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Five steps to e-commerce success

Companies with e-commerce operations often focus too much on just their Web site and e-store.  But if they aren’t ready to pick, pack and ship orders accurately and quickly every time, the customers they attract through the Web can click over to a competitor in a heartbeat. “Effective e-commerce has to combine an attention-grabbing Web presence with robust, disciplined back-end service to succeed,” says Charles Riess, a managing director at RSM McGladrey with deep experience assisting e-commerce companies.

Effective e-commerce operations must do five things well:

• Build effective Web sites and e-stores. If you don’t attract customers, nothing else matters.  But if that’s all you do, the investment you make in your Web presence will pay off for your competitors, not for you.
• Process orders quickly and accurately every time. Fast, accurate service is vital.  For commoditized products, if you aren’t shipping orders in 48 hours, you’re dead.  ERP and CRM systems and attendant warehousing and shipping processes are vital to e-commerce success and to your margins. 
• Remember your supply chain. No company wants to sit on inventory it doesn’t need, but if you don’t have what your customers want in stock when they want it, the competition is a click away. 
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Never let the customer wonder about their order.  Send updates to let customers know that their order was received, when it was packed and shipped, and to let them track their order in transit. 
• Personalize the customer experience. E-commerce provides unique opportunities to gather information about your customers’ wants and needs.  By building processes to gather, analyze and leverage that data, companies can generate repeat business and build revenues.

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