E-Commerce Logistics and E-Fulfillment

The first complete e-commerce guide to e-logistics and fulfillment!

Almost 40% of the cost of selling online takes place after the customer presses the Buy button. At that moment-when the visitor becomes a customer-the most crucial part of the relationship begins. Payment processing, order fulfillment, product delivery, and product returns handling are the largest gaps in electronic commerce today. These essential but unglamorous, messy, and often expensive functions are not optional in true e-business. They can make or break your customer relationships, profitability, and future business.

Identifying and managing these functions, termed e-commerce logistics and e-fulfillment, are the subjects of this book.

Inside, find helpful advice on how to:

• Assure your customers receive the products that they order from your Internet site in a timely, efficient, traceable way
• Set up a rock-solid e-commerce infrastructure and calculate the return on investment
• Evaluate shippers and online shipping tools
• Tackle payment processing, online fraud, and U.S. and global taxation issues
• Provide superior customer service
• Evaluate third-party logistics providers and select outsource fulfillment partners
• Handle the inevitable product returns (reverse logistics)

Useful tools such as planning templates, checklists, and spreadsheets are included throughout the book and at www.bayles.com. Whether you're an electronic commerce or logistics practitioner or provider, this book will be an extremely useful addition to the "How To" books of your library.

Contents

• 1. The Next Big Challengein Electronic Commerce.
• 2. Building an E-Commerce Infrastructure.
• 3. Benefits Versus Costs: The Real Costs Surrounding the Buy Button.
• 4. Payment Processing, Fraud, and Other Taxing Issues.
• 5. Customer Service.
• 6. Ship Happens.
• 7. Achieving True Fulfillment.
• 8. Global Logistics.
• 9. Databases and Emerging Data Exchange Standards.
• 10. Send It Back! The Role of Reverse Logistics.
• 11. Outsourcing the Whole Thing.
• 12. User Perspectives.
• Resources.
• Index.