Procurement Process Errors in Online Sales

With the effect of the pandemic, the number of online shopping has increased dramatically. Customers have begun to shop more frequently online, which has increased the number of transactions for businesses. As a result, companies that made sales had problems in dealing with some supply problems. This, in turn, has created an obstacle for businesses to create a satisfied customer base. Although it is not possible to provide 100% reliable logistics in online sales, it will be possible for a business to gain greater customer satisfaction by avoiding the following mistakes (John & Wild, 2007):

Not Understanding the Process in the Supply Chain: How many order confirmations can supply centers issue within an hour, a day, or a week? How long does it take for a package to reach the customer from the procurement center with a standard, non-expedited shipment? Also, how much stock can be entered in the center on a given day? If a business cannot answer these questions, delivery commitments will be extremely difficult to meet (John & Wild, 2007). First of all, these questions need to be answered logically and a scheme of the workflow should be drawn.

Exaggeration of Delivery Time: The entrepreneurial business officer / manager should avoid making exaggerated commitments about delivery times, considering uncontrollable situations such as weather conditions, pandemic conditions (John & Wild, 2007). At the same time, avoid notifying customers of unrealistic short delivery times. It is important to gain flexibility in procurement activities. At this point, it is important to share the correct information with customers.

Not Planning Returns: It is necessary to evaluate the returns from customers well in terms of the continuity of the business. A return process should be determined within the business and new product shipment should be ensured before the return product of the customer reaches the center. Making quick returns to customers gives entrepreneur companies the image that they stand behind their products (John & Wild, 2007). It should not be forgotten that speed is one of the variables that make the most important difference among businesses today.

Not Understanding Customer Needs: Many internet customers accept the extension of the shipping time in order to pay lower shipping costs. Balancing this price-service difference can allow customers to reduce their ordering costs (John & Wild, 2007). Being able to offer higher quality service at lower prices is one of the points that makes the difference.

Lack of Internal Communication: Marketing departments should be in contact with logistics personnel. Lack of information provided to logistics professionals can cause a poorly planned marketing activity to crash the website and cause the public relations department to be in a nightmare (John & Wild, 2007). For this reason, it is important to ensure effective coordination within the business.
 
Source:

John J. & Wild, K. L. (2017). Uluslararası İşletmecilik: Küreselleşmenin Zorlukları (8.Baskıdan Çeviri). (Çev. Arı G.S.). Ankara: Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık.
 
Çağlar KARAKURT
Araştırma Görevlisi
İstanbul Gelişim Üniversitesi
İktisadi, İdari ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi
Uluslararası Ticaret ve İşletmecilik Bölümü