Implementing eCommerce at scale is not for the faint of heart. Yet, with some good eCommerce planning it can be done in phases and reduce both stress and risk.
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Once you attempt to scale any part of the business, you must make that part of the process more efficient. Once you do, you will inevitably find that some other part of your business becomes the limiting factor.
This moving bottleneck problem is true for eCommerce as well.
eCommerce Bottlenecks
Suppose you have a decent retail component and move to online shopping. In that case, you must figure out how to manage inventory. Having extra inventory dedicated to eCommerce means you need to make a significant capital outlay. Inventory ties up capital. Plus, you have the increased risk of having more unsold inventory.
Suppose you are using integrated inventory online and in-store. At a minimum, you will need your point of sale (POS) systems and eCommerce tools integrated with your inventory.
If you choose to use your store inventory for online sales, you will have times when someone purchases something online. Before your staff can pick it for the order, a customer in the store will buy the last one. The online customer expects to receive the item promptly, but you don’t have it.
Now, you have to manage minimum inventory levels across the enterprise, automatically backorder items that are already sold, and place your regular orders. Part of this equation will depend on how good your supply chain is.
All this needs to be communicated effectively with the customer so you can manage expectations. Backordered items need to be flagged for a customer.
A negative experience online will erode trust and cause them to shop elsewhere. They may leave a bad review.
Add in order fulfillment, shipping, and marketing tools, and you can have your hands full.
Playing Whac-A-Mole as problems evolve is a stressful way to grow.
eCommerce Planning
One good solution is to plan out your system dependencies and solutions in advance. Then, as you grow, you can implement your systems incrementally, with fewer surprises, as you reach predetermined thresholds.
A learning feedback system requires metrics, reporting and alerts.
You can improve the plan and train your team further as you learn.
While you don’t want to over-invest in systems and processes out of the gate, a solid implementation plan should cover future expansion and some of the most likely contingencies. This plan will help you avoid being taken by surprise.
The rest will evolve through doing.
