Electronic Retailer - May 2012 - 42

BY WILLIAM J. PAPPAS

Reporting is Vital to a Successful Fulfillment Partnership
CHANNEL CROSSING: FULFILLMENT
When marketers think of fulfillment, the first words that may come to mind are pick, pack and ship. And while getting orders into the hands of consumers swiftly and cost effectively is paramount for maintaining customer satisfaction and cash flow, the backbone that keeps everything “ship shape” is timely and accurate reporting. In a world where many executives are overwhelmed by information overload, knowing which statistics are the most crucial and being able to receive them in a manner that provides for a quick read is essential. Through a process of evolution and refinement over the course of four decades, the following reports have proven to be the most acute to direct marketers’ success. Use the following as a punch list to ensure that you are working with a fulfillment partner that can provide these critical data points. • Financial Order Status: The buck starts here! Having a firm grasp on your cash flow is arguably the most vital thing a business needs to know. This report provides data on gross dollars received for all orders as well as the disposition of those funds. You should be able to check the status of bank deposits, dollar amount shipped, as well as back ordered or cancelled items, refunds and adjustments for each of your campaigns. • Daily Order Flash Count: This report is critical to understanding the overall incoming flow of your sales. It provides a raw count of orders that have entered the fulfillment house system via all channels including telephone, online or continuity roll over. Orders then can be detailed by any number of variables including job number, Adcode/Source Code, units and total sales volume. You can also track the average sale per order by its source to determine which channel is providing the best topline revenue. • Shipment Activity: This details confirmed shipment activity by Adcode or Media Source and provides cross-referenced data including orders, units, dollar amounts and, ideally, country of origin. It is essential to understanding the outflow of your orders and what kind of turnaround time it is taking your fulfillment house to get orders on their way to your customers. • Offer/Media Code: This report measures overall response to an offer, the gross value of those orders, and where they originated. It is a vital tool for measuring the impact of individual media and which offers are performing the best so that you can optimize your campaign. • Inventory/Stock Status: Having an understanding of your inventory at all times is essential for managing shipments, consumer expectations on turnaround for delivery, and lead time for inventory replenishment. In the early stages of many As Seen On TV campaigns, this is especially crucial because you do not want to be overstocked until you have a solid understanding of the degree to which a particular product is a hit. Conversely, you do not want to be caught short-handed. These reports should not only identify how much first quality stock is on hand, but also detail returned and/or damaged or incomplete items. • Customer Service Calls: This report is crucial for a marketer to evaluate product quality and understand reasons for returns or any other customer service issues. It should include overall call volume and reasons for the calls, with calls broken down by job number and purpose. This data enables marketers to course correct. For example, if a product is on back order, save-the-sale tactics can be tested to mitigate cancellations. In addition to the baseline reports outlined above, Key Performance Indicators can help marketers get a quick snapshot of other important benchmarks such as average revenue, bad debt, declines and refunds. Furthermore, the most sophisticated systems should be able to provide you with customized reports against specific criteria unique to your program. Obviously, this information must be available online, all the time and in real time, with proper fail safes and redundancies to ensure your data’s integrity and safety. A winning fulfillment relationship is a true partnership because the organization that houses and ships your inventory and interacts with your buying public is an extension of your business. With all of the excitement that surrounds the launch of a new product, logistics reporting may not be the “sexiest” aspect of a new campaign, but such vital statistics act like a campaign’s lifeblood that keeps orders pumping through the system and allows marketers to triumph another day. Fosdick Fulfillment President and CEO William J. Pappas has been in the fulfillment business for four decades, helping to build the largest and most sophisticated logistics organization specializing in direct marketed products. He can be reached at 1-800-759-5558 or billp@fosdickcorp.com. Online at fosdickfulfillment.com.

electronicRETAILER | May 2012

Electronic Retailer - May 2012

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