Category: InOrder Customer Stories

Don’t let your packing stunt your business’s growth!

You might not think about packing materials every day, but how a product is packed can play a big part in a customer’s perception of a product’s quality.  Just as packaging can mean the difference between a customer buying a product or not, if you ship orders, also consider how important your packing material is to your customers.

Here are four simple tips to keeping your packing options competitive:

  • Make your packing materials interesting and entertaining to identify your brand. Packing materials also represent your business.
  • Educate your customers – Use this as an opportunity to reach out to them. It exceeds their expectations and builds loyalty. It also encourages them to place more orders.
  • Advertise your brand – Often, when a package is delivered in a plain, unmarked box or simple padded envelop, it’s a missed opportunity. An unmarked package, which travels across the country, could have been broadcasting the brand it carried all along the delivery route.  Inserts and catalogs are great, but using packing materials to encourage your customers to place more orders is brilliance. There are many ideas, such as printing pictures of items you sell with taglines. Because of the expense, it might be worth discussing a cost-sharing arrangement with your vendors to purchase boxes printed with their logo. Likewise, vendors might consider printing boxes with their logos and making them available to their distributors.
  • Reduce waste – People don’t usually want to be wasteful, and they’re willing to recycle. Whenever possible, use materials that are easy to reuse and recycle, and your customers will take care of the rest.

As you do for retail customers, give your business clients the same attention. Packing options must be flexible and customizable. Otherwise, you might not have the capability to sell merchandise that clients (or prospective clients) request. You’re not in business to miss out on opportunities, so be sure you have what you need to deliver.

 

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Does Your ERP System Allow Flexible Ordering to Prevent Frustration, Make Customers Happy, and Save You Money?

When customers shop your web store, they probably expect the same flexibility they experience in a physical store. Policies such as returns, exchanges, credits, coupons, and even questions or changes during checkout may be common at a physical register, but can your customers get that same great service online? With a good ERP system, all of these features are available and within your control.

Consider Mary, who shops online, enters her payment information, and submits her order. Then she remembers one small, inexpensive item she forgot to order. She quickly tries to add the forgotten item to her order, but she can’t find a way to do it herself. Mary looks for a Customer Service number – hopefully, if she acts quickly enough, she can add the item without a duplicate shipping charge. When she calls, the Customer Service rep is able to help her, but only by creating a new order and waiving the shipping charges. Mary is thankful for the help, but the Customer Service rep was apologizing for the inability to accommodate a seemingly simple request. And the business took a hit on the shipping charge (which was more than the cost of the item).

Waiving a shipping  charge is a small price to make a customer happy, but it isn’t necessary. This signifies a problem with the system, which can quickly become a significant expense.

With InOrder, you can choose to allow orders to be edited even after packing.

Edit ERP Order

Having the right ERP system can prevent frustration for both customers and Customer Service reps, and saves you money. Whether you allow changes for shipping information, billing information, or line items for orders should be up to you – not your software.

Call us for a free demo to see more of how InOrder can help your business grow.

 

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Beware of the Latest Coupon Scam

Most shoppers love coupons. Before shopping, many people may first search online for coupons from their favorite stores. And with many websites providing links to coupons, it can be much easier to find them. Unfortunately, it’s also easier for thieves to scam unsuspecting shoppers.

Fake CouponA recent trend for thieves is to post coupons on Facebook. These coupons, usually too good to resist, lure shoppers to click on them and provide personal information, which is then used by thieves to steal identities, money, and anything else they can get away with. To add insult to injury, the coupon isn’t even legitimate.

While it is imperative to have a security process and train your employees to protect your business, it is also important to try to educate your customers about keeping their information safe. This can go a long way in helping to avoid breeches – both for customers and your business. Here are some tips:

  • Let customers know your coupon policy and where to find them.
  • Don’t require personal information in exchange for a coupon. Doing so may confuse your customers and prevent them from recognizing a scam that requires personal information.
  • Remind your customers to NEVER provide personal information in exchange for your coupon.
  • Make it easy to find your contact information for questions. Display your phone number where it can be easily and quickly seen. If a shopper has a question or problem navigating your site, make sure you can help.

Coupons, promotions codes, sales, and special offers are proven ways to significantly influence purchases. Consumers will even use them to plan what they buy, where they will buy it, and when. Do what you can to promote this activity, and don’t let thieves spoil it for you.

Contact us for a free demo for offering coupons with InOrder.

 

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Increase Receipt Processing with InOrder RF

The InOrder RF communication system efficiently handles inventory through real-time inventory tasks, improving productivity and control for major warehouse functions.

One InOrder site reported that, after rolling out InOrder RF in their warehouse, the inventory receipt processing went from an average of 20 line items per hour to 55 line items per hour, per person, and is now 90% paperless. Some helpful tips include receiving products for many of their vendors that do not provide bar codes by printing a bar coded copy of the vendor PO to use during receiving, using dry-erase boards on their put-away carts, and reviewing a receipt variance report to expose and correct any discrepancies.

InOrder’s RF Communication System supports any internet-capable device. One option includes the Janam XT1 mini tablet, which uses the Android operating system. Another option uses the following configuration:  IPod Touch, 5-16 gb ($159, Ebay) with Honeywell Captuvo SL22 Enterprise Sled ($304, Ebay), and Dryrain Technologies’ Enterprise Browser for Captuvo® app ($99).

InOrder ERP RF

For more information about InOrder RF, please contact sales@morsedata.com.

 

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Survey Shows Customers Want Relevant Offers

Aimia Institute surveyed over 10,000 people about communications from brands. Over half of the consumers surveyed were annoyed by too many irrelevant messages. They avoided the brands sending those irrelevant messages and simply deleted the messages without reading them, or after reading only the titles.

As the Aimia Infographic shows, 66% consumers unfollow those brands on social media, 70% close their accounts with them, and 54% delete apps as a direct result of poorly targeted communications.

However, 56% of those surveyed still share their personal information for relevant offers. That means they want to hear from you! However, the magic word is “relevant.” If a customer gives you his or her Email address, he or she is waiting to hear from you, and you have a golden opportunity to communicate your message. Would you waste that opportunity on something that doesn’t apply to that customer?

InOrder can help you send only relevant information to your customers without over-sending by letting them opt-in and specify a maximum frequency to receive Emails from you. When they can make these decisions, they know that when they get a message from you, you’re telling them about deals they’re interested in, and they know they’re getting information they requested.

Using InOrder’s Email Marketing Enhancement, you control which Email types are listed for the customer to view, and you define the choices they have to subscribe to each Email type. Web customers can also control the format for their Email from your website. They can elect to receive either text or HTML format.

InOrder ERP Email Preferences Improve DeliverabilityAll the data on this screen is configurable based on what choices you want to offer your web customers.

For more information on how the InOrder Email Marketing Enhancement can improve your Email deliverability, contact Morse Data Corporation today.

 

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Thomas Jefferson Foundation Relies on InOrder

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation recently turned on an integration from Yahoo Store to InOrder utilizing the InOrder EDI module. This EDI module allows communication to and from an EDI Service Vendor or translation software, enabling seamless EDI communication between InOrder and your Trading Partners. In this case, Morse Data Corporation built a customized EDI integration directly using Yahoo Store’s XML services.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation preserves and maintains Monticello, the third president’s home in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Foundation engages a global audience in a dialogue with Thomas Jefferson’s ideas. The Foundation seeks to facilitate conversations and to use its extensive research and knowledge to stimulate interactions on a variety of topics that were of keen interest to Thomas Jefferson, the most powerful of which are liberty and self- government. Through virtual, off-site and on-site engagement, including retail operations, the Foundation seeks to excite the world about Jefferson’s relevance today and ignite a passion for history. For additional information about Monticello or the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, please visit http://www.monticello.org.

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USA Fulfillment Selects InOrder

USA Fulfillment is updating its legacy system with InOrder ERP software to support its order management and warehouse management activities.

The selection process, which took over a year, included interviews and demos of 8 ERP systems. InOrder was selected for its superior order management, warehouse management, RF, lot control, and replenishment capabilities. In addition, InOrder meets USA Fulfillment’s requirements for PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard) compliant software.

With the InOrder ERP eCommerce Order and Inventory Management  software, USA Fulfillment will have real-time access to availability of stock and ship dates, and call center reps will have access to the same real-time inventory information.

In business since 1983, and based in Chestertown, MD, USA Fulfillment provides eCommerce services, warehousing, shipping, order filling, and 24/7 call center for eCommerce businesses. For more information, visit http://www.usafill.com.

 

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ProLiteracy Relies on InOrder

Steph Hughes, one of Morse Data’s Implementation Specialists, recently had the pleasure of visiting ProLiteracy to assist with InOrder upgrades and training.

ProLiteracy was the first client to go live with InOrder in 1998. They rely on InOrder for memberships, inventory control, customer service, and web orders. The addition of InOrder’s Digital Delivery module will enable them to provide additional items via digital distribution.

ProLiteracy, located in Syracuse, New York, is helping to improve the world by providing programs that enable adults to learn how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers. Attributing crime, unemployment, and poverty to low literacy, ProLiteracy believes that adults can empower themselves to transform their lives by learning to read and write.

And they back up this belief with services to make this a reality. These include support and training for teaching adult learners, linking adults to literacy programs, providing an advocacy network for adult education programs, and conferences to address important issues facing adult literacy programs.

ProLiteracy also created the Ruth J. Colvin Center for Innovation and Excellence in Adult Literacy, which provides adult literacy resources to their community, as well as the National Book Fund (NBF) to provide books for students who can’t afford them. Additionally, ProLiteracy’s publishing division, New Readers Press (which also relies on InOrder for their weekly subscription fulfillment) provides instructional tools to teach essential skills to adults and older teens.

You can read more about ProLiteracy’s fight for a more literate society, including membership and donation opportunities, on their website.

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IPD Uses InOrder to Keep Volvo Owners the World Over Happy

Celebrating their 50th year of business, IPD has been selling Volvo parts, accessories and performance products since 1963. With a parts inventory totaling over $800,000, IPD ships from its Portland, Oregon warehouse to Volvo owners and enthusiasts the world over.

IPD actually started down the ERP implementation road with another company only to discover that the program wouldn’t work. According to Kevin Rutledge, System Admin and Programmer for IPD, the program design had too many problems (as did the software company’s mentality). “They just didn’t understand our market and processes. The software was geared toward a manufacturing environment and we could see that it would work quite well in that arena but not the retail sales arena.”

The IPD auto parts business has unique needs that aren’t addressed completely with any ERP type application. Says Kevin, “It’s not like selling iPods or clothing. We warehouse stuff differently, we market our stuff differently, we purchase differently, etc. Heck even our customers behave differently.”

Several people at IPD had pushed for in-house development (or out-of-house development managed by in-house personnel) but decision was made not to go that route for various reasons, including time, cost and the potential that key employees could leave the company at any time.

IPD chose InOrder based on the company’s list of requirements and a review of software demonstrations. Kevin is quite candid about the selection process: “InOrder didn’t look perfect but the basics looked better than some of the other similar priced applications. Price was an important factor too.”

When asked how InOrder has helped IPD, Kevin says, “The biggest gain we’ve had from InOrder is the open Microsoft SQL database. Being able to access our data was our main goal.

“Our website is a completely separate application from InOrder. I’ve written various scripts that sync data between the two and it’s working pretty well for us. Our labor costs are down for order processing since we don’t have to manually key web orders any longer.”

Kevin adds, “The one thing we do appreciate about Morse Data is their attention to us. We’re a ‘special needs customer’ with seemingly constant issues. The customer support people at Morse do a great job of tracking down the weird and complex issues we have, determining the cause and then resolving them. We’re definitely impressed.”

To read more about IPD and how InOrder is helping them maintain inventory in real time, download the case study.

And, if you’re an auto parts company – or any company that sells online or through multiple channels, and your existing business software isn’t working for you, give us a call.

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Fulfillment Strategies International Maintains 99.9% Accuracy with InOrder

We love customer success stories — and we especially love this one from Fulfillment Strategies International. The Georgia-based fulfillment company can see orders spike up to as many as 4,000 units per day. This can be quite challenging as the company works very hard to maintain its 99.9% packing and shipping accuracy rate.

Oh, and did we mention they have 100+ clients and 25,000 SKUs? Our heads swim just thinking about it.

They keep track of each client — and each and every SKU — with InOrder. The company realized they had outgrown their original file-based system, and after looking at a number of ERP systems, including OrderMotion and ProMail, chose InOrder — for three reasons:

One, the solution had to be SQL-based.

Two, the system had to be expandable, meaning the ERP vendor had to be willing to make enhancements.

And three, the system had to work the way FSI did business – including the ability to provide FSI’s clients real-time, Web-based reporting.

“Since our initial purchase, Morse Data has developed custom project plans that have effectively tailored InOrder to our business,” says FSI’s Vice President and General Manager Forrest Marbutt. “It’s also clear that Morse Data puts serious resources into continually updating the software, such as the recent upgrade to support PCI compliance – which is very important to us since our clients rely so heavily on e-commerce.”

FSI relies on InOrder’s barcoding technology to manage the over 25,000 SKUs in its warehouse. “We’re able to keep track of thousands of transactions and supply packing slips and other items with our clients’ branding,” says Marbutt. “Most important, we do all of this without having to log in and out to see each client’s account. We simply switch between accounts right inside of the software.”

FSI’s customer service team uses InOrder’s API to import orders from a number of FSI’s shopping carts, including those not directly powered by InOrder – which frees the team from the tedious task of importing new orders.

Forrest, thanks for sharing your story. If you’re looking for a fulfillment house — one that takes your business seriously enough to strive for 99.9% accuracy — then be sure to check out Fulfillment Solutions International.

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