Why Use a Barcode Scanner During Picking?
Many beginner online shops start by working as follows: they print out the orders, pick the products, and pack them. After this, the order is completed in the software. In many cases, even multiple orders are processed at the same time. This is the standard method for many e-commerce platforms like Magento, Lightspeed, and WooCommerce.
This whole process of completing orders is quick, but errors can easily creep in.
Fewer Errors Save Time
We see a 1 to 5% error rate in online shops that use the mentioned method. Someone might be packing the wrong product or sending too many or too few products.
What happens when an order is sent incorrectly?
- The customer is upset and contacts customer service
- The order is returned
- The correct product is sent to the customer
This takes a lot of time, specifically:
- Customer service call: at least 3 minutes
- Handling the return in the warehouse: 5 minutes
- Picking and sending the correct product: 2 minutes
- 2x extra shipping costs + packaging: 10 euros (equivalent to 20 minutes)
An order that fails costs at least 30 minutes.
With a 1% error rate, it costs you 18 seconds per order. And this is the best-case scenario. In most cases, it takes more time and more orders go wrong.
Using a Barcode Scanner
To minimize your error rate, you can introduce barcode scanners. If you can scan all the products of an order within 18 seconds, it doesn’t cost you any extra time.
If you don’t process your orders in batches but handle them individually, a barcode scanner is at most 5 seconds slower than manually marking an order as processed.
The Benefits
Aside from taking only a maximum of 5 seconds longer to process an order, a barcode scanner offers many advantages.
Accurate Inventory
If you send too many products to a customer or send the wrong size (which happens to fit), the customer might not say anything. In that case, your inventory is no longer accurate. You have less of one product than you think, and more of another.
This can lead to unpleasant surprises later on.
By scanning your products before shipping, you ensure that the right product is always deducted from inventory, keeping your stock accurate. This way, the wrong product will never be marked as ‘out of stock’.
Happy Customers and Employees
If you deliver your orders correctly and quickly, you get happy customers, which leads to better reviews and increased sales. It’s also more enjoyable for your employees to help happy customers than to deal with unhappy ones.
In Conclusion
Can you work with barcode scanners without taking an average of 18 seconds longer to process each order? Then using barcode scanners is a great idea. You quickly make up the time by reducing errors and gain clearer insight into the current state of your warehouse.
Interested in using a barcode scanner? Check out the following articles:
