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macroseam / E-commerce

Process optimisation for e-commerce companies.

An online shop is a chain of systems: store, payments, warehouse, carriers, accounting, customer service. As orders and markets multiply, the links between them start to drift. macroseam develops and optimises these processes for mid-size and large e-commerce companies.

Fig. 00 / Six systems behind one order. Dashed links are seams.

Fig. 01 / The order loop

Out is one process. Back is another.

The way out is usually built first and runs fast. The way back, returns and refunds, is where the seams are.

Macro processes in e-commerce

What every order runs through.

A macro process is the path work takes across the whole company. These are the ones that carry an e-commerce business.

macroseam / process receipt

  1. 01Order to deliveryMACRO

    From a click in the shop to a parcel at the door.

  2. 02Returns and refundsMACRO

    The same path in reverse, plus the money.

  3. 03Stock and purchasingMACRO

    Knowing what is available and reordering in time.

  4. 04Product data and listingsMACRO

    Getting products, prices and translations live.

  5. 05Multi-country sellingMACRO

    Running several shops, currencies and tax rules.

  6. 06Customer serviceMACRO

    Answering questions with the full order in view.

6 items

Fine processes in e-commerce

Small tasks, thousands of times.

Picking and packing an order Printing a shipping label Processing a return Publishing a product Changing a price across markets Answering a where-is-my-order question

The seams

Where e-commerce processes come apart.

Shop to warehouse

Orders are exported in batches, so stock on the site is always slightly wrong.

Warehouse to carrier

Tracking numbers are copied by hand into the order.

Returns to accounting

Refunds are issued in one system and reconciled in another.

Market to market

Each country's shop is updated separately.

The signs

How to tell the processes have drifted.

Tick the ones you recognise

Sounds familiar? That is where we start.

Start a conversation

Questions

What online shops ask.

What is process optimisation in e-commerce?

It is making the path from click to delivered parcel, and back again for returns, run with fewer manual steps and fewer mismatches between shop, warehouse, carriers and accounting.

When does an online shop outgrow its processes?

Typically when order volume, the product range or the number of countries grows faster than the back office. The signs are overselling, slow returns and manual reconciliation.

Do we need to change our shop platform to fix this?

Not always. Many problems sit in the connections between systems, not in the shop platform itself.

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