While the ecommerce industry continues to grow and evolve, the same cannot be said for all of the warehouses and stock rooms that make it work. Even as orders flow in from omnichannel listings and channels, many online sellers are stuck in the past with archaic inventory and fulfillment workflows. This is especially true for the countless brick-and-mortar retailers just jumping to ecommerce.
Sticking with ‘what we’ve always done’ may be comforting in the face of new, uncertain times like these, but it is a far cry from the best practices that lead to growth and customer satisfaction. Relying on clipboards and outdated computer interfaces to track inventory is a surefire way to fall behind your more forward-thinking competitors. This is particularly true when it comes to recruiting and maximizing the performance of your logistics team members.
Providing intuitive technological tools will streamline your warehouses’ function and help you attract and retain an increasingly digitally empowered workforce.
Removing Antiquated Interfaces Also Removes Barriers to Onboarding New Staff
First impressions matter. On day one, you don’t want to hand a new warehouse employee a clipboard and walk them through the click-clack button presses of your warehouse’s Windows CE desktop interface. Do that, and you likely have a brand new employee who is already looking for their next job.
Sure, these systems still work, but as younger generations continue to become more prevalent in the workforce, antiquated technology and workflows require additional training. Let’s face it: Most of Generation Z is likely to resent working with clipboards and older, unintuitive programs.
On the other hand, when you bring new hires on board with tools and technology similar to those they use in their everyday lives, you are more likely to have an engaged and productive team. Touchscreen-based input, intuitive graphical user interfaces, and modern operating systems embed critical familiarity into your warehouse workflows.
For your workers, learning to use your company’s technology should be more akin to upgrading to the latest cell phone model than trying to learn a new language. Considering your employees’ technological comfort levels simplifies the training process, speeds up the entire fulfillment experience, and reduces opportunities for mistakes.
An employee’s mistakes using an antiquated record-keeping system or an outdated computer should not be the cause for fulfillment delays or disappointed customers.
Modernizing Your Ecommerce Inventory and Fulfillment Systems is Now a Necessity
Upgraded technology is one of the most sound investments you can make for the future of your business. The ability to scale your operations is tied directly to the tools you use to do so. That’s why we at Descartes Sellercloud continue to prioritize innovation as a cornerstone of successful omnichannel ecommerce.
To compete in modern online retail, ‘how we have always done things’ is no longer good enough. This is especially true when it comes to maximizing the output of your staff.
By consolidating the catalogs, shipping data, and inventory tracking requirements from across all the channels where you sell into a single, intuitive interface, Descartes Sellercloud makes it fast and simple to increase your brand’s exposure across multiple marketplaces and ensure consistent customer satisfaction.
Meanwhile, employees across your entire organization can input, access, and maintain accurate data about your products’ movements. Taken even further, our Skustack WMS (warehouse management system) uses patented technology to make scanning, counting, and tracking inventory simple and streamlined across all of your selling channels and all of the warehouses and bins where your products reside.
Skustack’s cloud-based recordkeeping integrates seamlessly with Descartes Sellercloud to eliminate overselling and maximize your ability to track every piece of merchandise by SKU, serial number, lot number, and expiration date. What’s more, Skustack’s Android-based tools and interfaces make scanning both intuitive and scalable.
Onboarding additional team members and adding additional devices is quick and simple. If you can use a smartphone, you can use Skustack.
Skublox brings simplified fulfillment and overall ease of use to a whole new level by making scalable pick-to-light, put-to-light technology accessible to ecommerce businesses of all shapes and sizes. Rather than relying on cumbersome sorting protocols, warehouse workers simply scan items and match them to the corresponding colored light.
Your shipping team members enjoy a similar, simplified experience—only in reverse. Green lights indicate shipping readiness, and from there, a simple scan provides the correct packing and shipping information to get the merchandise out the door. Just like with Skustack, simple touchscreen user interfaces keep everything running quickly and smoothly.
Modernizing your fulfillment technology is the key to unlocking the full potential of your 21st-century workforce. Descartes Sellercloud is here to help make that a reality for your ecommerce business.
Contact us directly for a free demo of any of our products and experience first-hand what a difference simplified and optimized technology can create.
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