How do I improve product availability in the online shop?

Overview: Supplier

Table of Contents

Alongside the price, one of the most important purchase criteria is how quickly a product can be delivered. That is why we attach particular importance to ensuring that our business partners meet the specified delivery dates. This is the only way to ensure that our customers, and thus also the end customers of your products, are not disappointed and that a long-term customer relationship can be established. The display of product availability in our online store is automatically calculated based on past data and should give our customers as accurate a picture as possible of the expected delivery time. The date range (outlined in red below) shows customers when they can expect the order.

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Observation period

Depending on your individual size, the model chooses a suitable period to measure your deliveries. For partners with many deliveries, it is sufficient to look at the deliveries from the last two weeks, while for smaller partners with few deliveries, we look up to two months or even further into the past to obtain enough data for a statistically significant statement.

Measurement

For each delivered position in this period, the delivery time is measured. How this measurement is done is explained in the next section.

Data cleaning

Outliers and odd cases are excluded from the database.

Weighting

Positions that lie further in the past or are considered by the model to be more unreliable than others (e.g. positions with missing tracking data) are weighted less heavily.

Availability display in the online shop

This data is then used to determine the availability of your products.
For goods that are shipped from your warehouse, we normally show the customer the 50th - 98th percentile.
This means that if your products are displayed in the online shop in e.g. 2-5 days, we know that 50% of the customer will receive their order within 2 days and 98% within 5 days.

Exception percentiles

If your 50th and 98th percentiles differ greatly (i.e. you have very different delivery times per item), the model will trim the data again to percentiles that are closer together. In this way, we avoid showing the end customer nonsensical information such as «You will receive the product between 1-30 days». Such exceptional percentiles could be, for example:

• 80th to 96th percentile

• 85th to 98th percentile

• etc.

Measurement for warehouse deliveries

We start measuring the delivery duration as soon as we have transmitted the order. The calculation is completed as soon as the order has been delivered to our incoming goods department at the respective locations and accepted.

Measurement for direct deliveries

For deliveries from your warehouse directly to the end customer, we calculate as follows:

• EDI
  We start counting the delivery days as soon as the order has been transmitted by us. The end point of the delivery period is the arrival at the end customer, for this the delivery date is read from the tracking information, which is determined from the Dispatch Notification (DELR).

• Manually via CMI
  If you have not automated the dispatch notification via EDI as described above, the arrival at the end customer is also taken as the end point of the delivery duration calculation. For this purpose, the delivery date is read from the tracking information that you specify in the CMI when sending the order.
  If you do not specify a tracking number, the time at which you set the status of the order item in the CMI to «shipped» is read instead, a flat rate of a few days (these vary depending on the destination country) is added for shipping. In the automatic offer selection, preference is given to partners who specify tracking numbers.

As a partner, you have several options to shorten your delivery time. One option is to ship the ordered goods immediately. Order items should in no case be held back and collected. Consequently, a list of other measures to optimise the measured delivery time.

Among other things, the order days control the product availability display in the online store. The stored order days are very important because in our calculation we assume that you can receive and process the order(s) on these days. We have the possibility to configure an order day every day (Monday to Friday). More order days, therefore, mean a better availability display in the online store.

The order time is the time at which we transmit our orders to you. The order time agreed with you is recorded in the Galaxus ERP and should be defined in such a way that after receiving the order, you can still prepare the products and hand them over to the carrier on the same day. After exceeding the order time, the days until the next order day are added to the availability display. A later order time, therefore, results in a slightly better availability display during the day. If required, several order times per order day can be stored.

One of the most important factors besides a good price is correct stock data (stock levels). Stock data that is always kept up to date enables almost accurate shopping and does not lead to any additional manual effort on either side. If the intervals between updates are set too large, the quantities ordered may no longer match your current stock levels. This leads to delayed delivery positions, which worsens the delivery time. Accordingly, it is important to have a high frequency of stock transmission: the more frequent, the better. If Galaxus orders goods for which they do not supply stock, these are excluded from the delivery duration calculation.

Stocked goods, also known as inventory, refers to the quantity of products that are currently in your warehouse and available. The condition is that these goods must be ready for shipment within 4 working days. In the feed, the inventory must be transmitted as QuantityOnStock.

Backorders refer to the quantity of ordered products that have not yet been delivered or are on the way. These can be represented in our system as follows:

Restock Date/Duration
With the restock date/duration, you can specify from when stock (QuantityOnStock) will be available again. In the feed, this can be transmitted as follows:

• Restock Date

The restock date indicates the date on which the ordered goods (in transit) will be back in stock with you. From this date, the goods must be available as stock (QuantityOnStock) and ready for shipment within 4 working days.

• Restock Time

The restock time indicates the duration in number of working days until the ordered goods (in transit) will be back in stock with you. After this time has elapsed, the goods must be available as stock (QuantityOnStock) and ready for shipment within 4 working days.

• Restock Quantity

The restock quantity refers to the amount of goods that have been ordered or are in transit (backorder quantity).

After the restocking period has elapsed or from the restock date, this quantity will be added to the existing stock (QuantityOnStock) – but only if there is already stock available. If no stock exists, the backorder quantity will form the new stock.

There is the option to have your operating holidays recorded in the ERP of Galaxus. During this time, orders will still be placed, but the delivery time will be temporarily adjusted (delivery time + remaining operating holidays). Please inform us of your operating holidays annually. Unreported operating holidays unfortunately cannot be considered in the automatic delivery time calculation and will be perceived as a delay, which will result in a poor delivery time after the operating holidays.

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