Beyond the Press: Transforming Your Apparel Decorating Business with E-commerce and Fulfillment
Five years into running my screen-printing company, I noticed a growing demand from my customers for services beyond just printing. Having past experience in e-commerce, I was excited to launch a new branch of the company to provide full-service solutions. Jumping at the opportunity, I was surprised by how quickly we expanded, acquiring 32 clients within the first six months of launching the new service.
The need was clearly there.
However, I always emphasize that fast growth isn't always profitable growth. It's crucial to understand your needs thoroughly before deciding to add an e-commerce and fulfillment arm to your business. It’s just as important to understand that this addition should be treated as if it were a separate business, as the systems will need to align to this specific offering.
The e-commerce opportunity is also a form of upselling that decorator shops could be missing completely. It has the potential to create a significant source of additional revenue or open up a whole other profitable business venture altogether if executed correctly. By adding e-commerce and fulfillment into your business model while continuing to leverage your expertise in merch production, you can become a valuable partner for businesses seeking to expand their online sales.
This article explores how screen printing and decorator shops can successfully incorporate these services into their offerings from a systematic approach, providing a comprehensive solution for their customers' e-commerce needs. In addition to outlining the necessary systems, it offers operational guidance to ensure shop owners feel confident and excited about integrating this new service.
Build Around the Basics
Finding a simple, yet effective solution is key. You’re not in the business of creating more stress for you, your customers, or your team. You are in the business of supporting customers and making money. Tackle the obvious stuff first, then build around that.
Here’s what I mean:
In order to bring in an e-commerce and fulfillment arm into an already busy decorator business, you should know what you need at a base level.
- A webstore platform.
- A way to manage inventory.
- A place to store products safely.
- A way to manage and ship orders.
- A person or team in place to oversee it.
From there, you’ll be able to expand on each and better understand the processes you’ll need to put in place.
E-Commerce
The overall goal is to create a user-friendly experience, making it easy for your customers to review and easy for their customers to navigate. While some feel the need to hire a developer, there are plenty of drag-and-drop templates out there, and creating a webstore with e-comm platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce will streamline your operations.
These platforms offer tools for managing your online store including inventory management, order processing, and a CRM. Make sure your webstores are optimized for both desktop and phone (mobile).
Typically, it is your fulfillment client's responsibility to promote their online shop. Ensure you maintain clear and ongoing communication when they launch new offerings, special campaigns, or promotions. You may decide to assist with social media posts, SEO, email marketing, and running targeted ads for your fulfillment client, which depends on your company's capacity, team expertise, the client's needs, and the terms agreed upon beforehand.
Providing detailed product descriptions, cross-selling, and lifestyle 'in the wild' product photos as part of your service will add significant value, allowing you to charge more. It is crucial to establish clearly defined parameters before onboarding clients, understanding what you can realistically manage and what you prefer not to handle to ensure success for both you and your new fulfillment client.
Fulfillment
Once your e-comm platform is in place, setting up efficient fulfillment operations is the next step. Fulfillment involves receiving orders, processing them, and preparing them for shipment. To manage this effectively, designate a specific area within your shop for order processing and storage.
A reliable inventory management system is crucial for accurate fulfillment. This system should track inventory levels, monitor stock movements, and generate alerts for replenishment at a certain threshold that you can set. Effective inventory management ensures that you can fulfill customer orders without the worry of overstocking or out-of-stock issues.
Hiring and training staff to handle fulfillment tasks is another critical aspect. Your team should be proficient in order processing, quality control, and packaging. Standardized procedures for these tasks ensures consistency. For example, create checklists for order verification, packaging guidelines, and quality checks.
Automation can significantly enhance your fulfillment operations. Automated systems for printing shipping labels, updating order statuses, and managing returns save time and reduce unnecessary errors. Most e-commerce platforms integrate with fulfillment software such as Shipstation or Shippo, to automate these processes. This will drastically improve your operational efficiency.
Pick/Pack/Ship
The pick/pack/ship process can work for you or against you depending on the initial plan of action for your layout and volume. This process involves selecting the correct items (picking), securely packaging them (packing), and shipping them to customers (shipping). To ensure the pick/pack/ship process works for you, follow these best practices:
- Optimize layout: Regardless if you’re in a basement, garage, or warehouse, arrange your inventory logically and accessible. Group similar items together and place high-demand products in easily accessible locations to reduce picking time and increase efficiency.
- Implement a picking system: Choose a picking system that suits your business size and order volume, such as single order or batch picking. Single order picking processes one order at a time, while batch picking processes multiple orders simultaneously.
- Use quality packaging materials: Invest in and properly store packing supplies so they are easily accessible when fulfilling each order. Know the costs of your packaging materials beforehand so that you can accurately price your services and maintain profitability. Include packing slips and any other “freebies” your customer wants to add in order to enhance the unboxing experience and promote customer satisfaction.
- Streamline shipping: Partner with reliable shipping carriers such as USPS. After maintaining that relationship, negotiate competitive rates. Integrate your e-commerce platform with shipping software to automate label printing, tracking, and notifications. Offer multiple shipping options to cater to different customer preferences, such as standard, expedited, and even international shipping if that fits within the scope of your customer’s needs.
Training your staff in these processes is crucial for maintaining consistency and quality. Regularly review and update your pick/pack/ship procedures to incorporate feedback and improve as you grow.
Reporting, Analytics, and Customer Support
Your fulfillment customers need accurate and ongoing reporting. This can be set up as a recurring monthly process. Most of your e-commerce platforms will provide analytics and, if inventory and sales summaries are maintained, this should be a quick pull. Don’t overcomplicate it.
In addition to reporting, customer service can go one of two ways:
- Your fulfillment client will take care of this and pass you the messages. If this is the case, create a system to streamline receiving those inquiries to bypass any confusion or time wasted.
- You will oversee customer support for your fulfillment client since you are taking care of both e-comm and shipping. You should have a dedicated customer support person or team, depending on volume. You can choose to offer limited or multiple channels for customer support such as phone, email, and live chat, to ensure customers can easily reach you about their order. Providing timely and effective support builds trust and loyalty with both your fulfillment clients and their customers. This can be treated as an additional a la carte service that you can price accordingly or build into your business model. Either way, charge for your time and anything that you have to touch.
Integrating an e-commerce and fulfillment arm into your screen-printing business can be highly profitable, offering immense value to your current customers while attracting new potential clients. While offering these services requires an initial investment in tech, infrastructure, and additional teams, the long-term benefits of diversifying revenue streams and strengthening customer relationships make it all the more reason to start now.
By adopting a systematic and operational approach to this new business arm, your shop can establish itself as an industry leader not only inside the shop, but also in the digital space.