Middle East Archives – unicommerce.com

Top 6 Multi-Warehouse Management Challenges & Their Solutions for E-commerce Businesses in UAE

Team Unicommerce — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 13:23:02 +0000

After our last blog – Order, Inventory, and Logistics Management in the UAE: Challenges & Solutions Associated with the Processes, we continue to dive into the UAE economy along with covering the vast market of Saudi Arabia. But this time, we will shed light on one of the most critical areas of concern — Multi-Warehouse Management — given its importance in the above-mentioned countries.

The e-commerce industry in the UAE is growing like never before. Businesses are increasingly shifting from offline to online. And do you know why? Because the seismic shift has fundamentally transformed the human mindset and the way business is being conducted. Not only are the consumers’ buying patterns changed, but their thinking patterns are also replaced by the convenience of online shopping.

Amid such transformation, especially within the younger cohorts, e-commerce players have been reinventing ideas to expand their trade over multiple sales channels. Right from expanding their brand reach over multiple sales channels to redesigning the strategy for consumer retention, e-commerce businesses are broadening their horizons. But you know when the problem arises? When they have the plan to sell over marketplaces but their backend operations are not capable enough to manage it.

Imagine this; you are planning to expand your customer base, for which you have started selling on multiple sales channels, which has eventually increased your warehouse management workload capacity (to manage inventory & orders efficiently). But due to manual labor, you are not able to manage the operational workflows seamlessly, right from managing the cycle count to updating the warehouse inventory in real-time. Maybe you don’t have a centralized view of your inventory. Or maybe you don’t have proper stock visibility of your inventory and order data. This is when the need for a robust warehouse stock management system arises.

In a nutshell, with the surge in the opportunities for e-commerce and the need to sell over multiple sales channels, it has become difficult to align your inventory & order operations across multiple warehouses. But what can you do to solve it? Well, you need to automate your functionalities on a centralized interface system so that you don’t disappoint your customers and fulfill orders on time.

Still, confused?

Well, let us first walk you through the challenges in warehouse management that the businesses like yours are facing in the UAE & Saudi Arabia amid the multifaceted e-commerce ecosystem along with their solutions.

Challenges Faced by E-commerce Businesses of UAE in Managing Multiple Warehouses & Their Solutions

Some of the common pitfalls of managing multiple warehouses are poor visibility of inventory, problems in analyzing unique demands, and messing up the warehouse structure.

Looking at the e-commerce industry in the UAE from the warehouse perspective, it’s one of the toughest markets to crack. Why? Because the e-commerce industry is continuously evolving in the countries, right from the adoption of new technology tools to selling over diversified sales channels.

Don’t you want to understand what these challenges are and how can you overcome them to boost your business in the UAE? Come on, let’s have a look at them!

1. Difficulty in managing inventory

Managing the inventory across multiple sales channels is itself a crucial task. But it goes hand-in-hand with warehouse management. And when you add multiple warehouses, the level of complexity also increases. Now you not only have to manage the inventories of one warehouse but you also have to accumulate the incoming & outgoing inventory of multiple warehouses. If you fail to manage it optimally, you will have to bear the consequences of inventory stockouts and overstocking — the occurrence of which can be both dangerous and heinous to your business.

How to solve it?

With a centralized and integrated warehouse inventory management system, you can have full control and visibility over your inventory operations. While the centralized system updates all the inventory from multiple warehouses in real-time, uneventful situations of overstock or stockouts — if they happen — can also be tracked almost immediately. Additionally, it’s the best way to manage inventory as the automatic stock synchronization ensures accurate stock visibility and helps improve sales and controls order cancellations.

2. Varied consumer demands in different areas

Which item should you have more in your warehouse and which product do you need to slow down on manufacturing? Maybe chamomile tea leaves could be appreciated in the northern part of your country but don’t hold any significance when sold in the southern part.

Thus, it is fairly difficult to fulfill the demand of multiple markets simultaneously over a short period of time. And when you are planning to expand your horizons by adding multiple warehouses, you can definitely come across these types of situations. While the complexity behind equating the demand & supply can challenge your backend capabilities, the seasonal trends add another layer of difficulty.

How to solve it?

If your warehouse management system has the functionality of reports & dashboards, most of your efforts get centralized, easing out your distress. From checking the inventory availability of fast-moving SKUs to analyzing the products with zero orders last month, you can actually get the real-time insights that can allow you to track your sales, stock, and revenue proportion and forecast apt plans for the markets.

3. Managing shipping across multiple warehouses

When you have warehouses spread across the country, you can easily ship orders from one place to another and fulfill them timely. But it becomes challenging to establish real-time coordination between warehouses. Information can be distorted and the lack of sync can also restrict the ability to manage various functions such as picking/packing, sorting of inventory, and placing in shelves. But if you are not integrated with multiple logistics providers, you might end up shutting your operations in one or more warehouses due to high costs (capital cost & logistics cost).

How to solve it?

Outsourcing a sound logistics & warehouse management system software that is pre-integrated with multiple logistics players and shipping aggregators can solve your problem. This way you can also tie hands with the local logistics providers who are aware of narrowed nooks & crannies of your region — which is again one of the crucial problems in the UAE, due to the absence of postal codes.

4. Problems in utilizing warehouse space

Another problem associated with warehouse management is when you fail to utilize the warehouse space adequately. A small warehouse can still be managed easily, but the main problem arises when you have to manage multiple spaces with a large set of inventory. It’s not just about keeping a hygienic structure, but it’s rather about wisely placing inventory so that the fast-moving goods can be picked easily when required. But the presence of multiple warehouses negates it as you need to hire more staff to manage the same that will eventually increase your manpower cost.

How to solve it?

If you have a robust warehouse management system in place, you can wisely plan & structure your warehouse components. You also get a virtual warehouse feature that gives you a unified view of operations so that you can place and position your products wisely. Moreover, you can also manage shelves with the virtual system while streamlining the identification of product placement.

5. Failing to minimize the Product damages

One of the many reasons to increase your warehouses is the rise in consumer demand. But in order to fulfill the demand on time, you often compromise with the quality check processes. While that could directly pose a risk to your bottom line, you might witness a huge rate of order returns.

How to solve it?

Preferably, your company needs a barcode inventory system where you can conduct a seamless quality check of the products at various stages to be sure before it gets delivered to the final user. You can use handheld devices such as barcode scanners. This way you can capture an array of detail regarding the item, facilitating smooth order processing and returns management.

6. Managing Order Returns/Exchanges

Another warehouse challenge that e-commerce businesses face is dealing with the issues of returns. Order Returns often challenge the operational efficiency of the business, especially when you have more than one warehouse to manage. And when you receive the returned item in another warehouse, making space for it is a whole new challenge. Additionally, transporting it to its original destination could be costly and might damage the product. So the question is what can you do to avoid such circumstances?

How to solve it?

You can’t obviously avoid the problem of returns from your business but a seamless backend system can definitely enable you to minimize it. Moreover, a robust e-commerce system with robust returns management feature can answer all sorts of order returns queries. With returns management aligned to your operations you can:

Organize the warehouse space
Allocate a dedicated area for returned products
Segregate returns items based on their nature and type
Enable smooth & efficient order replacement
Hasten up Return Inventory Turnaround

With the change in customer behavior, we need to clearly buck up our current operating system so that it doesn’t get bogged down while adding multiple warehouses. Thus, the warehouse managers must design a full-proof action plan to maximize the performance index while leveling the trade-offs for improved profitability. Also, one thing’s for sure, you definitely need a centralized warehouse management system that can support all your warehouses all while giving a centralized view of operations. An agile warehouse management system can assist you in centralizing the crucial tasks such as maintaining healthy stock levels automatically and location-allocation in multiple warehouse sites along with real-time e-commerce inventory management, automated purchase management, routing and tracking of shipments, order management from multiple POS, etc.

Omnichannel Retail Trends in the Middle East: Get the Best of Both Worlds!

Team Unicommerce — Wed, 03 May 2023 13:13:48 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic exerted a severe situation of economic imbalance in the Middle East & North Africa, especially in the Gulf Countries that relied heavily on international oil export.

As per a report by the IMF, the combined effect of restricted travel and tourism along with long term lockdowns as well as a rapid decrease in demands for oil together resulted in around $224 Bn revenue drop for the MENA economy.

But as the saying goes – “When a door closes a window opens” and in this case, a rather bigger window of opportunities in the form of eCommerce opened up, which was already in the initial stages of becoming a big factor of economic growth for the GCC regions of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, etc.

While Saudi Arabia and UAE are two of the most successful MENA regions to adapt to the world of eCommerce, other countries did not take long to join in.

Retailers from all the various regions of MENA are rapidly focusing on amplifying their eCommerce capabilities in order to render the best of services to the consumers, and in their efforts, Omnichannel has emerged to be their most reliable and most successful approach.

In this blog, we’ll take you through the entire spectrum of Omnichannel retailing, right from its core requirements to the implementation of it. Read on to get complete and thorough insights into this newest and most effective technology that not only ensures maximized sales but empowers your customers to shop from anywhere, at any time, thus increasing their loyalty towards your business or brand!

What is Omnichannel Retailing?

When eCommerce businesses or brands use multiple or all present sales channels to provide an unhindered shopping experience to their customers via any platforms, then this method is referred to as Omnichannel Retailing.

By using the Omnichannel strategy, businesses allow their consumers to hop around various shopping channels without the hassle of starting the entire shopping process from the start.

This approach not only saves time for consumers but also builds a strong sense of comfort in them when making a purchase from a specific seller resulting in brand loyalty in the long run.

Given how fast eCommerce is taking shape in the region, sellers and brands are focusing on marking their presence across multiple mediums of sales right from building their own websites to integrating on the top marketplaces like noon, eBay and Amazon along with using the power of social media to leverage potential buyers.

And in order to maintain a smooth check out experience and to monitor sales across all these platforms, Omnichannel has become the go-to strategy for retailers as it provides you with the biggest advantage of being present wherever your customers are.

How Omnichannel Caters to Customer Behaviour?

Consumer behaviour, no matter where across the globe, is ever-changing and Omnichannel is one such strategy that caters to almost all the expected patterns of shopping by users.

For the Middle East online shoppers, there is a significant behaviour that Omnichannel can solve for sellers and retailers, helping them cater to the customers in a better way.

1. Store Searching, Online Shopping – A lot of consumers in the Middle East still prefer to have the traditional touch and feel experience before buying a product and this leads to their behaviour of going to shops to try items and then ordering them later on via online shopping mediums.

Omnichannel plays an important role in handling these customer behaviours resulting in better serviceability by retailers and a longer, stronger relationship between the consumer and the sellers.

2. Click and Collect – This behaviour in customers happens mainly when there is a rush to get an item or when they do not wish to pay for shipping charges. Shoppers usually purchase an item via online shopping channels and then go to the store to collect their items, saving them time and money.

Here, adapting an Omnichannel strategy becomes even more crucial in order to have the retail staff updated on the purchase made by a customer so that when they visit the store, they have a hassle-free experience.

3. Online Searching, Store Stopping – Exactly opposite to the first behaviour, customers sometimes browse for products online, check the collection a retailer is offering, check in-stock items and depending on their search results, they visit the stores to make a purchase. Usually, this behaviour happens when customers are not very convinced about the size or quality of a product.

In this case, Omnichannel helps in building a strong trust factor between consumers and retailers, ultimately resulting in higher sales and profits.

Why is it Important to get Omnichannel Right?

Although Omnichannel Retailing can be the game-changer for a business, not all sellers have begun using this method and the reason behind this is a lack of understanding and technological assistance to carry out this process.

In the Middle East specifically, the government within the retail industry is working on bringing more and more new technologies and user-based strategies to increase the economical infrastructure of the region and implementing a complete Omnichannel experience is their top priority.

Over 55% of the Middle Eastern population have already equipped themselves with the workings of Omnichannel shopping experience and prefer to shop from retailers and sellers who have an Omnichannel strategy in place.

Online shoppers in the region prefer to browse through multiple sales channels as this allows them to compare prices, look for discounts and offers and much more, making Omnichannel even more attractive for them as well as more profitable for the sellers.

By adapting an Omnichannel approach to render services to the audiences, businesses can very well expect to:

Double or Triple their Annual Revenue
Decrease the Cost Per Customer Contact
Increase Customer Retention Rate
Engage with Wider Audiences
Provide Seamless & Non-Stop Services

These factors can have a huge impact on any eCommerce business looking to expand their customer base or already serving people in the Middle East.

Post COVID restrictions were lifted, a lot of offline shops have started to see footfall similar to that in pre-covid times. Majid Al Futtaim’s Mall has seen an improvement of 80% in-store sales while their other malls have seen a recovery of about 40%, after strict safety norms and proper sanitization processes have been assured by retailers, and brands.

According to Mr Chowhan of Lulu Groups – “Trust is what is bringing people back into the stores.”

Some other well-renowned retailers in the Middle East such as Alshaya, Apparel Group, Chalhoub Group and Landmark Group have also established distribution partnerships with 3rd Party eCommerce service providers while setting up their own brand websites and integrations to other marketplaces.

In addition to Majid Al Futtaim, Al Tayer and Al-Futtaim have also worked around launching their own e-commerce channels, making the Omnichannel approach in the Middle East highly recommended.

According to a report published by Bain & Company, when asked about the importance of establishing an Omnichannel approach to a business, Patrick Chalhoub – CEO, Chalhoub Group, said “We realized this is not about digital transformation; it’s about transformation, period.”

But even as the eCommerce players move ahead in adapting the Omnichannel Strategy, it goes without saying that there always are some key factors to look at before transforming the outlook of any business.

What are the Challenges Associated with Omnichannel?

As per data, over 80% of users in the UAE and over 70% in Saudi Arabia already prefer Omnichannel Retail specifically for product segments of Electronics, Fashion and Home.

But even the implementation of the right Omnichannel Strategy can have some roadblocks that can be solved only with proper technological assistance!

Some of the most common challenges that sellers might encounter while transitioning into Omnichannel Retailing include:

1. Increased Cost of Operations to Tackle Multiple Sales Fronts –

When you sell through multiple channels, the cost to meet the demands of consumers also increases and this can lead to higher operational costs as you would need to employ more warehouse and retail store staff to pick, pack and dispatch items without any errors or integrate an automated system for your inventory and warehouse management.

2. Amplified Returns & Cancellations due to higher Sales –

As sales increase, returns and cancellations will increase too. No matter how perfect a seller or brand’s serviceability is, these two challenges will always persist as consumers can and will order items either by mistake, make errors in choosing the right fit, or just change their minds at the last moment.

These two challenges can make the process a little tough but using an appropriate system that not only helps in performing the right inventory, order and warehouse management but also ensure optimum Omnichannel capabilities for an e-commerce business can make a huge difference.

Biggest Omnichannel Retail Trends and Predictions

1. Marriage of Online & Offline Sales –

It goes without saying that the biggest Omnichannel Retail Trend will be to establish an equilibrium between offline and online stores.

Focusing on amplifying the advantages of both worlds can prove to be the most effective way for sellers, retailers and brands to increase sales and maintain a sturdy relationship with their customers and virtual reality will play a vital role in helping brands achieve this.

2. Leveraging the power of Social Media –

The next biggest Omnichannel trend to expect will be Social Media where every online business will focus on strengthening their Social Media presence as this platform can provide a customer pool like no other.

By using social media platforms and collaborating with Influencers any e-commerce business can reach out to a wider and bigger audience that will most likely make a purchase from them.

By curating simple yet attractive content, businesses can capture the attention of customers who would then click through a post and be redirected to the seller website where they could browse through all the products and make a hassle-free purchase.

3. Targeted Promotions for Higher Sales

By running audience-centric ads on multiple platforms will be the next ‘to do’ thing for sellers, retailers and brands.

Targeted ads can be run by researching and maintaining customer data such as their interest, previous purchases and wishlist items which would help businesses make suggestions to the buyers as well as make them aware of any offers, or discounts being given on their preferred items.

This will ensure higher sales and also give e-commerce businesses the advantage of being always in the customer’s eyes!

4. Focus on Personalization

Although customers like to have options, too much of anything can do more harm than good and the same goes with sellers and retailers trying to gain more sales via customers.

And so it is important to customize options and then communicate with the buyers using various methods to provide assistance to them while they look, review and purchase an item.

Asking for the purchase requirements, running a small questionnaire, providing filtering options based on price, size, quality, etc can be really helpful in creating a wholesome and personalized experience for consumers.

Developing Your Omnichannel Strategy

The right Omnichannel Retailing Strategy will always help you keep your customers at the core of your business and give you the ease to provide better, faster and seamless services.

Omnichannel lets you create a strong database of your customer journey and gives you the most effective methods to handle their expectations and demands which ultimately result in increased profits and overall higher ROI for your business.

Make the most for your business by following these latest Omnichannel Retailing Trends of 2023 and get the right technology assistance to accelerate your business growth.

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Unicommerce Recognized as Notable Vendor in the Forrester Order Management System Landscape, Q4 2022

Team Unicommerce — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 07:50:43 +0000

With the e-commerce landscape rapidly changing, more businesses are now adopting advanced technology to increase operational efficiency. Using an Order Management System (OMS) has now become a key part of e-commerce business, enabling them to focus on growth and increased profits.

To help digital businesses compare and choose OMS based on their functionality, Forrester released its Order Management System Landscape Report for Q4 2022. The report identified a set of 24 vendors providing innovative solutions across different stages of order management. And we’re honored to be listed as a notable vendor in this report.

Unicommerce believes in providing multichannel retail businesses with flexible, dynamic, and scaleable order management solutions that help them power their growth. Standing out in this landscape is no small feat, but we’re proud to have earned this distinction. We ensure that our order management solution offers unprecedented flexibility and scalability with a commitment to elevating the post-purchase experience.

OMS Features that Contributed to Our Success

Order management systems (OMS) can be an incredibly powerful tool for businesses in the e-commerce space. It helps decrease operational costs, increase productivity and streamline operations. Unicommerce’s OMS is no exception and offers customizable features that adapt to business e-commerce needs.

Forrester overview identifies Unicommerce OMS specialty use cases as pick and pack orders for fulfillment, support international selling, and manage store inventory, receiving, cycle counting.

Our centralized Order Management System manages orders in bulk over multiple channels, such as offline stores, online marketplaces, carts, and D2C websites.

We enable quick order fulfillment for businesses by facilitating the following:

Efficient order processing through hundreds of channels
Improved product visibility and performance
Reducing the risk of errors in order processing
Enhanced operational efficiency with plenty of seamless integrations

How Unicommerce Can OMS Help You Achieve Higher Operational Efficiency?

Unicommerce OMS is the right choice if you want to improve your business’s operational effectiveness. Here is why:

Your business will never run out of stock thanks to automated order placement for out-of-stock products.
Get a single scan to create an invoice that is tax-compliant.
Businesses can generate shipping and regulatory forms for all orders with our OMS in just one go.
Get access to simplified order manifest generation leading to convenient and faster order dispatches.
For precise order tracking, businesses can enable automatic emails to customers.
Integrate an ERP system to process orders effortlessly and manage them on a unified panel.
Manage order returns seamlessly with a comprehensive returns management system.

Unicommerce’s Vision for the Future

The market is changing rapidly as more people are turning to e-commerce for their everyday needs. Being the market leader, Unicommerce’s vision for the future is to simplify e-commerce selling for online sellers, retailers, and brands across the globe.

The mission of the Unicommerce team is to make e-commercing easy, efficient, and profitable. We are focused on providing large brands with a unified platform that enables them to seamlessly sell their products across multiple channels and boost business sales.

About Unicommerce

Unicommerce eSolutions is India‘s largest e-commerce focused supply chain SaaS technology platform. Founded in 2012, Unicommerce provides businesses with integrated software for multichannel selling, order management, inventory management, and warehouse management. The solution is designed to meet the business needs of e-commerce and e-tailers across sectors and has served over 20,000 satisfied customers globally.

We are currently present in ten countries across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and African markets with 50+ international clients. Unicommerce currently manages over 3000+ stores and 8000+ warehouses and processes over 600 Mn+ transactions annually, amounting to USD 7Bn+ GMV.