The Supplier Ordering Paradox: Solving the Email vs Storefront Dilemma That's Costing Millions
How AI-powered unified ordering systems eliminate the fundamental conflict between personal email ordering and self-service storefronts—creating truly omnichannel customer experiencesTwo Types of Buyers
Here’s the issue. There are many types of buyers, but as far as communication goes, there are really two. Those who want to order from a person (via email/WhatsApp or similar) and those who want a self serve storefront experience. And on occasion, it’s important to some that they can do both.
It’s not hard to see why. Each has their own set of advantages and suits different business types and personalities.
Storefronts don’t require waiting for a reply, you can look up exactly what it’s going to cost and know that the process has been handled in one quick step. Storefronts have undoubtedly proven to increase both new buyer acquisition as well as retention. However, there is a safety in communicating to a person, perhaps you have questions about your order or want personalized advice for your business. Pure storefront operations often feel impersonal and don’t inspire loyalty the same way personal ordering does. Email is also simple in terms of permissions. It works regardless of whatever internal system the buyer uses for purchase decisions. The human on the other side will just “take care of it”.
The Dilemma
Here is the fundamental problem this produces. Orders from your buyers will inevitably exist in two places. Not only are they in two places in two different formats, but entering in order information from email is slow, error prone, and labour intensive.
Storefront Vs Email Ordering Comparison
| Storefront Ordering | Email Ordering | |
|---|---|---|
| Pros for Supplier | • Less time intensive to manage • Improved customer adoption | • Better feelings of trust/loyalty (customer retention) |
| Cons for Supplier | • Many have IT load • Require a slow setup/onboarding process • The back end is often either fully automated or fully manual with little balance between the two • Can be inflexible and doesn’t validate many details • Expensive fees | • Very slow to process taking lots of sales time with menial work • Error prone data entry and multiple verification steps (data scattered) |
| Pros for Customer | • Instant price verification • Up to date product information • One session gets it done, not one more thing to remember to follow up on | • Feeling of security and “duty of care” • Advice and counsel from sales staff • More flexible payment options • Handles edge cases like new delivery requests or one off situations • Works with whatever internal software or process they have for making order decisions (onus on the supplier) |
| Cons for Customer | • Often need to get “setup” on their system • Can be trickier to empower new staff to order • Each of their suppliers has a different ordering process and site functionality | • Multiple steps from confirmation to payment to eta etc. happen over multiple touch points, which add mental load |
Now, many suppliers work hard to mitigate the downsides of each of these systems but the result is usually just throwing more person hours at the task. This could include manual review of storefront orders (which turn into a long email back and forth anyway and segment the workflow), or conversely, staff spending a large amount of time parsing email information into their ERP system (or similar).
The Good News
Here’s the good news. This is exactly the problem AI is designed to solve. It is now possible to have a unified backend without the data entry, where the emails and documents from the customer are automatically converted into the same structured format as orders from the storefront.
Now by having a system that addresses some of the other storefront issues such as letting customers onboard themselves, having zero IT requirements, multiple payment options, and having the back end contain all the useful information all in one place, and having an email thread with the supplier linked to the order itself, then you really have something that is both incredibly efficient for the supplier, a great experience for the customer. A system that maintains relationships, and is less risky for everyone.
In any modern business, the goal should be to have human intervention precisely where it should be (such as checking in, giving advice, making account approvals), whilst eliminating anything that is menial and draining that can be automated away (creating back end orders, checking inventory/MOQs, applying pricing rules, looking up product information etc.).
So in summary, you do not have to force buyers to do what they don’t want to, or choose between efficiency and connection. Both are possible with the right tool designed with current technology in mind. The best example of this is probably LineNow. It’s a tool that provides a storefront, email management system, and almost an order based CRM all in one. It can connect to your existing ERP if you so choose, and can be set up in a few hours.
To check it out you can go to their website here.
