Shubhi Ahluwalia, Author at Noibu

Posted on May 10, 2024

In today’s workplace, your biggest asset isn’t money, it’s mindset! Leaders who can coach & develop their teams to be mentally strong will thrive as the world changes.

In this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives, host Kailin Noivo is joined by April Sabral, CEO at April Sabral Leadership and Founder at Retailu. Together, they explore the evolving leadership landscape in retail, emphasizing the importance of mindset training and development for retail leaders, and their role towards embracing technological advancements. She also highlights strategies for fostering engagement, retaining talent, and avoiding common hiring mistakes in the rapidly evolving retail industry.

The Importance of Mindset

Mindset is a competitive advantage. April speaks to the importance of the need for leaders to cultivate a positive mindset and be able to solve problems positively. A negative mindset can be demotivating for teams, hence, Self-awareness is key. Leaders should be aware of their negativity and be willing to work on changing it.

Ever feel stuck in a negative thought loop? April suggests a simple but powerful tool for leaders: journaling. Writing down your negative thoughts can help you release them and see things from a brighter perspective. By reframing those thoughts in a more positive light, you can boost your overall mood and become a more effective leader.

Leadership Strategies for the New E-commerce Landscape

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, where technological advancements and market disruptions are the norm, maintaining a positive leadership culture is essential for success.

April Sabral, with her extensive background in retail, coaching, and leadership, brings a wealth of experience to the table. From her early days working in a retail store to leading 250 stores at David’s Tea, April has seen the industry evolve firsthand. However, it was her experience at David’s Tea that sparked the idea for Retailu, an online learning platform designed to empower field leaders with essential soft skills.

According to April, “…there’s a real desire and need to switch back into that people-first model.”

Reflecting on the changes in retail leadership over the past decade, April highlights a shift in priorities. While technology once took precedence, the focus is now returning to people’s development. With junior leaders rising to the forefront post-COVID, there’s a growing need for essential leadership skills like decision-making, team management, and resilience in the face of ambiguity.

Hence, it is now important more than ever to invest in training and development to set employees up for success and address knowledge gaps. And importantly, focusing on coaching and development is key to help employees adapt to change and maintain a positive mindset.

Employee Engagement as a Retention Strategy

When it comes to talent retention, April highlights two key factors: positive relationships with leadership and clear career pathways.

Engagement is key. Employees who feel connected to their work and their colleagues are more likely to stay. Hence, leaders should make an effort to provide clear career paths and opportunities for growth. Employees want to feel like they are progressing in their careers.

Navigating the challenges of remote work, hybrid teams, and increased expectations requires innovative approaches to leadership. April emphasizes the importance of fostering creativity, maintaining clear expectations, and facilitating meaningful connections among team members. Strategies like virtual brainstorming sessions and social gatherings help bridge the gap and keep teams engaged in a remote environment.

“So we had ways to make sure that we were keeping people engaged, keeping people positive, recognised, keeping people accountable and following up. So I think that’s a big one. And also like managing time like everybody is starved for time.”

Key Mistakes That E-commerce Leaders Should Avoid

April emphasizes two key pitfalls that leaders in the industry should steer clear of to foster success in their teams.

1. Assuming Competence Without Clarity

A prevalent mistake April observes is the tendency for leaders to assume that their team members inherently understand their roles and responsibilities. This assumption often leads to ambiguity and unmet expectations that hinder team performance and growth. Hence, clear communication, and investing in proper training ensures everyone is on the same page and sets them up for success.

2. Relying Solely on Monetary Incentives

April cautions against the misconception that throwing money at employees is a sustainable solution for motivation and retention. While financial incentives may yield short-term results, they rarely address underlying issues or foster long-term engagement. Instead, April suggests that leaders focus on creating a supportive and growth-oriented work environment. They can do this by offering opportunities for skill development, career advancement, and meaningful recognition, to cultivate a culture where employees feel valued, motivated, and invested in the organization’s success.

“So I don’t think throwing money at people motivates people to stay and continue to grow. It does for a short period of time, but it never solves the problem. So I think that’s a problem.”

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with April Sabral and Kailin Noivo to learn more about Leadership Strategies for the New E-commerce Landscape:

Apple: https://apple.co/3wspAqG

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4bbmDKn

Posted on May 2, 2024

Undetected or unaddressed website errors can drastically undercut your revenue within a matter of days or even hours. Such errors interfere with the shopping experience, causing frustration and forcing customers to abandon their purchases. They also erode customer trust and confidence in the company. This ultimately results in significant revenue loss.

Hence, maintaining an error and bug-free website is a matter of survival for e-commerce companies.

In the absence of adequate visibility, a persistent bug can lurk undetected for months or years, thereby eating into your session lengths, customer experience, and revenue. Hence, error resolution is a critical aspect of the e-commerce workflow.

Let’s look at the top issues that lead to frustration and cause shoppers to bounce away without purchasing.

Broken Images

Broken image error messages ruin the user experience and prevent shoppers from making a purchase decision.

From the shopper’s perspective, broken images come across as untrustworthy and unprofessional, thus spiking up the store’s bounce rate.

Further, they lead to serious ranking drops in the SERP as they interfere with the site’s crawling and indexation, thereby hindering your organic visibility.

Here are the possible reasons for broken images:

Wrong format

For instance, an image was uploaded with a .png extension but is identified as a .jpg in the code.

Wrong path to file extension

If the code contains misprints or a wrong location path, the browser will not follow the path to load the image.

Modified file name

A small misprint in the name will cause errors.

The file was removed from the server

Site relocation often causes the removal or replacement of image files.

SSL certificate issue

Check if links to the image belong to the new SSL certificate.

Server not responding

This can prevent the image from loading on the website.

CMS renewal

This often modifies the path and changes the name of the image folder.

Broken images significantly slow down the page loading speed, causing a loss of traffic and revenue. Hence, it’s critical to address the broken image issue promptly.

Broken Links and 404 Errors

Nothing wrecks a seamless shopping experience like hitting a dead end. Broken links undo all the efforts put in by the sales and marketing teams to achieve a conversion.

Broken links show up as –

404 Page Not Found (page doesn’t exist on the server)
404 Bad Request (the server couldn’t understand the URL)
Timeout (the HTTP request failed and timed out)
Reset (the connection between the web page and its host has failed)

Though 404 errors don’t hurt SEO, they lead to shopper frustration and disappointment, disrupting UX and driving potential customers away. Hence, you’d want to fix broken links as soon as possible.

Here’s why broken links occur:

Typos

Spell errors are one of the most common causes of broken links. At times, one stray character is enough to break a link.

Deleted pages

If a page is removed from the index the links pointing to it are broken.

Change in the domain name

If a store is rebranded or merged, there’s a possibility that the developer may not have updated all the internal links to reflect the new domain name. This may cause the link to break and give error messages.

Tinkering with URLs

If webmasters change the URL without updating it, the link breaks.

A recent study by Ahrefs revealed that 66.5% of links to 2,062,173 sites in the last 9 years are broken, leading to link rot. Broken links are roadblocks to the conversion process. Hence, spotting and fixing them promptly is essential.

Fetch Errors

Fetch errors occur when the JavaScript code calls the fetch method to make an HTTP request to a remote URL and the method fails. Usually, developers dismiss these errors as unfixable.

However, these errors need detailed investigation.

Fetch requests are used for various purposes on e-commerce websites. For instance, they are used in analytics, customer loyalty programs, live chats, error reporting, reviews, social media integrations, and more.

The impact of JavaScript fetch errors depends on the purpose of fetch; however, since these errors are seen in code related to making network requests, they interfere with the network connection. This translates into poor website performance and user experience.

Fetch error messages occur because of –

User network issues

The user’s internet connection is the most common culprit.

Fetch unexpectedly canceled

The fetch call was initiated but the connection was unexpectedly closed before a response was received. This could happen because of the browser’s default timeout, an automatic page refresh/redirect, or a user navigating away from a page in a way that cancels the fetch result.

Fetch target issues

This is primarily because the server is unavailable, a DNS Lookup failure, or the server’s security policy isn’t allowing the server to accept the request.

Payment Gateway Errors

Keeping the payment technology up to date is central to maintaining customer satisfaction, revenue flow, and efficient e-commerce operations. Yet, payment gateway outages are pretty common in e-commerce, leading to disruptions.

The delays, errors, and processing failures caused by payment gateway bugs ruin the checkout experience. It is seen that whenever a checkout error or billing error occurred customers lost trust and abandoned their purchase.

These gateways often rely on complex software and hardware systems that encounter technical issues like bugs. Spotting such payment gateway bugs through session playback recordings is critical as it helps you understand the first-hand challenge faced by the shopper and its revenue impact.

Since payment gateway errors are third-party errors, they are beyond your control. Therefore, you need an e-commerce error detection platform that can spot such errors and point to the priority areas that need fixing before they ruin user experience and revenue.

Leveraging Noibu helps detect all site errors while fetching your team the actionable solutions they need to prioritize and solve them. With Noibu you can never be in the dark when it comes to third-party app-related issues.

Shopping Cart Issues

Bugs often cause error scenarios in the shopping cart, disrupting the checkout process. This friction causes shoppers to lose trust in the brand and abandon their purchase.

A report on Retail Dive shared that 58% of those people have abandoned purchases because of website bugs and poor UI.

More often than not, these are silent bugs or silent errors and do not notify the developers or the quality analyst. Such undetected e-commerce errors result in huge revenue losses, especially with loyal shoppers.

Hence, it’s important to automated error-monitoring system running that listens to the silence of having failed payments and alerts the team with error messages. That way you can spot these errors before they hurt your business, measure their impact on revenue, and resolve them.

Buttons not Working

Oftentimes shoppers face the issue when the buttons on an online store do not respond or show on the page. Such glitches especially hurt when the customer is trying to make a purchase. This is a lost sales opportunity, negatively affecting revenue.

Moreover, such flawed interactive features leave a poor impression on shoppers. Worse – it leads them to think the website is hacked.

Buttons on e-commerce websites help in easy navigation and enhance user experience. Hence, it’s important to spot flaws that get in the way of the smooth functioning of interactive features.

Missing Redirects

Missing redirects are a common e-commerce error, especially for stores that have undergone replatforming.

Redirects are critical for maintaining customer continuity. In the case of an e-commerce platform migration, redirects remove the possibility of past shoppers not finding the store after it has been moved to a new location.

Further, they offer browsers and search engines with the information on a URL and where to find the page. So, imagine what happens if your e-commerce site has missing redirects.

Missing redirects negatively impact customer experience, the store’s organic search presence, and conversions. To avoid such errors, an e-commerce team should work with an SEO agency to map out all web pages and devise an error resolution strategy.

Slow Loading Images

Slow website speed is the top reason why shoppers abandon their purchases.

Several factors impact the site speed. However, slow-loading images are by far the most common reason for a slow website. If the image file isn’t compressed, there’s a risk of slow image loading, thereby impacting the customer experience, conversion rates, customer retention, and SEO ranking.

E-commerce websites often carry high-resolution images of diverse products and product catalogs. Add to this clunky code and script errors, server issues, or caching/CDN hiccups and you have an e-commerce store with high abandonment rates.

As a part of the error resolution process, this issue should be addressed before a website launch or site migration. Make sure you compress the images, tidy up the code, and tune up your server to ensure the website is up and running.

Noibu: Your Proactive Partner in E-Commerce Error Resolution

We saw all the common errors encountered by e-commerce websites. For large e-commerce enterprises that receive millions of site visitors each month, staying on top of these errors can be a monumental task. Usually, these errors only catch attention when customers report them, which is mostly not more than 10% of the times.

Such random error reporting workflows do not promise 100% detection or resolution. In fact, 90% of website errors are never reported by customers.

Hence, you need a robust, proactive, and automated platform that

– monitors your e-commerce websites and flags errors in real-time

– removes the guesswork by offering detailed web session information for each error in a timely manner

– prioritizes errors that have the highest impact on conversions and the business top line

The Noibu platform does all of the above.

The e-commerce error resolution and health monitoring platform proactively detects all HTML and JavaScript errors on your site and flags them in real-time. It alerts the team of every bug causing friction in customer experiences and impacting cart abandonment.

Besides, it provides the technical details needed by the development team, helping them with efficient error resolution without having to spend hours replicating them. The platform equips the team with all information from the exact user session to the exact line of code, thus boosting the team’s efficiency in resolving errors.

Noibu monitors users as they navigate your store. Whenever they face a technical issue, it is flagged to your team along with the corresponding session details and technical information. This allows you to address the error right away, or prioritize based on the impact the error has on the top line and customer experience.

Similarly, Noibu ensures a flawless and uninterrupted checkout flow. It scrutinizes the website continually and identifies and alerts on issues that disrupt the checkout process.

Create an Error Resolution Strategy For Your Online Store and Stay Ahead of The Curve

The e-commerce industry is more competitive than it’s ever been. You will not want to lose customers and revenue over errors and bugs lurking around your website and ruining the customer experience.

Hence, the transactional journey you offer to shoppers should be seamless and meet the high expectations of modern customers. Planning and executing a proactive error resolution strategy can be tricky. But with Noibu as your e-commerce monitoring co-pilot, you can minimize the impact of these errors and recover potentially lost revenue.

Book a demo with us to see Noibu in action or get a free checkout audit to detect and resolve JS, HTTP, GQL, and image errors and uncover what’s really happening under the hood of your site.

Posted on May 1, 2024

Every e-commerce brand wants to offer its customers personalized experiences.

But can it go too far?

In this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives, host Kailin Noivo is joined by Christopher Cowger, Senior Vice President of Global E-commerce & Online Experience at Dell. Together, they explore what makes a strong, well-rounded e-commerce team, how generative AI is taking e-commerce into a new paradigm, and how to balance personalization with building customer trust and a brand identity.

Building a Strong E-commerce Team

Christopher focuses his leadership approach on assembling a strong team.

To him, the key to a successful team is a high level of intellect and a wide diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and opinions. This is what will keep the team driving innovation forward and keep the brand working on unique ideas.

With so many differing opinions, the early stages of innovation can get quite heated, and the team has to work longer to filter the variety of views into one strategy. But it’s worth the extra time as the end product ends up as something completely fresh.

“I think that time we sometimes lose in just vetting through the diversity of backgrounds and opinions that everyone has ultimately ended up being well worth it because it usually ends up putting us in a position where the direction is something truly unique.”

A New Paradigm for E-commerce

Historically, Dell struggled with the typical chatbot type of experience that traditional AI capabilities allowed for. While they weren’t necessarily bad, they never yielded the right experience for their customers.

Thus, when generative AI became widely available, they thought they could use it to uplevel these experiences and improve their customer interactions. They were correct in this, but it was quickly clear that the capabilities of generative AI were far more widely applicable than they thought.

With its ability to personalize experiences and streamline operations, the team at Dell envisions the entirety of the e-commerce industry changing to a more flexible, dynamic, and personalized canvas over the coming years. While it’s not imminent, Dell is factoring this into their strategy, preparing for whatever the next paradigm may be.

Connecting Front End and Back End Operations

For several years, Dell has been developing an intelligent, optimized front end and back end independently of one another. While both were good, they didn’t communicate directly, instead relying on humans and ‘offline processes’.

Now, the brand is leveraging generative AI capabilities to seamlessly connect the two. This will allow the e-commerce engine to become a forecasting engine for the operations teams 95% of the time, with human intelligence leveraged where necessary.

Approaching Hyper-Personalization

AI has made it possible to create bespoke experiences at scale, and it’s an incredibly tempting prospect.

But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Of course, there are positives to bespoke experiences, like more margin capture and demand velocity, but there are also potentially severe consequences.

By catering too much to each individual customer, you can put your brand identity at risk, and even your customer’s trust. Is catering to everyone really worth losing your brand?

It’s important to be judicious and find the balance between personalization and establish identity and trust.

“We really need to think about where to be judicious and where experiences that could be different need to be the same to establish our identity and establish trust.”

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with Christopher Cowger and Kailin Noivo to learn more about the effects of generative AI on e-commerce at Dell and within the wider industry.

👉 Apple: https://bit.ly/4aWvIq1

👉 Spotify: https://bit.ly/3JEIs8S

Posted on April 25, 2024

In the past decade, the e-commerce landscape has witnessed a plethora of trends – from mobile shopping and social media integrations to hyper-personalization and the introduction of AI-powered virtual try-ons.

Statista reports that e-commerce will make up 24.5% of all B2B and B2C retail shopping worldwide by 2027.

To keep up with technological advancements and deliver seamless e-commerce experiences, online retailers must use an adaptive and intuitive platform that enables greater flexibility with separate changes to front-end and back-end systems.

They need an architecture that centralizes content and delivers it across channels via API, thereby ensuring faster delivery than traditional e-commerce platforms.

They need an e-commerce architecture that allows for more flexibility in creating the front end, giving developers the freedom to use any programming language or technology stack and deliver exceptional customer experience.

Enter Headless Commerce

A headless commerce solution involves an architecture where the front-end or presentation layer is decoupled from the back-end commerce functionality, with both parts communicating via API plugins.

The user interface that customers see and interact with, whether they’re accessing an e-commerce website, shopping app, or digital kiosk, operates independently from its back end, including the tools and systems that run in the background to store and manage the data that powers the front end.

An e-commerce business can use back-end databases, with information from sources like CRM platforms, to handle features like product information, the marketing logic behind promotions, and checkout, among others.

In this post, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about headless, including its pros and cons, top headless commerce platforms, and mistakes to avoid while implementing the technology.

Shift from Traditional E-Commerce to Agile Headless Commerce

Traditional (monolithic) e-commerce refers to the conventional method of conducting online business, in which a single platform handles both the front-end (customer-facing) and back-end (business operations) aspects of an online store.

In this model, any changes or updates made to the front end often call for modifications to the back end. This is expensive and time-consuming, especially when you want to adjust to trends and consumer preferences on different platforms quickly.

No wonder the headless commerce platform market is estimated to reach a valuation of $3,811 million by 2030. Moreover, 63% of retail companies plan to implement headless by 2024, with 22% already using it, enhancing the e-commerce customer experience.

Here’s some more convincing data for headless commerce from the Gitnux Market Data Report 2024.

With e-commerce adoption soaring, headless commerce platforms are helping brands like Amazon and Walmart stay competitive. The headless architecture separates the back-end nuts and bolts from how customers interact with shopping platforms.

Since the back-end and front-end components are decoupled, it is easier for e-commerce companies to enable shoppers to complete transactions through mediums like mobile apps, Instagram, or interactive kiosks.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Headless Commerce

So, what are the benefits of headless commerce? Are there any downsides? Here’s a comparison – headless commerce vs traditional commerce.

Benefits of Headless Commerce

Improved time-to-value

Building an online store’s back end comprises 85% of the software development process. In headless commerce, separating front-end and back-end functionalities reduces the complexity of deploying changes and accelerates development.

As a result, you can implement updates and integrate new technologies faster without overhauling your entire system.

Minimized cost of ownership

Typically, monolithic e-commerce software vendors release new versions a few times a year, pushing you to constantly review and rewrite parts of the custom code to ensure your online store works fine.

Headless commerce allows you to choose and customize your tech stack according to your business requirements without extensive downtime or redevelopment. This reduces both direct costs, like purchasing new licenses, and indirect costs, such as developer time.

Improved scalability and performance

With headless commerce, you can optimize your back-end system for high-volume transactions by incorporating robust data handling and business logic. Also, resources can be scaled up or down as needed without compromising store performance.

Similarly, for the front end, independent use of modern, lightweight frameworks that improve load times and user interactions helps maintain favorable web vitals.

Extensive integration and customization

This decoupled architecture allows you to easily integrate third-party tools and plugins, such as payment gateways, SEO and shipping APIs, CRM systems, and Web Application Firewalls (WAFs), with your online store.

You can also personalize the front-end experience based on your specific branding, design, and user interface requirements without changing the back-end systems.

Drawbacks of Headless Commerce

Higher initial setup costs

While headless commerce can reduce costs over time, the initial setup burns a hole in the pocket. Developing a custom front end separate from the back end and integrating third-party services requires massive investment in development resources and expertise. This isn’t a feasible option for small online stores with limited budgets.

Dependency on technical expertise

Managing a headless online store requires a higher technical skill set than traditional e-commerce platforms. You must have access to experienced developers who can handle the complexities of a decoupled architecture.

Potential for increased security risks

With multiple systems and APIs interacting, there can be an increased risk of security vulnerabilities. Each integration and data exchange introduces potential entry points for security breaches, requiring reliance on fool-proof security protocols and constant vigilance.

Top Headless Commerce Platforms

If you are planning to shift from traditional web platforms to headless technology, you need to be aware of the most popular platforms that could benefit you.

Shopify Plus

Shopify’s GraphQL API makes it compatible with headless commerce through Shopify Plus, which offers enterprise-level features for large-scale online stores and accommodates businesses handling fewer orders. Shopify Plus offers an unparalleled level of customization that allows you to make changes at the codebase level.

This involves writing lines of code that modify your site theme’s appearance without hampering your back-end systems.

You can personalize your checkout experience by incorporating progressive offers and coupons based on the items in the shopping cart, customer presets, and cart totals. The Shopify Plus APIs let you integrate with third-party ERP, CRM, PIM, or WMS systems.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce’s open API headless architecture and its ever-growing base of apps for email, SEO, payment, shipping, and inventory management enables you to innovate and adapt your online store flexibly.

You can decouple the back-end engine from the front-end interface to run several stores across different channels, all from a centralized location. BigCommerce offers many front-end framework solutions, such as Next.js, Gatsby.js, and Nuxt.js.

Get fully customizable themes with built-in HTML, Javascript, and CSS. Personalize every aspect of the checkout experience with a server-to-server checkout API and SDK.

Adobe Commerce

Previously known as Magento, this flexible and scalable e-commerce platform allows you to avail omnichannel solutions that combine digital and brick-and-mortar shopping. Adobe Commerce uses AI to deliver custom site search, browsing, and product recommendations.

It comes with a unified developer platform and an integration starter kit. Adobe Commerce’s analytics equip you to leverage data-driven customer experience insights for strategic decision-making.

Customer lifetime value, number of orders per month, churn rate, cart abandonment rate, and purchase frequency are some of the e-commerce KPIs and metrics you should track for your online store. Adobe Commerce enables custom integrations through the REST and SOAP web API frameworks.

What to Be Aware of During a Headless Implementation

Understanding and addressing the following challenges is crucial for successfully deploying and maintaining a headless commerce system:

Decoupling requires massive changes in how data is handled, services are integrated, and the user interface is developed. Building a lot of functionality from scratch or incorporating multiple external services can increase development costs.
Don’t choose a tech stack based on current trends, as that can result in performance issues, higher maintenance costs, and limitations in functionality. Make a decision based on your specific business needs, scalability, and compatibility with other systems.
In a headless environment, common SEO strategies such as server-side rendering may not be inherently available, and you may need to manually populate metadata, make dynamic content accessible to Google crawlers, and structure URLs.
If APIs are poorly designed, they can limit what the front end can do. For instance, if the API doesn’t provide detailed product information or cannot handle complicated transactions smoothly, the user experience on your online store will suffer.
Lack of continuous testing during an e-commerce replatforming risks introducing a host of problems—for example, bugs that lead to transaction failures, incorrect pricing displays, or security vulnerabilities. These issues cause interruptions in sales, damage customer trust, and hurt your revenue.

That’s where Noibu comes in.

Designed specifically for e-commerce teams, the Noibu platform is built to detect and help resolve 100% of technical errors that cause friction on your e-commerce site.

When replatforming, you can set up a staging domain to deploy Noibu’s script and test your e-commerce website before launching. You’ll be able to monitor errors on both the staging and live domains. This will ensure that any anticipated errors on your new site are addressed before they cause friction in the customer journey.

The e-commerce error detection and resolution software captures all JS, HTTP, GQL, and image errors, and pinpoints funnel step issues. It collects and shares data visualizations about your site’s health. That way, you’ll know exactly where and how to resolve issues.

Headless Commerce: Who Should Consider It?

Every e-commerce store has unique needs and goals, meaning that not all technologies suit every store.

So, for whom are headless commerce solutions best suited?

They’re ideal for businesses that are:

Are content-led and mobile-first retailers
Want to offer a superior omnichannel user experience
Feel their current e-commerce platform is too restrictive or rigid
Have multiple sales channels (online, mobile, social media, in-store)
Operate globally and must be able to adjust to diverse regulatory environments and cultural differences in presentation and functionality

Fuel Your E-Commerce Transformation with Headless

Sixty percent of e-commerce businesses consider improving their digital experience critical to minimizing customer acquisition costs. And what’s better than harnessing the power of headless architecture to achieve this goal?

Blended with commerce and engineered for a superior user experience, this technology empowers your e-commerce store to be more agile and adaptive.

This architecture is perfect for improving your UX, capitalizing on omnichannel opportunities, and making personalization the center of the shopping experience.

Moreover, with Noibu as your co-pilot in transforming your e-commerce website experience, you can rest assured of a seamless transition. Sign up for a demo of the Noibu platform today to explore how it detects and helps resolve revenue-impacting errors on e-commerce websites.

Posted on April 24, 2024

Choosing the right platform is crucial for all e-commerce businesses, but at times you will have to migrate to a new one.

Is it possible to do so without experiencing data loss and other friction points?

In this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives, host Kailin Noivo is joined by Adrien Levinger, CEO of FAV Solution. Together, they explore the importance of choosing the right CMS for your e-commerce business, how you can prepare for the discrepancies that come with a big migration, and what expectations you should have about that process.

Choosing the Right CMS

When you are looking to push ahead with your digital transformation process, you will likely face one key decision: choosing the right CMS for you.

Adrien’s advice for this decision is to first design clearly your requirements.

In the past, ease of use was one of the most important considerations in this decision, but that has largely dropped out of the running due to CMSs now having similar usability scores.

Now, the factors digital leaders should be concerned with include the levels of customization, how well it integrates with your existing processes, how big the support community is, and what the total cost of ownership is. It’s also incredibly important to consider scalability, as that is where Adrien has seen previous issues crop up.

Managing Data Loss During Migration

When undergoing a digital migration, data loss is always a big concern. To Adrien, some data loss and discrepancies are inevitable, so it’s important to prepare as best you can.

He advises getting lots of eyes on the site at launch and proactively seeking out the problems. This will help you to avoid the dip in traffic that comes with those discrepancies.

The other key is to not attempt too many changes at once. Adrien recommends keeping the front end of the site the same, which will help to flatten the curve of change and minimize the negative impact of any problems you face.

It’s also very helpful to work iteratively, so that you can easily identify what exactly is causing a problem, should any arise.

Design Versus Usability

With most CMSs being user-friendly today, aesthetics are now one of the most important considerations for establishing an edge over your competition.

Your visual design is the first impression that your audience will have, and so you want to make it a lasting positive impact so that they remember you and keep coming back.

Adrien also stresses that there is no reason to believe that aesthetics and functionality are mutually exclusive, so still keep ease of use in mind. In fact, something that both looks nice and is easy to use will naturally increase sales.

Commerce or Content: Which is the Priority?

Optimizing for commerce and content are two distinct approaches, and this is important to recognize when measuring the success of your approach.

If you are optimizing for content, then you are likely concerned with growing an audience and keeping them engaged with your brand. Thus, your KPIs should be centered around open rates, likes, shares, user feedback, and other similar metrics.

If, however, you are optimizing for commerce, and thus looking at improving your bottom line, then it would be more practical to observe conversion rates. Adrien does warn against becoming overly enthralled with your conversion rate, however, advising to look at more nuanced metrics like average order value and lifetime value.

Whatever approach you choose, it is important to stay consistent and understand exactly what success looks like in that domain.

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with Adrien Levinger and Kailin Noivo to learn more about mitigating the negative effects of migration.

👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3Uwk9QR

👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3y0HBg0

Posted on April 18, 2024

Website bugs that interrupt the online shopping experience end up frustrating customers and drive them into the waiting arms of competitors. Just one nasty bug can cause a massive drop in sales. Bugs can have a massive negative impact on your business’ top line.

Large e-commerce websites could have hundreds of errors. In fact, completely eliminating website errors is nearly impossible. What you can do is create an effective bug management framework where you address errors efficiently based on scope and impact.

This post shares everything you need to know about the bug-tracking process and devise an efficient e-commerce bug management system.

The Problem with Ad Hoc Bug Tracking

Modern e-commerce websites are designed with multiple layers of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Hence, it is safe to assume that the code will see bugs at all these levels. These bugs need to be identified, filed, monitored, and debugged. This is an iterative process as each code version needs to be tested and debugged. Bugs need to be tracked throughout the entire lifecycle.

Hence, free-style bug tracking can bring chaos for everyone from the development team to the shopper. You need the right bug-tracking tools and strategies. The tool should focus on the “users impacted” portion of an error but also monitor all errors, at all times, throughout your site and share their impact on revenue.

On average, we’ve seen 100 to 150 errors for every thousand lines of code on e-commerce sites. Even if 1% of these bugs are menacing the consequences are huge.

Hence, bug management for large e-commerce sites needs to be premeditated.

How Bugs Lead to Revenue Loss (Frequent Offenders)

Bugs eat up developer time that could otherwise be spent on improving the functionality of your online store. Thus, you end up losing money on all those developer hours that are lost in endless cycles of bug investigation and reproduction. There is also the added opportunity cost of lost time that could otherwise be spent on feature releases.

Instead, most e-commerce teams spend time investigating why their checkout is throwing an error or why order confirmations aren’t working or simply trying to find the root cause of an error reported by customer service without any other helpful information. This ultimately eats into their revenue. Online retailers lose thousands, if not millions because of website errors and bugs.

This hurts, especially during the holiday season.

UX bugs can damage a company’s bottom line, causing it to lose more than $60M in holiday sales. Thus, just one nasty bug causes a massive drop in sales.
The impact of digital frustration is huge on customer loyalty. More than half of the shoppers are unlikely to return to a store where they’ve experienced a poor digital experience.

One of our clients, Famous Smoke Shop was suffering over $2 million of annualized revenue loss due to hundreds of revenue-impacting bugs. Within 18 months of working with Noibu they were able to improve their error monitoring efficiency, reduce time to resolution, and resolve these errors.

Read the complete Famous Smoke Shop case study here.

E-commerce Bug Management Best Practices

Now that we’ve understood how bugs impact e-commerce customer experiences and revenue, let’s look at a few best practices for fixing bugs effectively.

Streamline the Bug Report Management Process

Agile recommends pairing developers to monitor and report bugs promptly. But it is also critical to streamline the bug reporting process and include it as a part of your sprints. Adding bug reporting to routine sprints helps teams evaluate and assess the size and complexity of each bug and prioritize it amidst other tasks. That way, bug resolution doesn’t end up falling through the cracks or being an after thought.

Jira is a feature-rich project management solution that offers scrum boards that support the Agile methodology. These boards allow teams to track bugs across their lifecycle.

And with the perfect integration, you can effortlessly forward bugs to these boards.

Noibu’s integration with Jira allows you to automatically send detailed bug reports to scrum boards. This eliminates the need for manual bug reporting and ensures that new bugs are added to corresponding sprints which you can assign to a developer on your team.

By integrating Noibu with Jira, all errors detected by the platform can be automatically added to the board along with all relevant technical details that the developer needs to resolve the error. By automating the process of bug reporting you can closely monitor bugs throughout each sprint. This keeps every member of your team informed and focused on resolving bugs as and when they occur.

Have a Standard Template to Report Bugs

Make bug tracking an integral part of your user experience strategy. This is critical as layout bugs and flawed interactive features are often introduced during smaller ongoing site updates or A/B test versions.

If continual testing and reporting aren’t a part of your ongoing strategy, these bugs find their way to ruin experiences, causing shoppers to abandon your store.

Create a standard template to report:

The type of the bug – Crash bug, logic bug, or user interface bug
When does it occur? Assess its likelihood of occurrence
Where? Determine the environment in which it occurs
What are the expected outcomes of the bug resolution process? It is important to document the expected results once the bug is resolved

Limit the Number of Channels for Bug Reporting

The success of your bug management efforts rests on how effectively your QA testers, developers, and managers communicate. In such a case, if you have multiple channels for relaying bug information, critical bug data can go unnoticed.

To track these bugs through the lifecycle you may need multiple tools. But it’s important to settle on the tools that your team will use.

For instance, if you are relying on Noibu for bug and error monitoring, Jira for bug prioritization and assigning tasks, and Slack for communication, then stick with these tools. Don’t get, emails into this tech mix. Worse, avoid sticky notes or water cooler chats as a means of bug reporting.

Limit the number of channels you use for reporting bugs. Also, make integration a priority when selecting an e-commerce error monitoring platform, thus making the bug reporting process efficient.

Build a Bug Prioritization Framework

Limit the number of channels you use for reporting bugs. Also, make integration a priority when selecting an e-commerce error monitoring platform, thus making the bug reporting process efficient.

The stakeholders carefully plan questions to efficiently run through the list of bugs and sort them based on severity.

For instance, bugs impacting shopper login or payment gateway can be a priority as they have a direct impact on usability. On the other hand, a duplicate notification bug can wait.

In enterprise-level e-commerce firms, bugs are likely to be detected more often and that too with varying levels of severity. Hence, it can be tough to manually assess and prioritize bugs. This can lead to issues piling up, thereby overwhelming your team.

That’s why it’s important to automate the bug management process. That brings us to the final yet important best practice in bug management.

Invest in a Robust E-commerce Bug Monitoring and Resolution Tool

Managing a large e-commerce website is tough as several factors contribute to errors and bugs. Thus, manually monitoring all permutations of errors like cart/checkout issues, third-party caused errors, performance glitches, etc. can be challenging, time-consuming, and ineffective.

Hence, the best way to detect all bugs is to automate the process using a comprehensive bug management platform that detects 100% of e-commerce bugs, prioritizes them based on business impact, and resolves critical errors.

With Noibu, you can effortlessly plan and efficiently manage bug tracking and resolution. The e-commerce monitoring platform identifies and prioritizes bugs, allowing your team to fix critical bugs first and prevent any revenue loss due to customer frustration.

Noibu detects website errors in real-time and prioritizes them based on the impact they have on your business revenue so you can address most pressing issues immediately. You are also provided with the technical details required by developers to resolve the errors, without the need to investigate or replicate issues. Noibu also provides the corresponding session details so you can easily find the root cause of the error and resolve it quickly.

A bug management software makes it easy to build a streamlined workflow for error monitoring and reporting. It also helps with traceability during bug life cycle management. Commit to investing in e-commerce error monitoring and resolution platforms like Noibu to detect critical errors hurting sales and conversions in your checkout.

Summing Up

A foolproof bug management strategy is designed to scrutinize every aspect of the e-commerce website, spot and resolve bugs, and minimize their impact on revenue. This ensures robust store functionality and user-friendliness, from the home page to the checkout process.

By investing in a suitable bug management software you can safeguard your operations, enhance user experience, and position yourself competitively in the bustling online marketplace.

An e-commerce error monitoring platform like Noibu simplifies bug tracking workflows quite significantly. It automates the process of detecting and resolving errors, so your team can focus on more strategic projects like launching new features.

So get started today to uncover what’s brewing under the hood of your e-commerce site. Experience Noibu’s advance error monitoring and resolution capabilities by signing up for a demo.

Posted on April 18, 2024

COVID-19 shifted retail online, and the e-commerce space has become far more competitive because of it.
How do brands maintain profitability in the new era of the industry?

In this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives, host Kailin Noivo is joined by Pahul Ahluwalia, Director of E-commerce at Apricot Clothing. Together, they explore the evolution of e-commerce, highlighting how COVID-19 and AI have fast-tracked its evolution and shifted strategies towards being mobile-first, as well as how to drive conversion and balance profitability with competitive pricing.

The Pace of E-commerce Evolution

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed retail online, which caused a lot of brands to fast-track their five-year e-commerce strategy, fitting it into just one year.

Pahul predicts a similar pattern will come in the near future, due to the rise of AI. This is especially likely considering how many use cases of AI we are already seeing today, from optimizing searches to writing product descriptions. However, Pahul advises against complacency, explaining that AI could be destructive, as well as constructive. Thus, we need to remain aware of the challenges and implications that come with introducing AI capabilities.

The Key to a Healthy Conversion Rate

Pahul sees the key to driving conversion rates as reducing the number of clicks. Why?

She says, “Reduce the number of clicks, reduce the time in the decision making.”

The longer a customer has to think about their purchasing decision, the less likely they are to go through with their purchase.

So, Pahul recommends ensuring that every element of your website is set up in a way that drives customers towards the checkout. This includes measures such as add-to-cart buttons wherever a product is listed, product descriptions that are visible on the landing page so the customer doesn’t have to click away, and relevant, personalized recommendations for every user.

By adding measures like these, Pahul explains that your customers’ purchasing decisions will be straightforward, leading to an increase in conversion rates.

Shifting to Mobile-First

Over the past five years, the percentage of total traffic attributable to mobile devices has steadily increased across the e-commerce industry. This has led many brands, including Apricot Clothing, to shift their strategy to mobile-first.

“Whether you’re designing a home page or you’re designing a listings page or checkout, whatever it is that you are looking to redesign, mobile-first, and I think that’s the thumb rule that applies to most retailers today.”

On mobile devices, space is limited, and Pahul explains that this leads to two buckets of customers. The first is those who are overwhelmed with choice, and the second is those who actively want to be shown a lot of choice. She explains that, in order to cater to both groups, it is important to optimize your search and filter functions.

The group overwhelmed with choice needs to be able to refine their search down to only the items they are interested in, as well as have the opportunity to view just one product per line. The group looking for a choice, however, would like to see as much as possible, with the option to view five products per line so they can quickly scroll through and browse.

By allowing options that encompass all customers’ preferences, you will likely see conversions increase. Of course, not all brands will want their customers to have that much choice. A luxury jewelry brand, for example, rarely expects customers to buy more than one or two items at a time, so they would want to limit viewing options so as not to suggest to customers that they are expected to buy multiple items in one session.

Pahul explains that it is down to individual brands to explore the limits they want to impose on their search and filter functionality, deriving them from their customer base as well as their brand goals.

Balancing Profitability and Competitive Pricing

With e-commerce on the rise, there is a stronger need for competitive pricing, but many brands are concerned about how to maintain profitability whilst remaining competitive.

For Apricot, the answer is simple: they believe the first price is the right price, and so rarely offer sales and promotions. Pahul explains that this prevents their customers from being conditioned into only shopping with them during a sale, which would limit profits. They maintain competitiveness by ensuring that the price of every item is in line with the quality of the piece and competitors.

Pahul further explains that most shoppers are now aware of the strategies that e-commerce brands often use to drive conversion, such as abandoned cart promotions, which has led customers to become more confident about delaying purchases. They know that if they wait, they will likely get a discount. Thus, brands need to be careful with implementing price elasticity models to make sure they will work for their goals before implementing them.

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with Pahul Ahluwalia and Kailin Noivo to learn more about driving conversion and increasing profitability.

👉 Apple: https://apple.co/4aUTDpC
👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xCu9Ps

Posted on April 11, 2024

Introduction

No matter how flawless your codebase is and regardless of how much bandwidth your team spends on debugging, it’s nearly impossible to completely avoid errors from creeping in and negatively affecting your site’s customer experience, especially third-party ones.

However, if you troubleshoot efficiently, you can always minimize the negative impact of these errors on your customer experience and potential revenue.

In this blog post, let’s look at script errors, why they are caused, and how you can troubleshoot them.

What are Script Errors?

A script error occurs when an error on a third-party plugin, file, or add-on triggers an error on your domain. Modern browsers block local scripts from accessing information from external domains, so while Noibu detects and reports script errors, the NoibuJS script cannot retrieve specific information about the errors.

The NoibuJS script wraps your frontend code to extract as much data as possible when errors occur. Script errors pass by this wrapping, but we do our best to separate distinct script errors to offer the most error coverage possible. You can identify a script error in the Noibu platform by its error signature, which always begins with script error.

The root cause of a script error is cross-origin request blocking. To expand the range of error data Noibu collects, you can change the way you fetch certain scripts from their respective servers to avoid cross-origin checking. Consider the methods listed below:

Method 1: Add the cross-origin Attribute to the Script Tag in your HTML

Imagine you have a third-party script enabled in your HTML code, written as follows:

To instruct the server to fetch the script URL anonymously, add crossorigin=”anonymous” to the script tag. This enables Noibu to access more error data without impacting the script’s functionality.

The adjusted script looks like this:

Method 2: Add cross-origin headers

The implementation steps for adding cross-origin headers vary depending on your backend architecture, and the solution is only possible if you have access to the server.

The solution is to configure your backend so that when the script is requested from the client side, the following header is sent back:

Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *

Noibu: Your Trusted Partner to Detect all Third-Party Errors on Your Site

Since you have little to no control over errors caused by third-parties, the best you can do is have an automated error monitoring and resolution workflow in place that flags any third-party errors that occur on your site in real time and provides you with all necessary technical details required to fix them.

Noibu – a robust error and health monitoring platform is designed to help technical teams streamline their error resolution workflows by flagging all bugs (both first and third party) in real time and providing the details you need to resolve them efficiently without having to further investigate or replicate.

For errors that cannot be addressed at your end, the platform shares all information that you can provide to the concerned team so they can resolve the issue quickly without wasting any time. Overall, this not only helps optimize how you approach and address revenue-impacting e-commerce errors, but also reduces your overall error resolution time by up to 70%.

Posted on April 10, 2024

Change is the only constant, and e-commerce is not an exception. With all the challenges lying ahead, the industry also comes with plenty of opportunities to thrive in the digital world.

However, winning requires more than identifying and understanding market trends; it demands an in-depth knowledge of logistics, customer engagement, and sustainable growth strategies. This is where insights from industry experts become priceless.

One such expert is Nabil Malouli, SVP of Global E-commerce and Returns at DHL, who joined host Kailin Noivo on the latest episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives to dive into the critical role of supply-chain excellence in mid-market success, how profitability and streamlining returns are crucial for sustainable growth in E-commerce, and how D2C brands can scale success through customer satisfaction and efficient operations.

The Foundation of E-commerce Success

Drawing from his experiences across China, Brazil, the US, and France, Nabil points out the importance of adaptability and cultural intelligence. He suggests using the strengths of diverse cultures to improve problem-solving and leadership strategies rather than limiting them to stereotypes.

Equally important is being receptive to learning from different customs and implementing the best practices to promote innovation and growth within teams. The mindset of adaptability and cultural sensitivity is the bedrock of creating a dynamic team capable of innovating and problem-solving at the highest levels.

The Unshakeable Pillars of Profitability

Growing revenue in e-commerce can be achieved through multiple strategies. However, profitability relies on an efficient supply chain. Without that, your strategy becomes ineffective.

“To make that process profitable and a well-executed supply chain is an absolute imperative. There’s no other way around. You cannot grow and scale a business efficiently and e-commerce business if you don’t have a well-tight supply chain.”

Of course, businesses that use models requiring little supply chain interaction, such as drop shipping, encounter few entry barriers. Nevertheless, they face considerable competition risk.

Noting the achievements of major players like Amazon and Walmart, Nabil Malouli highlights that investing in supply chain management grants a competitive advantage, especially when your business grows. Moreover, for companies reaching or exceeding 100 million in gross merchandise value, focusing on logistics is vital.

Do You Know What Your True IP Really Is?

Manufacturing is the be-all and end-all of product-based business success. Right? In a way, this was probably true some 10-20 years ago. However, as Nabil suggests, “I don’t think that manufacturing is the ultimate IP.”

Think of Apple. The company doesn’t manufacture its own products. Despite that, it has achieved remarkable success by focusing on product quality, brand strength, and an exceptional supply chain experience.

The reason is simple. We live in a world where consumers demand both high-quality products and seamless buying experiences. From last-mile delivery to trouble-free returns, the logistics behind how products reach consumers can significantly impact brand loyalty.

How D2C Giants Are Turning the Tide for Financial Success

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, a good amount of D2C brands have shifted their focus from relentless growth to prioritizing profitability. This shift comes as these companies face a downturn in their overall revenue.

It might sound obvious, but Nabil reminds us once again that focusing on profit is not a passing phase but a key aspect of your business strategy. Moreover, he points out the importance of improving digital return processes and operational efficiency to boost customer loyalty, sustainability, and, ultimately, financial performance.

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The E-commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with Nabil Malouli and Kailin Noivo to learn more about the role of supply-chain excellence in mid-market success.

👉 Apple: https://bit.ly/43W0oW4

👉 Spotify: https://bit.ly/43T9JxA

Posted on April 9, 2024

Imagine the impact of Amazon’s systems going down for even a minute.

As much as $220,318.80, according to the latest estimates.

Downtime is a nightmare for eCommerce giants like Apple and Amazon who have lost tens of millions of dollars in revenue. To minimize downtime and improve system reliability and experiences, Google introduced Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) in 2003.

It addressed the challenges of managing large-scale, distributed systems on the cloud. It also aimed at meeting the need for rapid software development cycles with a systematic, engineering-driven approach to operations. Today, SRE is central for developers, DevOps, and IT operations teams striving to balance rapid innovation with system reliability across industries.

In this post, we’ll explore site reliability engineering, its benefits for developers and DevOps teams, its focus areas, and the four SRE signals that need to be monitored.

What is Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)?

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is the practice of using software tools to automate various IT operations tasks.

This includes product system management, configuration management, security compliance and auditing, resource optimization, and even emergency response that would otherwise be performed manually by system administrators.

The principle behind site reliability engineering is that using software code to automate the oversight and management of large software systems is more sustainable and scalable than relying on manual intervention, especially when those systems extend or migrate to the cloud.

Benefits of SRE for Developers and DevOps Teams

Though the impact and focus may slightly differ, SRE offers a suite of benefits to both groups:

Developers

SRE’s encouragement for developers to integrate patterns like circuit breakers, fallbacks, and retries directly translates into building more resilient applications to failures from the outset.
By adopting SRE’s focus on defining Service-Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service-Level Indicators (SLIs), developers gain a framework for measuring application performance and become more accountable for their code in production.
The emphasis on techniques such as performance monitoring and user feedback loops enables developers to continuously fine-tune app responsiveness and user experience.

DevOps Teams

SRE’s structured approach to incident management. This is mainly through blameless postmortems, empowering DevOps teams to dissect and learn from incidents without any blame games. It enhances system reliability and fosters team cohesion over time.
Site reliability engineering requires rigorous capacity planning and stress testing. It equips DevOps teams with the foresight to anticipate and prepare for scalability challenges. This prevents over-provisioning and optimizing infrastructure costs.
SRE provides DevOps teams with a systematic framework for balancing introducing new features while maintaining system stability. This allows for more informed decision-making regarding when and how to innovate safely.

Five Areas of Site Reliability Engineering

Let’s take a look at five facts related to site reliability engineering:

It isn’t just for Google

Although Google pioneered SRE, the discipline is not exclusive to them or limited to large tech companies. In fact, the approach has been widely adopted by businesses of all sizes, especially large enterprises in eCommerce.

SREs are employed by modern developers to ensure their software is reliable for customers. As they get on with SRE, they will need comprehensive error detection, crash reporting, and resolution tools, APM platforms, and real user monitoring. These will allow them to identify and resolve issues, improving the overall quality of their software solutions.

It automates manual tasks

Cloud-native development has created an increasingly distributed environment. This complicates administration, operations, and management, putting much pressure on developers and DevOps teams.

SRE significantly reduces duplication or redundancy of effort by automating routine tasks, such as capacity planning, account setup, disaster recovery, and access and infrastructure provisioning.

This arrangement enables building applications as microservices and deploying them in containers, which boosts operational efficiency and reduces the risk of failure.

For instance, if an online media streaming service provider wants to handle sudden spikes in site traffic during high-profile event broadcasts, SRE methodologies can automate incident response and system scaling processes to avoid downtime.

It builds tools to support operations

SRE recognizes the limitations of focusing on system uptime in today’s complex, distributed, and highly dynamic cloud environments. Therefore, it advocates for building custom tools that range from monitoring and alerting systems to deployment and incident management tools.

For instance, a cloud services provider could build tools for real-time monitoring and predictive analysis of their infrastructure, enabling it to proactively address potential system bottlenecks and reduce downtime.

It drives the shift-left mindset

The “shift-left” mindset refers to incorporating testing, continuous integration, and continuous delivery in the early stages of the software development lifecycle. It’s a high-level concept that can be implemented in many ways.

For instance, developers may start running performance tests on new code right after they write it, even if it hasn’t yet been integrated into the main codebase. In other cases, they may compile some parts of the codebase to run tests against it before the application goes into production.

It bridges the gap between developers and DevOps

Unlike traditional DevOps, which focuses on the culture, practices, and automation necessary to enable seamless software delivery and infrastructure management, SRE brings a more refined set of practices.

For example, site reliability engineering uses SLOs and SLIs to define and measure reliability quantitatively. This ensures that both teams prioritize the aspects of the services that matter most to the end users.

Secondly, error budgets strike the right balance between speed and stability in software engineering. For example, some development and operations teams may want to release new or updated software into production continually. But, if the DevOps team is not on board with this, SRE sets an error budget determined by the software’s level of risk tolerance. If the number of errors is low, developers can release the new changes.

However, if the errors exceed the permitted budget, the release is put on hold, and the existing problems are solved first. This helps minimize or eliminate much of the friction between both teams.

The Signals Site Reliability Engineers Should Monitor

Four signals help consistently track service health across all apps and infrastructure:

Latency

Latency is the total time it takes for a user to send a request and receive a response.

For example, if an eCommerce web service communicates with a database service on the backend to verify a user, the time taken to execute the database is measured as part of the latency calculation.

High latency can indicate overloaded servers, network issues, or inefficient code. It enables site reliability engineers to detect incidents faster, ensure that applications meet their performance objectives, and provide a good user experience.

Traffic

Traffic measures the volume of requests and responses moving through a network. Depending on the business, the definition of traffic can significantly vary.

For instance, the total number of people coming to an eCommerce site or the number of app requests happening at a given time.

Sudden spikes or drops in traffic can signal potential issues or changes in user behavior. Understanding traffic patterns can help site reliability engineers scale resources accordingly and predict future capacity needs.

Errors

Errors simply refer to the rate of unsuccessful requests. This means site reliability engineers gain insights into the health of the overall software and also the issues occurring at specific service endpoints.

From infrastructure misconfigurations and outages to broken dependencies and flaws in the app code, errors come in many forms. For example, a sudden spike in the error rate might represent a service failure, database, or network outage. High error rates can significantly affect user satisfaction and need immediate attention.

Noibu can help eCommerce site reliability engineers and developers with the automatic detection, prioritization, and resolution of errors. It is an e-commerce health and performance monitoring platform that detects revenue-impacting website errors and flags them in real-time so they can be efficiently resolved without the need for any further investigation or replication.

It even helps developers correlate customer complaints to user sessions and efficiently identify the root cause of errors to reduce error resolution times by up to 70% so your team can instead focus on strategic tasks such as feature releases.

Saturation

Saturation refers to how “full” a service or resource is, measuring the utilization level. System components like hardware disks, memory, and networks often reach a saturation point. This usually happens when the demand surpasses a service’s capacity in the form of memory, CPU, IOPS, or DBS queries.

It’s an important signal a site reliability engineer should monitor because it can predict potential bottlenecks or capacity issues before they result in performance degradation.

The Way Forward: SRE Triggering a Cultural Shift in Development and DevOps

SRE pushes businesses beyond just making things work. It helps them build strong and stable systems, regardless of what’s thrown at them.

Whether it’s a sudden spike in eCommerce user traffic, an unexpected service outage, or the need to roll out features at lightning speed – SRE can help.

By merging software engineering rigor with operational excellence, SRE compels DevOps and the development team to ensure that system design, maintenance, and reliability are never compromised.

Large eCommerce businesses need an automated mechanism for error detection and resolution. Hence, they need a platform that goes beyond SRE that detects, analyzes, and puts a dollar value on website errors and bugs. This can help them resolve issues before they hurt the revenue.

If you want to know how Noibu can help, get in touch with our team or sign up for a demo of the platform today.

Posted on April 2, 2024

E-commerce developers work with complex distributed systems where tracing user interactions and events from the front end to the back end is necessary.

For large e-commerce businesses, the software architecture paradigm is forever evolving –

They have come a long way from monoliths (or applications architected traditionally)
APMs and other observability tools have worked well for these monolithic applications but haven’t been useful with the rise of cloud-native microservices, containers, and serverless functions.
Developer responsibilities have changed after the emergence of DevOps

Modern complex systems use microservices running on Kubernetes clusters and cloud infrastructure. Hence, developers tend to write small pieces of independent code, deployed multiple times a day to production (increased deployment frequency). This makes it challenging for them to track and monitor outages.

During production, if an issue arises, the development team has to quickly identify the source before it impacts the customer. Hence, they monitor logs, metrics, events, and distributed traces in a correlated manner.

That’s observability!

What is Observability?

The term ‘observability’ refers to the ability to assess the inner workings and state of a system by measuring its output. About a decade ago, troubleshooting distributed systems for developers meant just one thing – browsing error logs.

However, this approach doesn’t suffice for enterprise firms like large e-commerce companies. Plus, as the role of DevOps grew significantly, developer roles for programs after delivery evolved.

Yet, developers were monitoring their distributed systems using tedious instrumentation and monitoring tools. In response to this, X (previously Twitter) got the term ‘observability’ in the mainstream. They created an observability team to centralize and standardize the collection of telemetry data (system data like logs, traces, metrics, and events) across their services.

It offers observability data and enables developers and software engineers to go beyond traditional monitoring (using just the logs, metrics, and alerting). Thus, they can understand the “why” (not just the what) behind system behavior.

Observability = Visibility + Understanding

Why is Observability Key to Developers/DevOps?

Deployment frequency has skyrocketed with microservices coming into the picture. The constant changes make it tough to realistically expect development teams to predefine each and every possible failure mode in the given environment, be it the code or the infrastructure that supports it.

Observability data contributes to several aspects of the modern software development process. It gives them the flexibility they need to test their software systems in production, ask questions, and investigate issues.

Let’s see how observability is central to developers and DevOps teams.

Helps in the Early Detection of Issues

Observability offers real-time insights into the system’s behavior of applications and their performance. Developers and DevOps teams can collect, explore, alert, and correlate all telemetry data types, understand user behavior, and deliver a better experience. They can effortlessly spot issues and improve system reliability and availability.

Such insights allow them to address them before they negatively impact users, thereby increasing conversions and retention.

Allows Quick Troubleshooting

Since teams have ready access to events, logs, metrics, and traces, they can effortlessly pinpoint the root cause of the issue and resolve it quickly.

For instance, they get a view into the application performance and drill down to the reasons why an error spiked or why there was an application latency. Thus, observability reduces the mean time to resolution and downtime. This ultimately leads to improved user experience.

Fosters Improved Collaboration

Development teams and DevOps practices revolve around collaboration. Observability offers a common ground for data and insights where teams can work together to assess system performance and behavior.

This shared understanding and transparency fosters a culture of collaboration, cooperation, and joint problem-solving.

Improves New Release and Update Management

Through observability, developers can evaluate the exact impact of updates/ new releases on system performance and stability. They can make informed decisions and ensure smooth deployment by monitoring changes throughout.

Facilitates the Creation of Feedback Loops

Observability facilitates the creation of feedback loops which is one of the core principles of devOps. The process of continuous feedback drives improvements in code quality and system architecture.

Upholds Security Monitoring and Compliance

Observability allows quick detection of security threats, anomalies, and unauthorized activities on the system. This empowers developers to proactively respond to such threats, ensuring compliance with the industry regulations.

Role of Observability Tools

As mentioned earlier, observability is a framework for gathering, processing, analyzing, and visualizing telemetry data at infrastructure and application levels to spot issues.

To make a system visible in this sense, you need access to telemetry data from all system components.
This is possible through open-source and vendor-based observability providers. These monitoring tools often offer both Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability capabilities.

Similarly, APM platforms –

Help with backend monitoring and understanding complex digital system
Offer a view into the velocity rate of site errors which is useful during a launch

Usually, development teams choose a suitable tool based on their needs and the type of system they are maintaining. However, traditional APM or observability tools do not suffice for large businesses with a whole lot of microservices.

Unfortunately, APM and observability platforms fail to catch regressions, calculate error rates, and identify improperly written lines of code that impact user experiences on websites

Plus, they only point to the velocity rate of site errors during the launch phase.

However, your website or e-commerce store is anything but static. Hence, you also need a platform in your tech stack that detects errors and monitors performance on an ongoing basis and in real-time.
That’s where Noibu comes in! The Noibu platform:

Detects all technical errors across all browsers and devices
Captures session recordings
Offers full stack traces for your developers
Assigns a hard dollar value to each bug
Auto-prioritizes issues based on potential losses in revenue

Why You Need a Robust Error Monitoring Platform Like Noibu

Noibu’s auto-detection and prioritization software is being used by several leading e-commerce brands to eliminate tech debt, improve UX, boost developer confidence and satisfaction, and accelerate error resolution time.

It is an error and health monitoring platform designed specifically for e-commerce teams so they can be alerted in real time of any site error that occurs. The platform also provides the corresponding user session details and suggestions on how to resolve the error along with the exact line of code that needs fixing to completely eliminate the need for further investigation or replication of bugs. Noibu can run in parallel with APM and observability tools to optimize website health and performance by detecting and helping resolve revenue-impacting errors.

Why Add Noibu to Your Observability Tool Stack

Noibu empowers developers with answers they seek:

It detects JavaScript and HTML website errors in real-time
It offers AI-generated explanations of errors
It prioritizes errors based on revenue impact
It provides actionable insights into how to resolve errors without the need to replicate
It correlates errors to customer complaints and user sessions
It helps eliminate friction in user experiences by helping resolve site errors

Check out how Avon’s development team detected a critical checkout outage with Noibu. The issue affected 21% of their shoppers, negatively impacting their bottom line. Using Noibu for real-time monitoring and error detection helped them diagnose the root of the problem.

The result?

Significant savings
Improved customer experience
Increased sales
Developer satisfaction

Read more about how Noibu helped Avon improve their checkout experience here.

Summing Up

Observability coupled offers a proactive approach to troubleshooting and optimizing complex system performance. It offers a real-time and interconnected perspective on all observability data.

With proactive error detection and resolution, observability can go beyond traditional monitoring, allowing developers to understand what is wrong and why and put a dollar value to such errors.

Stay tuned as we keep exploring the evolving development landscape. Check out Noibu’s blog which offers practical insights on ways to spot and resolve errors that impact user experience.

Posted on April 1, 2024

Payment issues are arguably one of the most frustrating hindrances for online shoppers. Imagine spending a considerable amount of time navigating a website, browsing products, and adding them to your cart, only to realize that your payment didn’t go through. Not only does this often lead to cart abandonment, but it is also very hard to win the customer back after they have this experience on your site.

In this blog post, we troubleshoot a common Apple Pay error that occurs on SFCC platforms, how it impacts the user experience, and how you can troubleshoot it.

Introduction to the Salesforce Commerce Cloud Apple Pay Error

The Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) platform encounters a common issue within its Apple Pay integration code where any server errors that occur during the Apple Pay process are not processed properly on the client side. This can cause frustration or friction to customers, as they may encounter unexpected site behavior and unclear indications when their Apple Pay payment fails to go through.

This is currently a known issue in SFCC and is tracked here.

Why Does This Salesforce Commerce Cloud Apple Pay Error Occur?

The common error message that appears in Noibu is as follows:

**JS Error: Cant find variable: error**

It occurs in the file internal/jscript/applepay.js within the getRequest() function:

/**

* Retrieves Apple Pay request info from the server.

function getRequest() {

getJson(action.getRequest).then(function(response) {

request = Object.assign({}, response.request);

processDirectives();

processServerResponse(response);

}).catch(function(err) {

console.error(err);

**processServerResponse(error.response);**

});

}

As is immediately apparent, the error occurs when processServerResponse(error.response); is called. This is because the variable error doesn’t exist. In the function scope, the variable err is instead used to represent the error object.

Since error.response doesn’t exist, the processServerResponse function isn’t called properly to handle the error that is being thrown. Looking at the processServerResponse function shows the resulting outcome:

function processServerResponse(response) {

if (!response) {

return;

}

if (typeof response.redirect !== ‘undefined’) {

redirect = response.redirect;

}

dispatchEvent(response.event);

}

No server error response event means the dispatchEvent function isn’t called:

function dispatchEvent(event) {

if (!event || !event.name) {

return;

}

document.body.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent(event.name, {

bubbles: true,

detail: event.detail

}));

}

The document.body page node never receives the event and therefore won’t be able to carry out any server error handling logic (e.g. displaying an error message, refreshing the page, returning to the previous step, etc.)

Unfortunately, although the fix for this error is straightforward, it cannot be directly actioned as it is part of the built-in SFCC code. If you encounter this error, we recommend you add a report to the known bug page for this issue on the SFCC support site and/or contact SFCC support.

While there is no direct solution for this bug, At Noibu, we work with our customers to implement a workaround that prevents any further disruption in your site experience.

Noibu: A Trusted Error Monitoring Platform to Detect Third-Party Errors

No matter how spotless your code is, encountering third-party errors is inevitable. With the countless integrations and plugins on your site, you need a proactive error monitoring workflow that helps you detect these in real time so you can address them efficiently to prevent further damage to customer experience and your top line.

Noibu is an eCommerce error and health monitoring platform that not only flags all first-party and third-party errors on your site in real time but also pinpoints the exact line of code that needs fixing along with AI-generated English explanations of technical bugs.

With Noibu, you can be alerted of any third-party errors like the Apple Pay SFCC error as and when they occur so you can work with the particular team to resolve the issue and prevent any further negative impact that it may have on your customer journeys. With errors like the one we discussed in this blog, our team works closely with yours to suggest a workaround to avoid any disruption in your website while you work with the third party to implement the solution.

To understand how Noibu can transform your error detection and resolution workflow, sign up for a free checkout audit of your site to uncover revenue-impacting errors that could be existing in plain sight.

Posted on March 27, 2024

The internet is global, which means the e-commerce industry is too.

With so many cultures around the world, and with e-commerce being such a dynamic industry, there is a lot of variation in processes and strategy.

On the latest episode of The E-Commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives podcast, host Kailin Noivo is joined by Keynote Speaker Sharon Gai. Together, they explore how e-commerce differs across the World, drawing on Sharon’s experience working in China and the Western world, as well as how AI can be implemented to streamline processes and bridge cultures.

E-commerce Across the Globe

Sharon has worked in e-commerce in both China and the Western world, seeing first-hand the differences between how the industry operates in different cultures. Stark differences are apparent just by comparing Amazon with Tmall, a business-to-consumer online retail platform operated by Alibaba Group.

In e-commerce in the Western world, and particularly on Amazon, there is a focus on making processes as efficient as possible. The ideal situation is for customers to enter the app, find their product, checkout, and exit the app as quickly as possible. On Tmall, however, the goal is to keep customers within the app. They ideally want them to be browsing for longer and viewing more products. This means that there is often a far more complicated setup.

Another key difference is how products are presented. Amazon doesn’t really care about brands, it is far more product and SKU-based. This means that companies need to optimize their listings for searches, using keywords in product descriptions and names so they appear first in the search results. Tmall is brand-based. This means that companies need to focus more on their brand story, and this is often done by working with live-streamers to share the story behind a product or brand, thereby cultivating knowledge and conversations about it.

Implementing AI Capabilities

AI is evolving constantly. Every day, there is a new announcement of a new capability that will make our lives easier. It can be hard to keep up with what’s already out there, but you can always look at what other companies are already doing.

Whilst working with Alibaba in China, Sharon saw AI being implemented in multiple ways to streamline processes to make them as efficient as possible. There was a distinct focus on coordination, so if a process ever appeared to be repetitive, AI was implemented, allowing staff to focus on more valuable tasks.

For example, apps like DingTalk are used for communicating both internally with staff and externally with vendors and merchants. With so many people involved, group chats could become overrun with repetitive questions that have been asked hundreds of times. Upon seeing this, the company developed an AI chatbot that was specifically designed to answer these questions from a bank of FAQs.

Sharon also sees AI as being instrumental in connecting cultures. Today, we are already seeing AI models that will automatically translate conversations into new languages, allowing for more people across the globe to engage with content relevant to them. These models can even reflect tone of voice changes, meaning that meaning is conveyed incredibly efficiently, without the need for human translators.

However, it is important to note that most AI tools are not yet up to scratch. While Sharon is hopeful that AI will accelerate the pace of internationalization and bring more cultures together, we still have a long way to go until it is perfect.

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The E-Commerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with Sharon Gai to learn more about global e-commerce trends.

👉 Apple: https://apple.co/4asyhzC

👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4cB5x9Y

Sharon Gai is a well-respected keynote speaker who delivers presentations on e-commerce, AI, digital marketing, and China tech. Over her career, she has spoken to over 100,000 professionals in five continents on the topics. She also is the Founder of Culture Fluid, a company committed to teaching individuals and organizations how to develop a mindset that enables them to traverse between cultures. Sharon is also the author of Ecommerce Reimagined, a practical guide to Chinese e-commerce markets.

Posted on March 26, 2024

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, the impact of website errors extends far beyond inconvenience. Besides leaving a lasting negative effect on customer trust and brand reputation, errors and bugs cause heavy financial losses for online stores.

Layout bugs, flawed interactive features, page errors, broken images and links, malfunctioning buttons, poor site maintenance, and other bugs ruin user experience, causing shoppers to abandon their purchase. The real cost of such glitches, bugs, and system downtime impacts the top line, especially for large brands with high website traffic.

This blog aims to share the impact of such undetected and unresolved website issues on e-commerce revenue.

The Real Cost of Website Errors

Bugs hide in the corners of a website, causing frustration for shoppers that leads to them abandoning their carts. A buggy website poses several threats to the eCommerce business, including turning potential customers away.

Let’s look at the cost eCommerce businesses pay for ignoring such bugs and errors and not investing in website maintenance.

Revenue loss

This is the most obvious impact of downtime due to an error or bug. If shoppers cannot access the store or aren’t able to complete their purchases, they will abandon their carts and leave the online store, directly impacting revenue.

Here are a few facts that will help you realize the impact of such issues on revenue.

The cost of poor software code quality in the US has grown to at least $2.41 trillion, 233.3% more than the country’s national deficit.

Poor software quality stems from poorly written code, issues within the complex software supply chain, and the growing burden of Technical Debt (TD), which is currently $1.52 trillion, up from $1.31 trillion in 2021.
The opportunity cost of fixing bugs over building new features is a complex trade-off involving direct and indirect costs, including developer time, salary expenses, potential revenue growth, customer retention, and the overall quality of the product.

According to IBM, fixing a bug during implementation is 6X more expensive than fixing a bug in the design phase and up to 15X more expensive in the testing phase.

Data Source

Reduced developer productivity

If your website is buggy, your development team is likely to be bombarded with customer complaints or error alerts from the leadership, which they end up spending hours trying to investigate and fix. They could be spending this time on more strategic tasks such as launching new features, but are instead caught up in an endless loop of debugging.

Let’s look at some research on how these bugs add up to negatively impact your development team’s productivity:

Undo’s research states that 26% of developer time is spent reproducing and fixing failing tests, adding that the total estimated value of salary spent on this work costs businesses $61 billion annually.
41% of developers agree that bug reproduction is the biggest barrier to finding and fixing bugs faster.
56% of developers agree that they could release software faster if reproduction wasn’t an issue.
Code issues that slip through the cracks in the guise of meeting deadlines can take ten days to address post-release instead of just seconds while coding in the Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Developers waste, on average, 23% of their time due to Technical Debt (TD), and they’re frequently forced to accept new debt in the name of delivery.
TD refers to the cost of rework in software development, website maintenance, and accumulated deficiencies that need attention but are very expensive and time-consuming to mend.
A Rollbar study reports that more than one-third of developers spend 25% of their time fixing bugs. With the average salary for a Software Engineer in the US hovering around $120,000, that’s about $30,000/year per developer spent on fixing website errors and website maintenance costs.

If these numbers are anything to go by, they clearly indicate that website bugs are the huge cause of reduced developer productivity – something that if not addressed efficiently, can hurt the team’s overall output.

Loss of potential customers

Research shows that after just one bad experience 32% of customers will never return to the store. Thus, your lost revenue is additionally compounded by a loss in recurring customers.

Let’s look at how poor experience due to website errors impacts loyal and new customers.

Software and website errors affect the immediate customer experience. According to Kissmetrics, 79% of customers are less likely to purchase from a site again if they experience performance issues.
In fact, more than a fourth (26%) of developers said that their employers had lost many users due to software errors.
Global App Testing reveals that nearly half of users (48%) are less likely to engage with an app again following an unsatisfactory first experience. Moreover, 88% of Americans perceive brands associated with poorly performing apps negatively.
The direct costs of system crashes or downtime are significant, including immediate lost revenue.
Businesses can lose tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars if issues are not addressed promptly. This financial strain underscores the importance of maintaining reliable services, especially considering it costs 4X-5X more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones.

Loss of investor trust and brand reputation

It goes without saying that a buggy website is going to negatively impact the brand’s reputation and image, which in turns impacts business’ top line as well as profitability in the long run.

Bad code negatively affects public image – 66% of businesses suffered reputational damages due to IT system failures. This broad category can include everything from a cyber attack to someone accidentally pulling the plug on a server.
When a business announces a software failure, it loses an average of $2.3 billion of shareholder value on just the first day.
In Rollbar Research, 26% of developers agree that software errors harm their company’s reputation and capacity to attract investments, while 18% mention that undetected software issues frustrate current investors.

E-commerce Behemoths That Learnt It the Hard Way

Website bugs hugely impact the user experience of mega e-commerce brands, resulting in frustrated customers and lost sales. Let’s look at how such issues impacted these brands.

Amazon

Though Amazon is probably the most successful and popular online retailer, it’s not immune to low website maintenance and bugs. A quick Google search will show you a trail of customer complaints about these bugs – items disappearing from shopping carts, incorrect pricing, issues with the layout, and more.

In 2018, Amazon’s Prime Day faced a costly website hiccup, resulting in an estimated $72.4 to $99 million in lost sales. Shortly after the sale kicked off, shoppers complained that they were unable to complete their purchases. This was due to technical issues and bugs that didn’t allow them to check out. The website glitches and downtime experienced by shoppers during its annual Prime Day sale cost them unhappy customers.

A few frustrated customers who were unable to complete purchases threatened to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions.

eBay

eBay has over 135 million users worldwide, making it one of the most visited marketplaces worldwide. Yet, the website has been a haven for several bugs.

eBay shoppers faced major issues with checking out. The website had a bug that prevented customers from checking out. This was frustrating as customers couldn’t complete their purchase, impacting the store’s sales.

The eCommerce store took quick steps to improve website maintenance however they did experience a backlash from customers.

Proactive Error Detection and Resolution with Noibu

Completely avoiding e-commerce website errors is next to impossible. However, failing to proactively detect and efficiently resolve them can hurt your business’ top line in more ways than one.

Noibu is a robust error detection and resolution platform that proactively alerts your development team of any error on the website in real time while also providing all the technical details they need to quickly resolve the error.

Since over 90% of site or software errors are not reported by customers, you might not even know they exist. Noibu monitors your system and tracks browser info, last steps, and HTTP details and tells you about errors as they happen, making sure you don’t miss anything.

This ensures that they don’t have to spend hours trying to investigate and replicate issues and can simply implement the fixes based on the recommendations of the platform. What’s more, you can also correlate incoming customer complaints to actual user sessions to efficiently find the root cause of the error and resolve it.

That’s not all.

Noibu tells you which errors are the most important and should be fixed immediately based on the impact that they have on the revenue. More importantly, it assigns a dollar value to each error or bug, letting you know how much it could hurt your annual revenue if left unaddressed.

The Way Ahead: Detect Errors Proactively and Mitigate Their Negative Impact with Noibu

The journey through the complicated landscape of website errors and their impact reveals a clear message – vigilance, continuous improvement, and proactive measures are non-negotiable in e-commerce.

The cost implications of e-commerce website errors and other software mishaps underscore the importance of robust quality assurance processes, timely detection, and efficient problem-solving strategies. Businesses that prioritize these aspects can safeguard their revenue and reputation and foster a culture of excellence and reliability.

Noibu helps uncover and resolve bugs before they negatively impact your business’ top line. To find out more about its features, sign up for a demo today.

Posted on March 25, 2024

For most eCommerce businesses, sales and marketing focus on driving the customer to the shopping cart and pushing a warm lead into a sale. Once you have a steady stream of conversions though, the emphasis should shift to increasing the value of each order placed.

Average order value (AOV) is a metric that tracks the average amount a customer spends each time they place an order through your web store. You can track that data across all customer life cycles and as part of customer lifetime value. By learning your AOV, you can determine how much you can afford to spend to entice that customer for repeat purchases.

Increasing AOV is often about honing your marketing and finding a balance between shipping and advertising to incentivize higher order values without increasing costs for you or the buyer. This article will show you how fulfillment influences marketing and how you can leverage it to improve your AOV.

6 Fulfillment Hacks for a Higher AOV

Average order value is driven by marketing around products during checkout. You can promote bundles, relevant add-ons, ease of returns, and the cost of shipping to encourage customers to add to their shopping carts. Order fulfillment also plays a large role in your total expenses.

For example, if you can save money by shipping products together because they’re in the same warehouse, you may be able to offer a discount to the customer. On the other hand, if your products aren’t in the same warehouse, that might not be beneficial to your profit margins. In addition, balancing free shipping with the cost of customer conversion helps determine when you’re able to offer fast, free shipping across your sales channels.

In any case, logistics directly impact cost per order, the feasibility of selling bundles and offering discounts, and other sales tactics. To capitalize on that influence, we’ve outlined a few strategies that enable your fulfillment to contribute to a higher AOV for your business.

Set a Free Shipping Threshold

A free shipping threshold serves two purposes: It entices shoppers to purchase by giving them something for free, and; and it raises the order’s worth by establishing a minimum for customers to reach to save on shipping fees. Offering free shipping options is also crucial to keep buyers happy, as 77% of Amazon shoppers report that having free or fast shipping options will make or break their purchasing decision. In fact, the Shippo State of Shipping Survey suggests that up to 93% of customers have added products to their shopping cart simply to qualify for free shipping.

To determine a free shipping threshold that’ll attract shoppers without eroding your profits:

Know your shipping costs per product across every marketplace where you sell
Know your net profit margins (earnings per product after costs for sales, etc.)
Know your AOV

From there, you can calculate your average shipping costs per order with the gross profit margin per order to determine how much you need to sell to make free shipping profitable (or at least break even).

If your average order costs $9 to ship, including packaging, and you have a net profit margin of 8.5%, you can calculate your break-even at $86 and profit at $100. So, you’d want to set your free shipping threshold there.

However, if your average order value is something like $30, you’re unlikely to incentivize people to add on that many more products to hit your shipping threshold. In that case, you’d be better off offering transparent, flat-rate shipping instead.

Sell Bundles and Kits

The longer you’re in business, the more data you collect on what customers often buy together. That information allows you to create relevant bundles that are attractive to shoppers. Additionally, if you ship through FBA or another 3PL, those services will pack and ship your bundles according to your specifications, thus saving you time and money.

Bundling items together also enables you to adjust your free shipping threshold for those products. In turn, you can sell these sets at a slightly lower price than if customers bought them separately, which serves as an enticing incentive for shoppers to buy more at once.

Allow Customers to Build Their Own Bundles

Another simple way to increase order size is by allowing customers to build their own bundles and kits. You can use incentives like bundle discounts and free shipping thresholds to encourage larger orders. Although these won’t have the same profit margin as a pre-packaged bundle, it opens the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell additional products, accessories, or add-ons; this gives buyers everything they need to have a memorable experience with your offering and combines total shipping and handling costs into one.

Craft a Flexible Returns Policy

One of the barriers to making larger purchases is the return policy. First-time buyers especially don’t know if your products will meet their expectations or needs and so may balk at a higher order value. However, you can ease their hesitation by making returns simple (and free, if your margins allow). For instance, pack your products with a return slip for a simple and effortless process. This removes shoppers’ stress about committing to a new purchase knowing they can easily return it if it’s not what they expected.

Leverage Fast Shipping for Bestselling Products

Fast shipping is now the norm, but it can easily become expensive. You don’t want your entire inventory in a fulfillment program because it’ll cost you more than fulfilling from your own warehouse. Instead, you can optimize by shifting your fastest-moving products into FBA or a similar program. That allows you to incentivize sales by offering quick delivery for products that are most likely to sell, which also reduces much of the burden on your internal fulfillment infrastructure.

Offer Discounts on Subscriptions

You also have the opportunity to drive future sales in the package itself through simple discounts and coupons. For instance, a bundle of refills, filters, etc., taster kits, or “try the rest of our product” add-ons can entice shoppers to increase their cart values. Consumables and accessories are easy targets for this strategy. For example:

A year’s worth of filters for your vacuum at X% discount
Switch to a subscription to receive monthly products and a discount
Buy shampoo refills with all the options in a sample set at X% off

If you sell bundled accessories, you’ll shave off expenses for individually picking, packing, and delivering these products. Those cost savings can be as basic as using one box instead of two or as significant as a lower cost of:

Sponsored product clicks
Individual item pick and pack
Shipping a single product

The smaller individual items and accessories are, the more profitable it is to pack them with other products. Although the impact on their shipping expenses is generally minimal, you’re able to skip the cost of packaging and delivering individual products. Offering discounts to incentivize purchasing them together increases your AOV as well as your profit margins for those products.

Conclusion

Your shipping and fulfillment strategy should support your marketing, so you need to align your product bundling and free shipping strategies with your promotional efforts. That could mean shifting fast-moving products into FBA or competing programs; packaging and prepping products for bundles; or reviewing the physical location of stored products for more efficient shipment. Once you incorporate the tips discussed in this article, you’ll see reductions in costs while discovering opportunities to incentivize larger shopping carts and AOV.

This is a guest blog post by Tom Wicky – an entrepreneur, startup advisor, and management consultant with over 20 years of senior management experience. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of MyFBAPrep, the largest worldwide 3PL eCommerce warehouse network.

Posted on March 21, 2024

Pair programming has been around since the early software development days. The agile software development technique has proven to be effective in improving code quality, developer productivity, and team camaraderie.

Yet, the topic of pair programming has had developers vouching for it and some against it.

Two developers pairing on a programming task (pair programming) is usually seen as a wasteful endeavor compared to solo programming. However, several teams argue that it boosts code quality with fewer bugs, development speed, shared learning, and developer productivity.

So, do the benefits of pair programming outweigh its costs? This post aims to share interesting insights on pair programming and how it can help development teams.

What Is Pair Programming?

In pair programming, two developers work together on a common task, where one writes the code (driver), and the other reviews and offers feedback (navigator). The same method is used when in remote pair programming work where developers are in different locations.

Driver – the person at the keyboard, focusing on the mechanics of the device used and entering the code

Navigator – the person who observes, thinks, and keeps an eye on the bigger picture. They also check for code accuracy.

Here’s a glance into their responsibilities:

In pair programming, the two developers constantly communicate with each other and often shift roles verbalize their thoughts, and tackle challenges as a team. This keeps them engaged and allows them to work collaboratively to accomplish the task they started.

There could be several pair programming styles:

Ping Pong: In this, the two programmers involved work in conjunction with Test-Driven Development. One developer writes the test and the other makes the test pass. Each member alternates between writing tests and passing tests. Since the two programmers are taking turns to build the code, this pattern is quite effective.

Driver-Navigator: This pair programming style works like two people driving a vehicle – with one developer driving (writing the code) while the other navigates. During the pair programming session, they can switch their roles every 15 minutes or so.

Unstructured Pairing: This method is different from other pair programming styles. In this type of pairing, no specific approach is followed. It’s a free-flowing approach where turn-taking between the driver and navigator happens as and when they feel comfortable. This pairing style lacks structure.

Benefits of Pair Programming

Improved Developer Efficiency

It is often thought that pairing two developers for a common task slows down the process or leads to errors.
The best example is probably of how NASA engineers saw productivity gains through pairing. The pair pressure effect led to intense productive discussions and code reviews.

It has been proven that pair programming helps achieve a predictable and sustainable development throughput – the number of features, tasks or chores, and bugs completed within a period that is ready to ship or ready to test.

Source

Lastly, pair programming reduces downtime – if one developer is stuck the other immediately takes over, getting projects done on time.

Improved Code Quality

With pair programming, issues in code and potential bugs are spotted early. The pair programmers discuss, evaluate, and consider the tradeoffs before settling on an approach. The navigator is always on the lookout for errors while the driver is working on the task at hand. This hugely prevents bugs that otherwise get ignored for hours or days. Thus, partners in pair programming can spot bugs quickly, thus creating clean, functional, and optimized code.

Improved Collaboration

Pair programming allows developers to work on the same code base while sharing their knowledge and skills. This leads to improved problem-solving, enabling them to develop the best solution and avoid misunderstandings.

Thus, through pair programming, knowledge sharing and context building are built into the everyday workflow. Developers do not need to make extra effort for sharing knowledge or mentoring the new coder which otherwise is done through extra meetings and code reviews. The result:

Shared experience across the team
Quick learning for junior developers
Improved team knowledge
Better understanding of the task
Improved developer confidence and happiness

Collective Code Ownership

Since both developers are involved in the same programming task, they have equal rights and responsibilities over the code. Pair programming upholds collective code ownership that:

Gives them the freedom to make changes to the codebase because they don’t need approval from anyone.
Tackles the ‘not-my-problem’ syndrome that is common with traditional programming practices. Improves code quality as each developer strives to keep their part of the code clean and well-designed.
Makes developers feel more invested in the project because they have a stake in it – the code they have entered and helped in building as a navigator.

Cons of Pair Programming

Conflictual Moments

What happens if the navigator doesn’t like the code written by the driver? What if the driver doesn’t agree with the navigator’s suggestions or analysis? Issues have multiple solutions. If the pair doesn’t agree on one, there could be a conflict, resulting in them splitting.

Complexities

It is generally believed that tasks done by a single person are simpler than assigning them to two people. The situation gets further complicated when the partners are varying skill levels. More often than not, the skill gap can lead to issues in the workflow, complicating matters.

Farhan Thawar (VP of Engineering at Shopify) Shares His Experience with Pair Programming

Farhan is the VP of Engineering at Shopify. He’s been a strong advocate for pair programming and shares insights on why pair programming makes complete sense for developers.

Here are the pair programming use cases he shared in an interview with Supermanagers Podcast.

The first project he and his team worked on was Shopify Capital. The developers using Spark and Python leveraged pair programming to build ETL tools (extract, transform, and load) and manage frauds in eCommerce.

Farhan has paired with several developers of different skill sets and experience. He believes pairing is a high-fidelity method to work on programming tasks and engage in the problem-solving process. It improves code quality, reduces defects, and increases productivity. Though many believe that pair programming slows down development, he shares that its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks.

Practical Recommendations to Make Pair Programming Work

Here are a few best practices we recommend to make pair programming work for your development team.

Position it as an Investment in Quality and Learning

If you need to convince your team of the benefits of pair programming, focus on its role in improving quality and developer learning. Good developers are hard to come by. Hence, pairing a beginner with an intermediate or expert developer can boost learning and skills for the entire team.

Encourage Pairing for Complex Tasks

Pair programming is most advantageous for complex projects where junior developers struggle due to lack of experience. In such cases, experienced developers can use their judgment and experience to help beginners write good code on their own. A daily Scrum can help teams determine complex projects and pair the most suitable developers for the task.

Avoid Huge Experience Gap

Though it is ideal to pair developers with varying skill sets, make sure the experience gap isn’t too large. For the junior developer, the learning curve would be enormous in terms of writing and reviewing the code, product insights, and other technical aspects. However, working with a slower partner could be frustrating for the senior developer. Another angle to this is having developers with violently different views on developing software. This can make it tough for them to agree on a solution, thus delaying the project delivery.

Focus on the Prevention of Code Smells and Errors

Though code smells produce an output they aren’t good for your code. They slow down the processing, increase the risk of errors, and make the application vulnerable to bugs. Thus, smelly code leads to poor code quality and increases technical debt.

Since code smells like Blob Class, Complex Class, Spaghetti Code, and others take time to change and are tough to understand, pair programming works best to manage them.

Weekly tech talks between developers can help them explore these and agree on a shared definition. They can also agree on whether or how much of a priority it is to prevent a particular smell.

During pair programming developers critically review each other’s code, thus helping them recognize the smells early and avoid them in future work.

Measure the Value Pair Programmers Bring to the Table

It is critical to measure the effectiveness of pair programming. Here are a few areas that can help:

Development time – How much time is being spent on development resources – paired versus solo programming?

Developer satisfaction – This can be measured using employee satisfaction metrics like employee net promoter score, employee turnover rate, absenteeism rate, and others.This can be easily achieved through employee satisfaction surveys and engagement metric trackers like Zavvy, CultureMonkey, and Sogolytics. Time to resolution – How many bugs have the team spotted and resolved? How much time did it take?

Even with pair programming in action, you cannot completely avoid JavaScript and HTML errors from surfacing on your eCommerce website. Therefore, you need an automated mechanism to proactively detect these errors and flag them to your development team in real-time.

Noibu is an eCommerce error monitoring platform that detects all website errors and alerts your team in real-time, while also providing actionable solutions for resolving them efficiently without having to replicate them. It helps boost your development team’s productivity by reducing the time to resolution as they no longer need to spend hours trying to find the root cause of errors. Noibu does all that for you and provides you with the exact line of code that needs fixing in order to resolve the issue.

Take Home

If you look at past research, a lot of it points to how pair programming takes slightly more developer hours than solo programming. However, the investment is worth it when you consider the quality, learning, and enjoyment it brings along. All these eventually boost developer productivity.

Hence, as we conclude, we would like to stress two points –

Be open to adopting pair programming to improve your developer productivity and code quality. Test it on a small scale and constantly ask your team about their opinion.
Measure your pair programming efforts to see if they add value. This will help you to improve development time, bugs/errors spotting and fixing time, user experience, and overall developer satisfaction.

Follow Noibu’s blog for detailed information on such topics.

Posted on March 20, 2024

Have you ever wondered if you are using your data and analytics to the full potential?

After all, leveraging the right insights can completely change your conversion rates, and you could be missing out on some key business.

On the latest episode of The eCommerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives podcast, host Kailin Noivo is joined by Mathew Vermilyer, Senior Director of eCommerce Analytics and Optimization at the At Home Group. Together, they dig into data-driven decision making, including how to avoid analysis paralysis and how it can be used to increase conversion rates.

Blending Qualitative and Quantitative Insights

Data is central to At Home Group’s culture. They frequently analyze both qualitative and quantitative data, including heat map analysis, session replay analysis, click data, and web funnel data, to find friction points in their customer’s experience, constantly making changes and repeating the analysis.

Often, qualitative and quantitative data tell completely different stories. After all, when you speak to customers, you can gain insights that are simply unavailable from analytics software, due to the wider contextual clues they discuss that influence their opinions and activity.

By relying on just one half of the data, you will miss friction points, there’s no two ways about it. These points could completely change your conversion rates. This is why At Home Group always uses both sets of data. That way they can get the full picture and then propose appropriate solutions that can then be trialed, tested, and implemented.

If there’s one thing we can learn from At Home Group, it’s that blending the two types of data is crucial for improving conversion rates.

Avoiding Analysis Paralysis When Making Data-Driven Decisions

Any regular analysis of data holds one big risk: analysis paralysis. This is where you get stuck in a loop of analyzing, falling into deep holes and never being able to make any decisions from your data.

To avoid this, you need to strike a balance between being data-driven and knowing when to step back.

To Mathew, this is the responsibility of leaders. They need to be decisive with their data and their approach. It is down to them to tell the rest of them when it’s time to step back, evaluate the current situation, and make the right decision.

Upcoming Trends in eCommerce

Recently, there has been an increase in anomaly detection in analytics software such as Adobe Analytics. In fact, this is driving a lot of At Home Group’s current analysis. They dig into the anomalies flagged by the software and look at what the effects are and how they can resolve them.

To Mathew, the next step is for analytics software to cut out this second step, instead proposing a list of potential resolutions when anomalies are flagged. This will streamline the process for businesses, allowing them to just test the solutions and put them in place.

This is just one-way automation and AI will help in data-driven decisions.

Listen to the Full Episode Below!

Tune in to this episode of The eCommerce Toolbox: Expert Perspectives with Mathew Vermilyer to learn more about making data-driven decisions..

👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3IILoAU

👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3TstQhu

Mathew Vermilyer is the Senior Director of eCommerce Analytics at At Home Group, a home and holiday superstore. Prior to this, he held a number of roles at PeakActivity, Office Depot, and OfficeMax, all of which helped to build him into the data and analytics leader he is today.

Posted on March 18, 2024

JavaScript Fetch errors are hard to avoid but are often ignored. They are caused when the fetch method fails and may have multiple reasons. In this blog, we will break down what these errors are, why they occur, and how you can potentially investigate and fix them.

Introduction to JavaScript Fetch Errors

Fetch errors are a type of error commonly seen in code related to making network requests. It occurs when JavaScript code calls the Fetch Method to make an HTTP request to a remote URL, and the fetch method fails.
These errors are often dismissed as unfixable or outside the control of site developers, but this may not always be the case, and the error deserves further investigation. This article explains this error in-depth, including its potential causes and solutions.

JavaScript Fetch Error Signatures

Due to slight differences in error signatures between browsers, Noibu detects three different types of fetch errors.

JS Error: Load failed on url {URL}

JS Error: Failed to fetch on url {URL}

JS Error: Type error on url {URL}

These errors are all triggered by the same failure of the fetch method and have the same potential causes. Therefore, all variations should be investigated in the same way.

Fetch Use Cases

The fetch method is a way to make HTTP web requests to remote URLs within JavaScript code. We’ve seen fetch requests used for a wide variety of purposes on eCommerce websites, including:

Analytics
Customer Experience (Recommendations, Loyalty Programs, Live Chat)
Error Reporting
Product Data
Social Media Integrations
Payment Integrations
Reviews

Regardless of purpose, these fetch requests can be grouped into two main categories of request types: first-party fetch requests and third-party fetch requests.

First-Party Fetch Requests

First-party refers to any fetch requests made by a site within its own domain. This usually involves the front end of the site requesting or updating core site data, such as product information and customer information, from the back end.

Example: The user clicks to view all desks on a furniture website and the site needs to load the product details for all of the company’s desks.

Third-Party Fetch Requests

This covers all requests made by a site to remote domains and includes most of the common use cases listed above. Almost all third-party integrations on a site need to interact with their own remote APIs to function as expected. In addition, sites themselves may also make remote requests if they have native functionality that relies on third-party APIs.

Example: The user clicks to view a specific desk and the product page opens up. On this product page, there is a third-party integration showing recommendations of similar desks, and a different integration shows several alternative payment options available for the desk.

Potential Impact of JavaScript Fetch Errors

The impact of a fetch error depends on the purpose of the fetch request. As we’ve seen, fetch requests are used in a variety of contexts, so it is essential to understand what is being requested or updated, and what impact this fetch failure would have on the site and to the user.

Causes of JavaScript Fetch Errors

Fetch errors are NOT caused by HTTP errors.

As MDN’s Fetch API Reference explains, the fetch method will not fail if it receives an HTTP error response–HTTP-404, HTTP-500, etc. The response will have its ok property set to false but will not cause the fetch request to fail.

Fetch failures occur when a communication issue between the client and server occurs and disrupts the standard send-receive HTTP process. This issue can have several causes:

Cause 1: User Network Issues

The most straightforward culprit is the user’s internet connection, and this is what most developers consider first when diagnosing a fetch error. However, we caution against this assumption.

While network issues are the most likely cause, ask yourself the following questions and use Noibu to investigate:

How often is the error occurring?

Check the error occurrence numbers. If the same fetch error occurs hundreds or thousands of times a day with consistency, there may be more at play than the user’s internet connection.

What/where/when/to whom is this error happening most often? Is there a pattern?

If the error is based on random user network issues alone, we would expect to see a random spread of occurrences in operating systems and browsers, and a variety of user circumstances that align with the average visitor demographics.

If this issue is only occurring in specific cases to a specific type of user, a coincidence seems unlikely.

Example: If the typical breakdown of visitors to your site is 60% Chrome, it would be strange for 90%+ instances of a fetch error to occur on the Safari browser.

Are there other symptoms of a faulty internet that support this theory?

In Noibu, you can access recorded videos and session data of all user sessions on this site. By examining sessions related to a fetch error, you can look for key pieces of evidence that point to a problematic internet connection:

A: ALL HTTP calls recorded in the sessions have high latency (500-1000ms+). B: Noibu has automatically tagged the session with the Slow Session insight tag. C: Multiple other fetch errors occur in the same sessions.

Cause 2: Fetch Unexpectedly Cancelled

Another cause of fetch errors is when the fetch call is initiated but the connection is unexpectedly closed before a response was received. This can be caused by:

User interaction:

If the user navigates away from a page or otherwise interacts with the site in such a way that cancels the fetch result, an error may occur. In this case, there may not be anything you can do to resolve the error. However, if the error is occurring frequently, it is worth investigating further to validate its cause.

Timeout:

By default, the fetch function has a timeout based on the browser’s default timeout. For certain browsers, such as Chrome, this can be as long as 300 seconds. However, if the code calling the fetch function has a shorter connection timeout and does not close the connection gracefully, a fetch error may occur. This is something to be cautious about, especially for third-party integration code, as the fetch requests may be artificially limited with an unexpected timeout.

Automatic page refresh/redirect:

If the site contains logic or code that causes a page to reload or the user to be redirected while one or more fetch requests are in progress, fetch errors will occur. In this case, the error is a symptom of potentially faulty or inefficient logic on the site.

Cause 3: Fetch Target Issues

In widespread fetch error situations, it can be worth further investigating the target of the fetch requests. Below are a few potential causes that can result in a fetch error:

Server Unavailable:

The fetch target server could be experiencing issues preventing a connection from being established. The server may be offline or otherwise unavailable, and therefore unable to establish a connection.

Server Security Policies:

There could be security policies preventing the server from accepting the request. For example, as outlined in this StackOverflow Discussion, if the server returns inaccurate CORS response headers, the fetch request fails with an error even though the server received and responded to the request.

DNS Lookup failure:

This is an unlikely scenario. However, it’s possible that the DNS lookup on the fetch target URL failed, which prevented it from connecting to a remote server.

Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to directly investigate fetch errors involving third-party domains. Instead, submit a request to the third-party support team to investigate the issue.

How to Investigate JavaScript Fetch Errors

Fetch Origin Code

A good starting point is to locate the line(s) of code that triggered the fetch request. On many eCommerce sites, this origin is often code within a third-party integration that functions through interactions with the third party’s own remote APIs.

Understanding how, when, and why this code calls the fetch request can provide helpful insights that can assist in your investigation.

Remote Fetch URL

Another key area to investigate is the fetch request’s target URL. This often tells you how the fetch request was being used and what effect its failure would have. If the fetch failure is on the server side, you may even discover that this remote URL is inaccessible, thus uncovering the source of the fetch error.

Detect and Resolve JavaScript Fetch Errors Efficiently with Noibu

Noibu is an eCommerce error and health monitoring platform that proactively detects all HTML and JavaScript errors on your site and flags them in real-time. From Fetch errors to Illegal Invocation to Apple Pay checkout errors, Noibu alerts your team of each and every bug causing friction in your customer experiences and potentially impacting cart abandonment.

Along with real-time alerts, Noibu provides you with all the technical details you need to efficiently resolve errors without having to spend hours replicating them. From the exact user session to the exact line of code that needs fixing, Noibu equips you with all the information you require to resolve errors in record time and boost your team’s efficiency.

To experience how Noibu could potentially work for your business and help you eliminate revenue-impacting bugs, sign up for a free checkout audit of your site to uncover all errors that could be lurking behind your digital storefront.

Posted on March 14, 2024

In supply chain businesses, inventory management efficacy is one of the major components that play a critical role in success (or failure! *gasp*).

Before automation was used, decisions were often based on assumptions, and manual processes were fraught with errors and lack of real-time insights was a major source of inefficiency (imagine doing guesswork on a daily basis).

Enter the power of AI, a force that has changed the typical ways of business. And if you’re the type who fears AI taking over, fear not, because it’s been here for a while (and it’s here to stay), but only to serve our businesses for the better. The global conversational AI market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 22% during 2020-2025, reaching almost $14B by 2025.

We’ll explore how AI automation is revolutionizing (and optimizing!) inventory management within supply chains and how you can use it too. With the use of dynamic data analysis, streamlined communication, and minimization of human error, conversational AI is poised as an ideal solution to age-long problems.

The Role of Inventory Management in Supply Chains

Definition of inventory management

There are two main components of inventory management that every business needs for their supply chain: organizing and controlling their goods and materials starting from small-scale, going into their global supply chains. The process involves looking after the entire inventory procurement, storage, and distribution.

Importance of efficient inventory management in supply chains

Apart from supply chain visibility and real-time data monitoring, businesses try to maintain optimal levels of supply to meet demand but at the same time keep the cost to the minimum, and avoid supply chain disruptions. Effective inventory management creates resilient supply chains, affects how products reach customers, and ultimately, affects the company’s profits.

Traditional challenges in inventory management

Traditional inventory management is not a problem-free process for both supply chain managers and company owners. Here are some of the usual supply chain and operations problems:

Inaccurate demand forecasting
Manual data entry errors
Limited visibility
Inefficient replenishment processes
Poor communication with supplier

Understanding Conversational AI

Principles of conversational AI

To solve the common issues many companies have with their supply chain management, conversational AI comes in to help with logistics operations. It is one of many AI technologies, and one its main use cases is it replicates human conversations by using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms.

Its principles revolve around understanding and producing language in human form, interpreting user intent, and giving appropriate and contextually relevant information or actions. Through NLP tools, conversational AI systems can understand spoken or written natural input which results in smooth interactions between humans and technology (seems crazy, I know, but this is the future).

Applications of conversational AI in various industries

Conversational AI can be utilized in almost all domains ranging from customer service to healthcare, finance, and retail to name a few.

Applying AI to supply chain and warehouse management, you could track your inventory levels and meet customer demands in time. Smart supply chains that utilize AI have taken advantage of predictive analytics to realize more efficient utilization of resources, more consistent cash flow, and better overall operations.

So many businesses have also maximized their e-commerce businesses with chatbots and virtual assistants enhancing user experiences in customer service.

How conversational AI works in inventory management and its benefits

Conversational AI tools provide integration with existing logistics and supply chain systems to streamline processes and improve decision-making. Employing AI can work in end-to-end supply chain processes in many ways:

Data Collection and Analysis: AI systems track real-time inventory levels, record product movements, detect discrepancies, and send up alerts for low stock or overstock situations. AI also gathers and analyzes this data in order to pinpoint patterns, trends, and potential problems.

Forecasting and Demand Planning: With the use of AI, generative AI algorithms, and predictive AI, finding historical data becomes easier. Based on past data, AI can also predict customer behavior, helping companies determine future demand.

Supplier Communication: Like with customers, AI-based chatbots can also interact with suppliers up to the placing of orders, tracking orders, and handling queries. AI can then help supplier relationship management as it can also help renegotiate terms, adjust delivery schedules and replenish inventory correctly.

Customer Satisfaction: AI-powered chatbots can further engage with customers to provide instant updates on product availability, order status, and delivery schedules, improving overall customer satisfaction. A lot of companies who have used supply chain planning with the help of AI to optimize have benefited and created interactive shopping experiences.

Workflow Automation: With supply chain tasks, many companies can use AI to analyze and support supply-chain management with stock recounting, issuance of purchase orders as well as inventory auditing, which assists your entire supply chain in terms of risk management.

Integration with Other Systems: Other cloud-based AI easily blend with various inventory management systems such as ERP (or Enterprise Resource Planning) and eCommerce platforms. It grants data uniformity and an information stream which helps moving between departments within the organization.

Scalability and Adaptability: Implementing AI can easily be used to scale many supply chain platforms with growing inventory volumes, transportation and logistics, and adapt to changes in demand or business requirements, making them suitable for businesses of all sizes and industries.

Conversational AI and Tools for successful implementation

Selecting the right AI tools in supply chain management is key to successful implementation for many organizations. These specialists in AI applications and integrated AI have the expertise to take care of your specific supply chain needs to perform at maximum capacity and efficiency.

Here are some examples of chatbots that help in inventory management. These tools have features such as providing information on product availability, order status, and inventory forecasts, and even engage with customers or employees to provide real-time updates on inventory status, answer inquiries, and facilitate order management processes:

Microsoft Azure Bot Service
IBM Watson Assistant
SAP Conversational AI
Zendesk Chat

Beyond tools, you can also consult logistics experts to get specialized insights and practices that are worthwhile in their industries. These are examples of companies that use AI for supply chain companies as a solution to inventory management woes:

Yellow AI
Warehousing and Fulfillment
Feedyou
Convy
Landbot
Ideta

Conclusion

Conversational AI has changed how inventory management is done by collecting up-to-date information, enhancing communication, and reducing errors in real-time.

It has the potential to revolutionize supply chain operations giving greater efficiency, agility, decision making abilities, and customer satisfaction that powers up operations management for many organizations as whole. Getting experts and tools powered by AI are solutions strongly encouraged to be adopted by businesses to outperform competitors and to be future-ready in the dynamic market environment. Acceptance of conversational AI marks a new era of intelligent and responsive supply chains that are equipped to win in the digital era.

This is a guest post by Will Schneider, President of WarehousingAndFulfillment.com, who is a seasoned expert with a profound passion for optimizing business operations through efficient warehousing and fulfillment solutions. With a background in executive management for mid-sized 3PLs, he boasts valuable expertise that spans over a decade in the realm of fulfillment outsourcing.