GUANGZHOU, China, November 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- SooBest is a large B2C website with a very wide range of products in the areas of women's clothing, men's clothing, charm jewelry, digital watches and many others. Due to this range in offerings, the site generates a considerable number of orders every day. So how should orders be prepared and shipped so that they get out as quick as possible and without error? Which distribution method fits SooBest best? Below are the options:
"Fruit Picking" - The distributors prepare orders one by one according to the dispatch list or express list with detailed product information.
"Seed Sowing" - The distributors pick all products to be shipped from the warehouse based on the order summary, take them to sorting center, and do second sorting order by order according to the dispatch list or express list.
"Fruit Picking + Seed Sowing" - the distributors prepare the common products of multiple orders and complete a certain number of orders at a time.
Which distribution method should an e-commerce website choose? Or, what elements decide the distribution method of an online store? The following are some basic references:
If your warehouse is not very big - within 200 square meters, and all orders can be done by one distributor, the "fruit-picking" method is probably the one for you.
If your warehouse is huge, of one thousand or more square meters and with clear partitions or two floors, then things may be a bit different. You should consider the "seed sowing" method if one single order needs two distributors to work on as it may take too much time when one works around different partitions or climbs up and down a flight of stairs. For example, one distributor takes charge of the upstairs area, and the other is responsible for everything going on downstairs. They take the products to be delivered to the sorting center and conduct second sorting there.
If your warehouse is average in size, and one order needs just one distributor to complete, you may want to choose a different method. When it does not take long to sort products (thanks to the area of the warehouse), plus there is a high repeat rate of commodities among orders - that is, order 1 contains commodity A, and so do order 2 and order 4, then the fruit picking + seed sowing method may suit your site better.
Of course, the arrangement of storage space matters a lot when it comes to improving distribution efficiency. Currently, most e-commerce websites use a dispatch list and order summary that have storage spaces arranged in simple gradational order -- that is, the first letters or digits are sorted from smallest to largest, and the second letters or digits are sorted in the same way, and so on. Therefore, regardless of what method(s) a distributor adopts, the most efficient way is to distribute in the order of storage spaces.
