In the SaaS system, the fulfillment side mainly includes orders, warehousing, logistics and other modules, how to understand the problems solved by the fulfillment side products, as well as the topic of the product design of the fulfillment side of the cross-border e-commerce SaaS system?
1. What is a SaaS system?
SaaS system, short for Software as a Service, allows users to use cloud-based applications through an internet link.
Users do not need to install software products on their own computers or servers, but directly obtain the services they need with corresponding software functions from specialized providers through the network according to a certain service level agreement (SLA).
2. What is the difference between cross-border e-commerce SaaS?
At present, cross-border e-commerce has a difference between B2B and B2C, and this article mainly discusses the B2C business model, which includes the platform model and the independent station model.
Cross-border e-commerce sellers in the platform model are mainly based on Amazon, Shopee, Lazada, and other e-commerce platforms, and put the goods they need to sell on the shelves (list) to the platform store to complete the sales of goods.
Amazon shopping page
Cross-border e-commerce sellers in the independent station model are mainly based on Shopify, Shopline, Giimall and other website building platforms to complete the construction of their own independent shopping websites, and upload the goods to their own shopping websites to complete the sales of goods.
Separate shopping page
Domestic SaaS service providers provide platform models, mainly providing services such as store authorization, product listing (publishing), advertising, event registration, order data pullback, and order delivery, and some are based on the independent station model, mainly providing services such as independent website building, product listing, advertising, diversified marketing gameplay, order management, cargo inventory, and order delivery.
A typical SaaS system for independent websites can provide service content
3. What is performance?
Whether it is a platform model or an independent station model, it will involve how to complete the delivery of goods after the order is generated, and we call this process fulfillment.
The fulfillment side is mainly responsible for the unified management of orders, such as order acquisition, order issuance and execution, order monitoring and financial settlement. The execution of the order will gradually become heavier with the business demand for cost and efficiency, and it may be completely outsourced in the early stage, as long as the system with the outsourcer is opened to realize the order issuance and obtain the result of whether the order is completed. Slowly, as the business deepens its understanding of the execution process, it is necessary to improve efficiency and reduce costs through more refined management, whether it is cooperation with a third party or self-operation, at this time, the corresponding execution system/module is needed to cooperate.
For the SaaS system, the fulfillment side mainly involves these modules: order module, warehousing module, logistics module, with the development of business, we may also upgrade these modules to become order system (OMS), warehousing system (WMS), logistics system (TMS). Of course, there are some auxiliary modules, such as basic data management, billing management, etc., which will also be distributed within the OTW system based on business needs, and sometimes will be independent into a separate system.
Fourth, the problems solved by the products on the performance side
Regardless of the design of the system module, the ultimate goal is to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of order management for SaaS merchants. For merchants, it is difficult to obtain a cost-effective fulfillment service provider in a short period of time. There are:
- Search cost: Because merchants are not familiar with the market, the performance of different logistics providers in different markets is different, such as timeliness and signing, so it is necessary to spend energy to obtain and identify reliable service providers;
- Transaction costs: general customers do not have a stable volume of goods at the beginning of the business, and there is not enough bargaining chips in the negotiation with the service provider, so the quotation is higher;
- Business risk: We take emerging markets as an example, cross-border service providers in emerging markets are usually dominated by small and medium-sized freight forwarders/special lines, and the proportion of COD (cash on delivery) in emerging markets is relatively high, and the capital flow passes through the service provider, and there is a risk that the service provider will run away with money.
For SaaS system providers, to solve the above problems, they can do it in a distributed manner, from light to heavy, and gradually form their own service barriers.
Director R plans to introduce the topic of product design on the fulfillment side of the cross-border e-commerce SaaS system in several articles, and I also hope that everyone will take a brick.
This article was originally published by @PM-RAY on Everyone is a Product Manager and is not allowed to be reproduced without permission
The title image is from Unsplash and is licensed under CC0
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