A first-week checklist for new joiners in E-commerce and D2C brands

A D2C brand looks small from outside and wide from inside. One order passes through the storefront, the payment gateway, the pick bin, the packing bench, the courier manifest, the customer's doorstep and possibly the return desk. A joiner who sees only their own desk will make small mistakes that pile up on a sale day. The sheet below shows the whole path in six days.

Name:                       Team / desk:
Joined on:     Buddy:     Team lead:

TOOLS AND LOGINS (day one)
[ ] Email, chat and shared drive access created
[ ] Storefront admin, order panel or helpdesk login in own name
[ ] Role-based access checked: no refund rights unless the role needs them
[ ] Escalation sheet and sale calendar shared

THE ORDER JOURNEY (days one to two)
[ ] Followed one order from cart to delivery, end to end
[ ] Saw the pick list, the pack bench and the courier handover
[ ] Learnt order status names: placed, packed, shipped, NDR, delivered, RTO
[ ] Saw how returns and refunds flow, with the reasons list

DESK BLOCK (pick one)
[ ] Warehouse: bin locations, SKU labels, packing standard, AWB label print, damage log
[ ] Support: reply templates, tone guide, refund limits, WhatsApp rules
[ ] Catalogue: listing template, image sizes, shade and size charts, price approval
[ ] Growth: ad account access, creative approval route, budget limits
[ ] Subscriptions: skip, pause and cancel rules, renewal reminders

SALE DAY AND PEOPLE (days five to six)
[ ] Told what happens on a sale day: shifts, pauses, late order rule
[ ] Met the founder or ops head and one person from another desk
[ ] First small task finished and reviewed

Team lead:             Joiner:             Date:

Most D2C onboarding is a slide deck on brand values. It does not show why a package went missing. Follow one real order. Pull up the storefront entry, read the pick list, see the packer apply the label, watch the courier pickup and open the tracking page. Support hires then understand what a customer means by 'stuck in transit'. Growth hires see why a sale spike swamps packing.

1. 1

   Day one

   Logins, role-based access and the escalation sheet. Keep access narrow; refunds are not for new hands.

2. 2

   Day two

   Order trace. The buddy walks the joiner from the storefront to a warehouse bench.

3. 3

   Days three and four

   Desk block with shadowing. Warehouse hands pick and pack under watch. Support agents reply to dummy tickets.

4. 4

   Day five

   Sale-day briefing with a calendar of upcoming drops and shift cover.

5. 5

   Day six

   Review, peer chat and a written plan for week two.

• SKU: the code for one size, shade or pack of a product, the unit a picker looks for.
• GRN and putaway: the receipt note when stock arrives and the act of shelving it in a bin.
• Picker and packer: two jobs on a warehouse floor; a picker reads the list, a packer seals the carton.
• AWB and manifest: the courier's label number and the list of parcels handed over at pickup.
• NDR: a failed delivery attempt that support must chase with the customer within the day.
• RTO: a parcel returning to origin, often a cash-on-delivery refusal.
• Chargeback: a card dispute raised by the customer's bank, which support must answer with proof.
• FEFO: first-expiry, first-out, the shelf rule for food and cosmetics.
• Swatch: the shade photo that decides if a customer says it looked different.

A fashion brand adds size charts, exchange rules and the try-and-return policy. A beauty brand adds shade swatches, batch codes and expiry checks. A food brand adds FEFO shelf rules, cold packs and a damage photo rule. A subscription box adds skip, pause and renewal windows. An electronics seller adds serial numbers, warranty cards and testing before dispatch. Home products add fragile packing and breakage claims.

Keep one rule in mind for all desks: nobody works on a customer-facing task until they have seen the thing the customer holds. A support hire holds a packed carton. A growth hire opens a returned parcel. A catalogue hire unpacks the product and compares it with their own photo. Ten minutes with the real object changes how they write, advertise and shoot.

• Logins are shared, so nobody knows who changed a price.
• The sale calendar sits with the founder and not on the joiner's phone.
• Warehouse joiners are told to 'ask anyone', and nobody owns the answer.
• Support hires get refund powers on day one, then give away margin.

Slot this sheet into the onboarding process your brand already uses. See how beauty and skincare sellers start new staff, and use the e-commerce and D2C hub for more. Want it fitted to your own desks? Share your requirements.