How do I improve my product availability in the online shop?
- Digitec Galaxus AG
- Mahela Haab
Table of Contents
Your speed of delivery matters
How quickly a product can be delivered is one of the most important purchasing criteria alongside the price. That is why we attach particular importance to ensuring that our business partners adhere to the specified delivery dates. This is the only way to ensure that our customers are not disappointed by delays and that a long-term customer relationship can be established. The display of product availability in our online shop is calculated automatically on the basis of historical data and should give our customers as accurate a picture as possible of the expected delivery time. The date range (framed in red in the screenshot below) shows customers when they can expect to receive the product.
The delivery time shown is based exclusively on measured Track & Trace data.
The data basis and measurement are explained in the following sections.
Database
Observation period
Depending on your size as a marketplace participant - measured by order volume - the model selects a suitable period to measure your deliveries. For retailers with many orders, it is sufficient to look at the orders from the last two weeks, while for smaller retailers with few deliveries, up to two months or even further into the past is looked at in order to obtain sufficient data for a statistically significant statement.
Measurement
The delivery time is measured for each item delivered during this period. You can read how this measurement is made in the next section.
Data cleansing
Outliers and strange cases are excluded from the data basis.
Weighting
Items that lie further in the past or are considered by the model to be less reliable than others (e.g. items with missing tracking data) are weighted less heavily.
Availability display in the online shop
The availability of your products is then determined on the basis of this data.
For goods that are dispatched from your warehouse, we normally show customers the 50th - 98th percentile.
This means that if, for example, 2-5 days is displayed for your products in the online shop, we know that the customer will receive 50% of their order within 2 days and 98% within 5 days.
Exception percentiles
If your 50th and 98th percentiles are very different (i.e. you have very different delivery times per item), the model cuts the data again to percentiles that are closer together. In this way, we avoid displaying nonsensical information such as «You will receive the product between 1-30 days» to the end customer. Such exceptional percentiles could be, for example:
80th to 96th percentile
85th to 98th percentile
etc.
Measurement
Measurement of direct delivery
We calculate the measurement for deliveries from your warehouse to the end customer 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 time is the arrival at the end customer, for this purpose 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 time calculation. For this purpose, the delivery date is read from the tracking information that you enter in the CMI when sending the order.
If you do not enter a tracking number, the time at which you set the status of the order item in the CMI to «dispatched» is read instead and a few days (these vary depending on the country of dispatch) are added for dispatch.
Examples of days added as a lump sum are:
CH: 2 days
LI: 2 days
DE: 2 days
If no consignment number is available or cannot be transmitted (e.g. in the case of letters or goods sent by forwarding agent), the date on which the goods are handed over to the logistics service provider is read instead and a flat rate of a few days (this varies depending on the country of dispatch) is added for the dispatch.
If this dispatch confirmation is transmitted too late (later than 48 hours after the DISPATCHNOTIFICATION_DATE), the date of transmission of the dispatch notification is used as the basis for the calculation, plus the additional flat-rate values for the dispatch of the goods.
Shorten delivery time
As a marketplace participant, you have several options to shorten your delivery time and thus make your offers more attractive. One option is to dispatch the ordered goods immediately. Order items should not be held back under any circumstances. Below is a list of further measures to optimise the measured delivery time.
Latest order time (time)
The latest order time is the time at which we send our orders to you and expect them to be processed on the same day. The latest order time is stored in our Galaxus system and should be defined in such a way that you can still prepare the products and hand them over to the carrier on the same day after receiving the order. If the order time is exceeded, the days until the next day are added to the availability display. A later order time therefore results in a slightly better availability display during the day.
To change your latest order date, please contact the person responsible in Category Management so that your case can be reviewed individually. You can also find the contact person on the extranet (CMI):
Company holidays
It is possible to have your company holidays stored in the Galaxus system. During this time, orders will still be placed, but temporarily with an adjusted delivery time (delivery time + remaining company holidays). Please inform us of your annual company holidays. Unfortunately, company holidays that are not reported cannot be taken into account by the automatic delivery time calculation and will be perceived as a delay, which will result in a poor delivery time after the company holidays.
Inventory data
One of the most important factors besides a good price is the correct inventory data (stock levels). Stock data that is always kept up to date enables almost error-free purchasing and leads to no additional manual effort on either side. If the intervals between updates are set too long, the quantities ordered may no longer match your current stock levels. This leads to delayed delivery items, which worsens the delivery time. It is therefore important that stock levels are transmitted frequently: the more often, the better. If Galaxus orders goods for which they do not supply stock, these are excluded from the delivery time calculation.
Restock Date, Restock Time
Using the stock data, we can import more detailed information about your stock into our system with two additional columns: «Restock Date» or «Restock Time». With «Restock Date» you can enter a date, with «Restock Time» the number of days until you expect another delivery. Either «Restock Time» or «Restock Date» can be implemented - it is not technically possible to implement both at the same time.
The availability display in the online shop uses the restock date you specify and adds the delivery time. As with the stock data, it is important to specify the correct restock dates and restock times, as overly optimistic information will lead to a deterioration in the delivery time calculated for you in the long term.
Restock date
The restock date, also known as the replenishment date, enables you to provide Galaxus with precise information on upcoming deliveries. Important: If you do not show a stock level for a product (0), but expect an upcoming delivery of X units, you can indicate this to us via the restock date so that our system can display the item with the correct availability in the online shop.
All options for optimising availability and order processing can be found here: 1 Data Preparation Stage 1 | Supplementary criteria: Price data supplier model (Retail / Vendor)
Restock Time
With the Restock Time option, you give our system a restocking time in working days. As with the restock date, you can give our system an indication so that the correct availability is displayed to the end customer.
Track & Trace
The transmission of the tracking number helps the customer to track the status of his order and delivery.
The tracking number also helps to ensure that the delivery time can be measured more accurately. You can either transmit this automatically via EDI or maintain it manually when processing orders in the CMI.