Remember when your warehouse was just a warehouse? Stock arrived, your team documented it and then shipped out the items as orders came in.

Today, customers want to order your merchandise however they want, whenever they want, and have it delivered wherever they want: in-store, delivered to their homes, business and more.

“Brick-and-mortar retailers are feeling the pressure of an increasingly aggressive e-commerce market. However, they can certainly provide consumers with a seamless brand experience and leverage their stores to offer the convenience and speed that formidable competitors promise.” – Digitalist Magazine

Retailers are thinking outside of the warehouse box and are looking to their brick-and mortar stores to function in ways formerly limited to distribution centres. In-store fulfilment is the ability to fulfil an order — no matter its origin — from a brick-and-mortar store. Offering this option can create a powerful competitive advantage, but only if all processes are managed well.

“Stores provide proximity to the consumer, coupled with a wider variety of touch-points than are available through pure online retail. These touch-points include click and collect, reserve and collect and ship direct from store.” - Gartner

However, shipping from store requires seamless inventory. Moreover, retailers must learn to cope with having packing tables, packing materials, and everything else that goes with fulfilling online orders – without having the space of a warehouse. Thus, the right technology needs to be applied to the entire fulfilment process, for in-store fulfilment to help instead of hinder.

“An in-store fulfilment solution offers huge benefits to a retailer in terms of efficiency, accuracy and speed. Standardized processes and centralized systems ensure better communication; greater inventory visibility means faster, more accurate fulfilment; and a labour force that can move more efficiently will fulfil an order faster while preserving the brand-right, in-store experience. These three areas form a foundation for a superior customer experience, no matter the channel.” - Apparel

Let's take a closer look at how an in-store order fulfilment solution delivers these benefits.

Retail fulfilment process optimization

An in-store fulfilment software optimizes your order execution while strengthening your entire supply chain. From pick paths through the store to hand-off to the customer, your staff is directed to fulfil orders in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

In addition, the software supports hybrid fulfilment models - whether in store, warerooms, or dedicated warehouses – and introduces fulfilment prioritization rules among online, home delivery, store requirements and wholesale orders. You can cut shipping costs and increase fulfilment speed by moving the distribution point closer to your customers.

Cross-channel, real-time inventory visibility

An in-store fulfilment software provides real-time inventory information to your customers, trading partners, and store management for quality customer service and supply chain efficiency.

It allows you to maintain inventory accuracy with cycle counting and inventory adjustment controls. Moreover, it eliminates the frustration of out-of-stock scenarios and build brand equity by connecting customers with the products they want, wherever the product is located.

It’s critical that your chosen software solution seamlessly integrates with store point of sale (POS), planograms, order management and ERP systems for full visibility.

HighJump: a game-changing platform

HighJump provides you with all tools required to set up an in-store fulfilment operation, including order capture, store mapping, work queue management, wave planning and real-time inventory tracking.

Here are just some of the capabilities:

Real-time inventory visibility per product across channels
Cross-channel Fulfilment prioritization rules
Cycle counting and inventory adjustment controls
Ability to handle unique Fulfilment requirements across pick zones, including temperature-sensitive control and variable weights
Configurable, value-added services management (labelling, kitting, assembly)
Item substitution processes as directed by the customer
Store receipt processing with support for ASN and PO receipt
Directed put-away for streamlined workflow
Automatic control and prioritization of store replenishment processes
Staging of filled orders
Efficient and accurate hand-off to customers
Automated shipping processes for delivery services
Product image displays to assist in locating product

iWMS Australasia utilizes HighJump technology, a solution that can be scaled and tailored to meet any business needs. Whether you’re looking for an adaptable solution built to fit your unique requirements or one that can be quickly configured and implemented, we arm your operations with the tools you need to achieve short-term efficiencies while enabling scalable growth.

Watch the HighJump Retail Advantage video here. Click here to download the full HighJump In-store Fulfilment Software brochure.