The essentials of eCommerce

eCommerce – what is it?

Here, we look at the essentials of eCommerce. eCommerce covers the entire process of receiving, processing, and delivering orders to customers who buy your products online. eCommerce includes everything from meticulous inventory management and precise order picking and packing to efficient shipping and hassle-free handling of returns.

Granby and eCommerce

eCommerce Fulfilment

At Granby , we understand that one of the essentials of eCommerce is fulfillment. This is crucial for delivering customer satisfaction and maintaining a smooth, controlled operation for online retailers and promotional marketing campaigns. Our team is dedicated to providing seamless and reliable services, making us the ideal partner for your eCommerce needs.

Expert and experienced

Choosing Granby for your eCommerce fulfillment ensures you have an experienced, expert partner who is deeply invested in your success, adding value to your project and adapting to its evolving needs. With a rich history spanning several decades, Granby is established as a leader in the industry, consistently delivering exceptional service and innovative solutions.

Our comprehensive process overview highlights our commitment to efficiency and precision. From inventory management to order picking and packing, shipping, and handling returns, we cover every aspect of the fulfillment process with meticulous attention to detail. Our facilities allow us to manage high volumes of orders seamlessly and maintain the highest standards of quality control.

Industry accredited

Granby is proud to hold several industry accreditations, reflecting our dedication to excellence and continuous improvement. These certifications not only demonstrate our compliance with industry standards but also our commitment to providing reliable and trustworthy services to our clients.

Partnering with Granby means more than just outsourcing your eCommerce fulfillment; it means gaining a dedicated ally who is committed to your growth and success. We are here to support you every step of the way, adapting to your evolving needs and ensuring that your customers receive the best possible experience.

Key trends in eCommerce

Personalisation

The ever-evolving landscape of eCommerce has seen personalisation emerge as a critical consumer engagement strategy, particularly for engaging with Gen-Z, the digital natives who are redefining shopping norms.

With over 40% of Gen-Zers purchasing more than half of their clothing and electronic items online, the need for tailored shopping experiences has never been more pressing. Personalisation is not just a buzzword; it’s a powerful tool that drives loyalty, encourages conversions, and influences purchasing decisions. And as we’ve seen, research shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalised experiences.

Gifting and Personalisation

At Granby, we have witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of personalisation across various shopper demographics, not just Gen Z. For many years now Granby have shown clients how personalisation around gifting can easily be integrated into 3PL fulfilment campaigns. Why? Because a robust e-commerce process is massively important. Personalisation and mass gifting is very sensitive to time – people tend to buy gifts at the last minute. If there are any errors or typos in their order, they won’t feel they have had a good engagement with your brand. So, we work with brands to deliver hyper-personalised gifts, content, product recommendations, and exclusive offers to meet the individual needs, preferences and behaviours. And we do it on time, ensuring that every interaction is welcome, meaningful and relevant.

Looking to the future, it’s clear that personalisation will continue to play an essential role in successful eCommerce strategies, making it imperative for brands and retailers to invest in catering to the unique needs of individual online shoppers. This is only going to be more prevalent as Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption continues.

Artificial Intelligence

And finally, in the dynamic world of eCommerce, the promise of Artificial Intelligence AI is revolutionising how brands interact with consumers, particularly through the personalisation of messaging. By leveraging AI to adapt to consumer behaviours, brands can deliver more accurate and valuable information, enhancing their overall shopping experience. Research indicates that around 80% of consumers are more likely to become returning buyers if a company provides this personalised shopping experience. This is where Granby excels, integrating seamlessly with any API to enhance customer interactions and our multi-channel customer service teams add that personal touch.

In the US, Starbucks, combines AI and machine learning, to its eCommerce interactions. By tracking customer data on their mobile app, Starbucks generates unique, attractive offers in real-time, considering customer preferences, activity, past purchases, and location. This results in over 400,000 personalised messages sent through in-app push notifications.

Chief Technical Officer, Gerri Martin-Flickinger, Starbucks’ says the business uses spending patterns “to have people try things they wouldn’t try otherwise, or to put something quietly on sale to create incentives to desired behaviours,” she said.

By 2027, the global AI market is expected to soar to $407 billion, a significant increase from $86.9 billion in 2022. Worth keeping an eye on AI!

Subscription model for eCommerce

Over the past few years, consumers have become increasingly accustomed to the convenience of shopping online, and the subscription model has emerged as a leading trend in the eCommerce industry.

This model offers a practical solution for fulfilling consumers’ recurring needs, from streaming services to monthly clothing deliveries and daily menus and meal ingredients. HelloFresh, for example, attracted over seven million customers worldwide in 2022 with its customisable plans.

At Granby, we understand the unique demands of subscription-based eCommerce. Our comprehensive fulfillment solutions are designed to handle the complexities of recurring orders, ensuring timely deliveries and exceptional customer experiences. With 70% of business leaders agreeing that the subscription model plays a vital role in the future of eCommerce growth and expansion, it’s clear that this trend is here to stay.

However, churn rate remains a significant challenge for this digital business model. To reduce subscription churn, offer special perks such as free delivery, lower prices, and access to limited products. Maintaining good communication with your customers – like informing them about delayed deliveries – is a great way to improve customer trust. Which brings us to prioritising customer support.

Customer Support as a priority

Customer support has always been a cornerstone for any successful brand. Issues with performance, service, and delivery can quickly turn away both existing customers and potential buyers. Therefore, providing quality assistance is paramount, especially in eCommerce transactions.

J.P. Morgan say “The UK is a stable and growing e-commerce market in which consumers are willing and able to adopt new ways to shop and pay. UK consumers have very high expectations for quality before, during and after every shopping and payment experience. Cross-border e-commerce is well-established and continues to grow.”

Research shows that 81% of customers believe a positive support experience encourages repeat purchases, and with 60% of customers expecting a reply within 10 minutes or less, the importance of swift response times cannot be overstated. Live chat has emerged as the preferred communication channel, with 41% of customers favouring it over phone, email, and social media support due to its immediacy and ease of use.

Despite the growing demand for real-time customer service, many businesses are now leveraging customer service chatbots to streamline the customer journey from acquisition to retention.

At Granby, our customer service teams are adept at communicating with your customers through their preferred channels, whether it be phone calls, SMS, email, or social media.

Our eCommerce fulfillment solutions are meticulously designed to simplify your business operations, ensuring a seamless and satisfying customer experience. With Granby, you can rest assured that your customers are in expert hands, receiving the timely and effective support they deserve.

What Granby deliver for our eCommerce clients

Perfect Partnerships

As a 3PL solutions specialist our handling and fulfilment services are second to none. Granby will pick, pack, and dispatch to your requirements with precision and efficiency. Our comprehensive order process, managed through our turnkey solution OrderSure, ensures that receiving, processing, and delivering orders to your customers is seamless. And for your customers, receipt validation through our proprietorial SwiftReceipt integrates completely with your systems and ours to enhance and speed up your customer’s journey.

OrderSure’s feature-rich interface gives you instant data access and a complete overview of your available inventory at the click of a button. OrderSure makes inventory management effortless, so you can focus on growing your business.

Cost effective, efficient inventory management

With our comprehensive order process, everything from receiving to processing and delivering orders is handled seamlessly through our turnkey solution, OrderSure.

This feature-rich interface provides you with instant data access. As well as a complete overview of your available inventory at the click of a button. You gain access to a comprehensive dashboard packed with useful features like smart search and category assignment, automated stock replenishment rules, all making inventory management a breeze. OrderSure makes inventory management effortless, allowing you to focus on what really matters—growing your business. Additionally, the system allows for easy data viewing and printing, and includes chat and live-support features, ensuring you always have the help you need. You can be confident that, with us, your inventory is in good hands!

Easy to use, real time inventory tools

With flexible services tailored to meet the unique challenges of each project, Granby’s experienced team gives you complete visibility and control and helps you deliver campaigns and orders smarter, faster, and more sustainably.

Seamless integration with payment platform API

Granby will be able to integrate seamlessly with any payment platform API. Our SCOPe platform supports integration with various eCommerce platforms including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, ensuring smooth operations across all systems.

With SCOPe’s intuitive automation technology, you benefit from real-time data sharing and updates. This maintains the integrity of information throughout the supply chain. This seamless API integration provides full visibility of your data and comprehensive KPI reporting. Empowering you to make informed decisions and optimise performance. Additionally, SCOPe makes it incredibly easy to integrate with your existing systems, allowing your customers to experience the perfect post-purchase journey, by optimising all of your eCommerce operations within our fulfillment service.

Inventory Care and Protection

We know that Inventory management is a strategic discipline that goes way beyond simply counting stock items. For us at Granby it encompasses a range of activities that influence the entire lifecycle of a product, from the moment it enters our warehouse to the point it reaches your customer.

Our process takes on board demand forecasting from the outset. This helps to predict product volumes needed to meet your customer demand. And it does so without unnecessary overstocking or understocking. Our processes make sure that for the most part, the right products are available at the right time, minimising your costs and maximising your customer satisfaction.

Once in our care, you can be sure that Granby will protect and care for your inventory with the utmost diligence. From the moment your goods arrive, they are assigned a unique SKU, ensuring precise tracking and management. Our comprehensive warehousing solutions span a 77,000 sq. ft. facility. This allows us to offer everything from palletised storage to secure caged areas. And it’s all under the watchful eye of on-site security and CCTV surveillance. We handle massive volumes throughout the year, all managed within our six warehouses on a single site.

Quality control is always a top priority; we inspect 10% of incoming stock to ensure everything meets our high standards. Our intelligent Warehouse Management System (WMS) keeps a thorough record of all stock movements and transactions, providing you with real-time online stock reporting and analysis. This advanced fulfilment software offers fully tracked inventory management, giving you a complete audit trail from stock levels to the exact location of your items in our warehouse. With Granby, your inventory is in safe and capable hands.

Shipping and Deliveries

You can be confident that Granby will manage shipping and deliveries for you on time, both nationally and internationally! We have strong partnerships with all major carriers ensuring that your products reach their destinations efficiently.

Whether you need same-day or next-day delivery, our OrderSure system has you covered. It generates consignment packing instructions, calculates the optimum consignment weight, and selects the best dispatch methods to guarantee timely deliveries. Plus, with our end-to-end management and client visibility, you’ll have full control and insight into the entire journey. All the way from goods in to customer receipt. You can be confident that our supply chain partners share our social value and environmental ambitions and deliver economies of scale, making the entire process smooth and reliable for you and your customers.

Multi-Channel Customer Service

Granby’s multi-channel customer service offering is built on years of experience. We are experts at anticipating any potential pain points well ahead of implementation. And we build solutions into each program ahead of time. Our expert customer service teams will treat your brand as if it is their own. Offering specialised knowledge and reassurance for your customers. This duty of care means your customers really are dealing with your brand, building trust, loyalty, and brand equity with every transaction.

Our flexible, scalable solutions can be activated or deactivated as needed. Providing robust support to your in-house customer service team across all channels. You can relax, knowing that, with Granby, your customer service needs are in expert hands!

Recalls and Returns

Granby can manage recalls and streamline returns when necessary through a robust reverse logistics process. Our OrderSure system is at the heart of this process. We offer batch control for efficient recalls and a streamlined returns process that includes restocking and refurbishing services.

Returns can be a significant pain point for any business, costing UK companies around £60bn a year. We can help your business streamline any returns, keeping customers happy and protecting your cash flow. And our efficient tracking, quality checking, and repackaging services ensure that returned items are quickly made available for resale.

Scalable

At Granby, we understand that as your e-commerce business grows, so do your needs. Our flexible planning modules are designed to scale effortlessly with your business. Ensuring that you can handle increased transaction volumes without a hitch.

With our extensive warehouse facilities and highly skilled teams, we have the capacity to support your growth at every stage. Whether it’s managing inventory, streamlining returns, or providing top-notch customer service, Granby is here to ensure your operations run smoothly. Allowing you to focus on what you do best – growing your business.

Why partner with Granby?

Choosing Granby as your eCommerce partner means gaining an experienced and expert ally dedicated to your success. With decades of industry leadership, we offer comprehensive eCommerce fulfillment services, from inventory management to shipping and returns. Our state-of-the-art OrderSure system ensures seamless operations. While our extensive facilities and skilled team handle high volumes with precision and skill. Trusted by household names like Asda and the NHS, we excel in delivering efficient, reliable, and innovative solutions. Partner with Granby to streamline your eCommerce operations, protect your inventory, and provide exceptional customer experiences.

Talk to us about your next eCommerce campaign. See first-hand why so many brands, agencies and public sector organisations love working with Granby.

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