UPS Compass - Winter 2015 - (Page 9)
Create pick-and-pack checklists for training. "It's
important to train your shipping staff so they know your
inventory, where fast-moving items or kits are stored,
and what box to use for each type of product," Sever says.
"That's especially true if you are hiring part-timers for
heavy-shipping seasons." Checklists can help with this,
along with training sessions and follow-up monitoring.
Chocolate Pizza uses four part-timers in the shipping
department - they're Eagle Scouts or candidates. "It gives
them good exposure to the business world," says owner
Novak. "They do great work and love to learn."
B ecome a
Shipping
Superstar
in
Tips for
becoming
an even
better
shipping
pro.
BY JO HN HI AT T
Smart Steps
Look for something to automate. Florida-based
CabinetParts.com integrated WorldShip with its billing and
order programs and (by talking with its UPS rep) added
UPS Paperless® Invoice for international shipping. The
combination has resulted in a 20 percent time-savings
on shipping-related tasks, according to Patton Abbe, the
founder and CEO. What's more, filling out customs forms
takes about a minute now, compared with the five minutes
it used to take. "That adds up when you're dealing with
300 to 500 packages per day."
At Chocolate Pizza, Novak encourages customers to
register for UPS My Choice® service through his website
that's linked to ups.com. UPS My Choice alerts let recipients know when a package is arriving so they can choose
delivery details. "That will be huge for us because we
spend hours every day on where's-my-order calls."
Post a delivery FAQ on your website. "Adding an FAQ
to your website covering details, timing and how to resolve
issues is a good idea," Sever says. "Communicating clearly
is essential to a positive e-commerce experience. And it's
important to keep customers up to date."
Identify your sales cycles. "Most everyone thinks
about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but there are other
opportunities to capitalize on in e-commerce," Sever says.
Examples: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and back-toschool events. (A National Retail Federation study found
that one-third of shoppers did their back-to-school shopping online.)
CabinetParts.com's busiest months are January,
February and March. "We can predict how well the company will do for the year based on sales in the first quarter,"
Abbe says. "When there's snow on the ground, people up
north are stuck indoors and doing home projects."
Knowing your sales cycles allows you to make your
shipping operations more efficient by bringing in extra
help and making sure that you have plenty of the fastselling items in stock and ready to ship.
WINTER 2015
COMPASS
9
http://www.CabinetParts.com
http://www.ups.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of UPS Compass - Winter 2015
Contents
UPS Compass - Winter 2015
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