Pragma’s Holiday Cheat Sheet

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For this Valentine’s, and the next, and the next…and the next

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Be prepared for all the Holiday's to come.
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Essentials to guide you through the Seasonal Grind phase

Our Pre-Valentine’s Gift to you!

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Invest in a service provider that vibes with your needs

• Three underlying technical elements to look for:

• How they provide data and analytics
• How their integration(s) will connect to your eCommerce store
• How the third party maintains consistency and precision across its network
  
  

• Specific to Target -

• Shipping options/methods
• Order accuracy for fulfilment 
• Ability to integrate with various other applications/solutions/3PLs
• Real-time Customer communication (along with carrier partner integration for coordination for returns/NDR)
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• Geospatial data -
  
  Analysis on Distributing inventory
  Comprehend shipping efficacy based on zones
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Evaluate Historic market conditions in advance to predict demand 

• What’s your SKU performance over time?
• How to distribute your inventory across your supply network?
• Where (what region) are your customers placing orders to/from?
• What are your shipping costs from one distribution center to another?
• How many days of inventory do you have left before going out of stock?
  
  

Simple Inventory Breakdown

• Forecast period - analysis of prior data to predict sales
• Trends based on seasonal or other sales spike
• Maximum stock level through the year
• Determine Reorder point to stock up
  
  
• Integrate inventory monitoring solutions

• What’s your average cart value?
• What’s your average storage cost per unit?
• What’s your average fulfilment cost per order?
• What’s your shipping cost - by shipping method and order?
  
  

• Best practises for forecasting

• Partner with various other teams/3PLs
• Keep an eye on stock levels in real-time
• Choose the right application/software/tech integration
• Collect data, compile them and revisit for future planning
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• Determining Inventory count

• How are your sales across months?
• What’s your stock, currently on hand?
• When do you need to reorder for each product before depletion?
• Details on historical stock levels at any point in time & any location
• In case of a flash sale, will your available stock levels be sufficient?
• What are your best-selling products? And which are not generating sales?
• How does product demand compare to previous seasons/holiday patterns?
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• Customise forecasting tools to your specs

• Fulfilment SLAs
• SKU performance
• Shipping performance
• Inventory reconciliation
• Regular inventory history
• Inventory planning - Maps & Distributions
• Accounting & billing breakdown/storage costs
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Spread out stock for prompt & efficient delivery

• How should you distribute inventory across your network?
• Which products are currently not generating sales and incurring high eCommerce warehousing fees?
• What would you save on shipping if you change the location of your distribution centre (which contains your products) or switch inventory to a different distribution centre?
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Acknowledge Seasonal delivery patterns  

• Stock up

• How often is each product sold across channels?
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• Organise ahead of time

• Expectations for various products in various regions etc.
• What’s the time taken to deliver during peak season? (regional data/shipping method data)
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• Give your customers a heads up
• Team-up with an experienced Logistics solution provider
• Communicate in real-time with your suppliers
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• Integrate latest supply chain technologies

• Order management
• Inventory management
• Warehouse management
• Automated order processing
• Automated returns management

• Employ multiple shipping carriers
• Establish a returns management process
• Automate customer service (or) be prepared with human agents
• Store products across multiple warehouses based on geoanalysis
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Streamline Returns/Exchanges/Refunds Management

• Ways to effectively manage returns

• Be proactive - ensure customers are satisfied after delivery via the feedback
• Create a gift return policy
• Track returns for efficiency
• Increase your return window
• Perform regular quality testing
• Establish clear product descriptions
• Automate your entire return process
• Examine trends in commonly returned items
• Include a clear return policy on your e-commerce site
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Improve ease through automation 

• Automatically share the tracking number and tracking information with each customer
• Check order status as it moves from processing to shipping etc., in real-time
• Automatically identify/edit shipping details in situations where your customer made a mistake (like wrong  Pincode, phone number, or address)
• Integrate Auto RTO & Fraud Detection
• Install Auto NDR Management and
• COD to Prepaid Conversion
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Reduce Shipping costs

• Leverage 3PLs and other providers for discounted rates
• Reduce package dimensions to limit weight
• Switch from boxes to poly-based mailers or bubble mailers
• Limit shipping distance by splitting inventory across multiple distribution centres
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Statistical Reports and Analytics (to improve strategy and operation performance)

• Factors impacting orders 
• Analyse the region with the most orders
• Your expenditure on shipping method(s)
• ‘Orders not delivered yet’ and other statuses
• Shipping methods often chosen by customers
• The average number of Days taken for an order to be delivered
• Time taken for orders to be delivered based on carrier partner
• Average shipping cost per shipment for various shipping methods
• Calculate requests that can’t be fulfilled because of inadequate stock levels
• Compile orders that were met on time. And the breakdown of orders received, processed, and fulfilled with altercations.
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End-to-end customer experience - Pre-Purchase to Post-Delivery

• Handle Abandoned Cart recovery like a pro

• Simplify your checkout process
• Offer affordable or free shipping
• Explicitly state everything - no hidden cost fees
• Emphasise the security aspect during a transaction
• Send notifications - Via timed WhatsApp messages/emails/SMS - Linking directly to their cart (Optimise for mobile)
  
  

• Automate online promotions and customer support/care

• Create automated responses for over 70% of all customer enquiries/FAQs
• Set up automated order updates, order verification, delivery updates, return coordination, and more
• WhatsApp Promotions/Email/SMS - automate Broadcasts by choosing templates concerning festivities etc.
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