.  We were able to do this by utilizing the tools available in the xocbox Order Manager.

As many retailers found out last year, the pandemic has caused supplier inventory levels to fluctuate sharply.  A product that has plenty of stock one day can quite easily be completely sold out by the next day.

If the supplier has more than one warehouse holding stock of the same products, shipping from another location can often be the answer.  However, this can be a time-consuming and expensive solution for the retailer who first has to locate the warehouse(s) with the quantity required to fulfill the order, then figure out the best carrier to use for shipping, and decide whether all other items in the order could be shipped from the same location, or whether the order will need to be split and shipped from multiple warehouses.

xocbox shipping and warehouse manager

 

xocbox streamlines the process of managing order fulfillment by quickly giving you visibility to stock availability at a given location, and helping you choose the most optimal shipping method.

The xocbox Order Module is able to check orders received online against available supplier inventory, and the dropdown menu shows quantities of each SKU at each warehouse.

If the order can be fulfilled by the nearest warehouse to the delivery address, and the cutoff time has not passed, then this option is chosen.  If the order cannot be fulfilled by the closest warehouse, then the decision can be made to split the shipment between warehouses, or fulfill the whole order from a warehouse that is further away if that is a possibility.

If order fulfillment and inventory management have been problematic for your business, contact xocbox to learn more about our Order Module and Shipping Manager and how we might be able to help.

 

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More Business Buyers using Amazon

In a recent survey by B2BecNews, it was discovered that nearly 8 out of 10 business buyers were using Amazon to purchase and you would naturally think that it would be a place where manufacturers and distributors are planning to sell their products, if they are not doing so already.

Corporate buyers would love to see more sellers on the Amazon marketplace, but the survey revealed that the manufacturers and distributors surveyed had no future plans to sell on Amazon marketplace.

The survey, which covered corporate buyers from a range of industries including automotive, consumer electronics, industrial and healthcare products found that a staggering 78.4% of B2B buyers researched and made a purchase from Amazon Business, and it is possible that number would be even higher if more manufacturers made their products available on the B2B channel.

Only about 40% of manufacturers sell on either Amazon Business or Amazon.com, and nearly 50% of manufacturers that don’t sell on Amazon, did not have any plans to do so. 10% planned to do so in six months or less, just over 5% thought they would do so in six months to a year, another 13.5% had plans to sell in 1 to 2 years time, so many are ignoring the opportunity to tap into potential buyers who are seeking products that they may sell.

Corporate buyers, who are accustomed to buying online for their personal purchases, are looking for the same ease and simplicity when they make purchases for their business. Amazon B2B offers buyers a streamlined shopping experience which equals the ease with which buyers shop online for themselves.

Manufacturers and distributers who have a website or portal for buyers often believe that they don’t need to be on a marketplace, but research is showing that this is not the case. The opportunity to buy several types of products from different suppliers in one place is also attractive to busy executives.

The numbers below indicate where buyers are most likely to go for their purchases:

Amazon Business – 78.4%
Alibaba – 36.5%
ThomasNet – 28.4%
Global Sources – 24.3%
Wholesale Central – 16.6%

If you are interested in selling on a B2B portal, but not sure where to start, contact xocbox to learn how we can help. Tel 858-752-3803, or email info@xocbox.com.

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Pre-Orders for Woocommerce Stores

If you sell a product that is something your customers anticipate and can’t wait to purchase as soon as it hits the stores, then offering the ability to pre-order is a great way to attract new customers and entice existing customers back to your store.

The xocbox pre-order module was designed with your Woocommerce store in mind.  Unlike some of the pre-order plugins that are available, the xocbox module has the advantage of allowing customers to shop in the normal way and add items to their shopping cart, and also add pre-order items to the same cart.

When it’s time to checkout the whole amount of the cart is authorized, but only the available items are charged to the customer, and shipped.

When the pre-order items arrive in your store, funds are collected from those who have pre-ordered, and the items are shipped to them together with their tracking information.

This year  we worked with a publisher who added the pre-order module to their book store, and it has been a great hit with their customers.    They offer titles as ebooks, print books, or a combination of print and ebook.

As new titles are prepared for sale, they can keep in touch with customers and update them on pre-order dates and publication dates for both ebooks and print books, and their customers are then the first to receive new titles they are interested in.

xocbox worked with the publisher to create custom product pages and messages on their website, and also create custom email messages for each stage of the pre-order process.

Pre-orders are a great addition to any store that sells new and seasonal products where the store owner can predict the product arrival date in their store.

Books, games, electronics and fashion items are perfect products for pre-order, and enable you to keep in touch with past customers to let them know of new products they may like, and be the first to receive.

If you would like to learn more about the xocbox pre-order module, call 858-752-3803, or read more here.

xocbox Pre-Order Module

 

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EDI for Yahoo Stores Eliminates Data Entry

As ecommerce stores try to compete with Amazon and Walmart, they continue to seek ways to not only speed up the process from the time the customer places an order to actually receiving the product at their door, but also try to cut their own costs and become more efficient.

These two scenarios present a challenge because at first glance it appears that it is difficult to present the customer with a more efficient process from purchase right through to delivery, and lower administrative costs at the same time.

Yet xocbox has helped Yahoo Store Merchants do this by offering an EDI solution which enables them to eliminate some manual tasks, and frees up employees’ time so they can work on higher value projects.

Unlike some of the web-EDI solutions offered to online stores, the EDI solution that xocbox offers Yahoo stores is a fully integrated product which means that you do not have to re-key data into a third party product in order to pass the data on to the EDI trading partner.

A great benefit to Yahoo merchants is that this has allowed them to trade with suppliers who will only sell to them if they use EDI, enabling them to offer a much greater selection of products, and increase their sales revenue.

xocbox provided the back-end system required to achieve this, and worked with their suppliers to ensure that transactions were processed correctly. Once all testing was complete, they were up and running with a new supplier. No additional staff or training was required by the store to do this, and they were able to introduce a new line of products to their store.

With xocbox EDI Yahoo stores are able to manage their orders, and also product onboarding and inventory.

By transacting with your partners electronically you can save time, offer a greater range of products, and free up time to do other valuable tasks within your business.

If this sounds like something that would work for your store, learn more about the Benefits of xocbox EDI products here, or call xocbox at 858-752-3803.

For those looking to automate just about everything – from product onboarding, taking orders, and shipping products – read about the xocbox No Touch Store, where you literally don’t have to touch a thing.

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Inventory Control Leads to Happier Customers

As 2017 progresses, and retailers are confronted with the uncertainties of the border tax and an ever-shrinking labor market, staying on top of inventory is still a guaranteed way to keep customers happy.

I read recently that one of the major turn-offs for shoppers is when they have spent time online choosing a product, especially if the product requires them to spend time choosing variables, such as a piece of furniture which has fabric, finishes and sizes to consider, only to find when their purchase is added to the cart (or later) the product is not available.

Most of these companies use some type of inventory management system to track products that are in stock, sold out or coming soon, yet accurately representing inventory is still one of the most difficult areas for retailers to stay on top of.

The one size fits all approach offered by many of the inventory control products available still leaves enough friction in the process of managing stock to turn customers away.

xocbox works with many different types of retailers, and we see that all have unique business scenarios that make managing their inventory unique. We work with retailers, suppliers and manufacturers and see the supply chain from both ends of the puzzle. Whether you choose EDI, assistance with supplier feeds or are a manufacturer looking to expand your selling outlets, talk to xocbox to see how we can help you fulfill orders and keep your customers happy.

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