Here's How to Avoid eCommerce Backorders

Backorders can leave your eCommerce customers unsatisfied with their order and can even lead to them not wanting and returning it, leaving you on the hook for fees and refunds. Having to explain why an order is delayed also wastes time and can leave them with a bad taste and buying experience with your brand. 

Things get even more complicated if a customer orders multiple items at once. Do you wait or do you send one package with items in stock and a second with the backordered items? This adds additional shipping cost to you as the vendor and affects your customers' experience and the time it takes them to receive their items. 

A great buying journey leads to a customer becoming your brand's biggest ally. They can sing your praises online, but that can all change with one negative experience. This could prompt them to leave a negative review on your website or on social media. As this blogger states, a backorder sends two messages: “You don’t care about the inconvenience that this causes me” and “You don’t manage your business well.”

Dynamic inventory management and just-in-time item replenishment are good ways to avoid backorders. But, there is another option to consider: Don’t take the order at all. Create an alert instead.

What Are “Back-In-Stock Alerts”?

Customers usually don’t mind waiting a little longer for an item that they want and need. Let them subscribe to get alerts when their favorite items are back in stock, never missing an opportunity to purchase what they need. If your service is subscription based, they may be ordering the same items every month, alongside many others. With today’s supply chain as temperamental as it is, the risk of an item being on backorder can be completely out of your hands. Letting your customers “subscribe” to alerts will give them an added level of peace of mind, and will let them feel like they are in the loop with what is happening with their items. 

How Do They Work?

Most “back-in-stock alert” plugins take your user to a subscription page when their item is out of stock instead of placing the item in their shopping cart. When the product is back in stock, subscribers receive a notification letting them know to hurry and purchase before it runs out. This prompts your users to follow a link to purchase the item with a sense of urgency. If your customer’s changed their mind, you don’t end up wasting time packing and shipping them an item they no longer want. 

As an added bonus, when a customer follows the link back to your eCommerce store, chances are the customer will browse around and find other items to drop in their carts. This could be a sale you wouldn't have made otherwise and driving additional traffic to your site.

Move More Stock with Materialogic

We know what it takes to run an eCommerce business. Don’t waste any of your valuable time dealing with costly returns and explaining shipping delays. Back-in-stock alert plugins are a great way to keep your business running without you lifting a finger and while cutting unnecessary costs. 

Our experts are ready to discuss a variety of plugins and other ways to avoid backorders. Reach out today to find out more.