Definition

In general terms, order lead time refers to the amount of time it takes to fulfill orders for your customers.


 Why is Lead Time important?

  • Lead Time is an important factor for customer satisfaction. Typically customers want goods or service as fast as possible with minimal effort.
  • Having lead time configuration helps you get a clear picture of what you can/cannot afford to fulfil. There are multiple dependencies based on which you define lead time.
  • A product may be easily available from a near by supplier, In this case its obvious your lead will be comparatively less.
  • There other important factors that derive this element on your order fulfilment journey. Like, what is the delivery address of the customer, what is the fulfilment type of the product? is it By Stock, Backorder or Dropship. 
    • By Stock: You have the stocks in your warehouse ready to be shipped to the customer when you receive an order.
    • Backorder: You wait for the customer to place order and then create a purchase order, receive goods in your warehouse then start shipping. This leads to more time in terms of order fulfilment.
    • Dropship: When you have an order from the customer, you direct it to the supplier who on your behalf will fulfil the order to the customer. In this case, the dependency is on the supplier.

How to configure the lead time?

Before we move into technical bit about how to set the configurations we must understand this depends on the nature of the business. 

  • A business might fulfill all orders from their own warehouse which means all By Stock. 
  • Another business might just be taking orders and getting them fulfilled directly by the supplier( Drop shipping). 
  • Another business might consolidate orders from the customers, create a purchase order, receives the goods and then start shipping them.(Backorder)
  • It is also possible a business can be using all these fulfilment types By Stock, Backorder and Dropshipping.


Steps

  • From the settings screen, Go to Delivery SLA
  • From this list page, click on Add button on the upper right
  • Provide the configuration detail in the popup that you see and click on Save


What does different fields and their values mean?

  • Configuration Level
    • Org: This means your business just follow one fulfilment type and configuration won't change at product level.
    • Product: Fulfilment type can change at product level hence system gives you the ability to define this configuration at product level.
  • Delivery type:These are primarily your Delivery type. Each delivery type in combination with other elements in the form may have different SLA config.
    • Home Delivery
    • Ship Into Store
    • Pickup From Store
  • Shipping Method Type: These are your shipping methods available for the customers. Each shipping method may have different SLA.
  • Fulfilment Channel
    • Stock: If you fulfill a particular product from your warehouse stock.
    • Backorder: Are you going to create a purchase order on demand for a supplier.
    • Dropship: If your products are never going to be in your stock and only the supplier is responsible for its fulfilment. 
    • Mixed order: When an order contains items of all different fulfilment types. 
    • Preorder: If an item is set on pre-order and is going to available in near future.
  • Lead Time: No. of days, weeks or hours
  • Lead Time Unit
    • Hours
    • Days
    • Weeks
  • Stock State
    • In Stock: If the product is in stock.
    • Out of Stock: If the product is in out of stock.