INTRODUCTION
Order fulfillment and delivery of products to customers are tricky parts of supply chain management. Earlier in 1990s, there was pull system in use and later it changed to push- pull system in order fulfilment. This change in system of order fulfillment was to increase margins, service and also to cope with the increase in volume of the orders.
Order fulfillment does not confine to just delivering the ordered goods to the customers, but also provide all related customer services. In simple terms, along with the product, product information and usage information should be provided with the product. In addition to this, to maintain customer retention and satisfaction, there should be a system of exchange or return if desired by the customer. Order fulfillment includes several operations such as inventory management, packing, shipping, delivering and accounting. Hence, most of the operations involved are dealt without having to face the customers.
TYPES OF ORDER FULFILLMENT
Order fulfillment is of two types based on the usage of the process at a particular period of time. There is a conventional or traditional order fulfillment and E-commerce order fulfillment process. Traditional retailing of supply chain was used at the time of 1990s. In traditional retailing, inventory production is initiated at first and later is followed by pushing the product to customers. So, it begins with pulling and ends with pushing the product to customers. e- Commerce retailing deals with pull operations where order is first placed and later the inventory is produced. So, it begins with pushing and ends with pulling the product ordered.
The switch over from traditional retailing to e- Commerce retailing is due to increase in services, expenses and enhanced communication and technology. The advantages of implementing e- Commerce is that it can be operated 24/7 and has