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27 Jan21:56pm

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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19 Jan00:27am

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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02 May00:25am

How the pandemic is shaping tech decisions

There is no doubt that the decisions that retailers made early this year about where to focus their tech spending are changing rapidly as the year unfolds.

Whether it’s trying to attract a new, shelter-at-home shopper, the addition of new more relevant product lines, or how to carry out regular retail processes more efficiently with a smaller number of employees all working remotely, retailers large and small have been struggling to meet the challenge of COVID-19.

We have found that the pandemic has affected our retail customers differently, with some becoming busier than they were during the holiday season and looking for ways to automate more of their processes, some looking to boost their supply chain processes and source new products, and others trying innovative new marketing strategies such as live webinars, allowing them to connect on a more personal level with their customers.

xocbox has also been working to find innovative solutions to help our customers by working with their existing websites and technology, and introducing new integrated custom solutions to enable them to remain competitive and keep selling products during these difficult times.

If you are looking for cost-effective ways to manage your retail operation with the help of technology, we would love to help you – call us today at 858-752-3803.

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04 Sep23:31pm

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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09 Jul18:32pm

Extract Shipment Tracking Numbers from Multiple Dropship Suppliers

xocbox works with many retailers who rely on email to collect data from their suppliers and shipping providers, and all love the ease and simplicity of working with emails.  Emails offer infinite flexibility for the sender, but trying to extract uniform information from multiple providers is not as easy for the recipient.

One example of how xocbox is helping its customers is where an ecommerce store selling dropship products switched from using their own shipper to those of their suppliers, and asked for our help.

The retailer was receiving hundreds of emails throughout the day from all their suppliers’ shipping carriers, but the information varied from shipper to shipper making it difficult for the retailer to tie the tracking number to the order, as most of the notifications did not reference the order number, the main point of reference for the retailer.

xocbox was able to parse the information from the various emails and match the customer name to the order eliminating the need for an employee to go through every email and manually match it to the order.

xocbox can now parse data from incoming emails and, based on your requirements, process the data to integrate with other systems or applications that you work with in order to carry out specific tasks, thus eliminating hours of data entry.

If you love working with emails, but wish they could do just a little more without your help, contact xocbox today.  Call 858-752-3803 or email info@xocbox.com.

 

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05 Apr03:37am

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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