Survey of online merchants shipping and order management practices

[mandy]

Web retailers know that online shoppers have short fuses and long memories if there is even a perception that the merchant has made a mistake in picking, packing and shipping their order.

If their order is processed and shipped in a timely manner, the customer thinks highly of the experience, bookmarks the site and returns in the future, usually with multiple items and bigger tickets in mind. But if a package arrives late or not at all shoppers are quick to contact the retailer with angry comments and cancellations...

The survey also reveals that web merchants are taking less time to ship orders, prefer internal order fulfillment to drop shipping and view shipping fees as a profit center...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=18099