How to Scale up Retail and e-Commerce Business with Perfect Logistics Optimization
When scaling up a retail or e-commerce business that depends on delivering products to customers, you need to make sure that your logistics are optimized to ensure quick, accurate, and cost-effective delivery to keep your customers happy.
In fact, your entire business could depend on it.
A recent survey of 5,000 respondents showed that 31% of them were less likely to use the same company if their shipment was delayed the first time; 46% less likely to use the same company if their delivery was delayed a second time; and 38% were likely to dissuade others from using a brand if there were repeated delays.
So, as you can see, the stakes are high when it comes to getting your product delivered on-time.
The key is to optimize your logistics, and you can do just that by following some of these tips.
Implement Optimization Technology
The first step is to either implement your own optimization technology or to partner with a company that has an effective solution in place that can be customized for your needs.
For example, at Lean Supply Solutions, we use Harmony Logistics Platform.
Harmony can handle everything including:
- Forecasting
- Inbound supply chain
- Distribution and warehouse
- Order management
- Outbound supply chain
- After-market support execution
Having an optimized technology covering all the touch points of your operation is key to having an efficient logistics operation that runs efficiently to keep your customers happy.
Fulfill the Same-Day Delivery Demands
In a recent study, 49% of shoppers said that having same-day delivery makes them more likely to shop online. 96% of shoppers felt that the promise of “fast delivery” meant same-day delivery.
So, if you are offering fast delivery and it’s not same-day, 96% of your customers might be disappointed.
All told, you have about 3-4 hours to get your customer’s order shipped to ensure same-delivery and there’s no room for delays or errors.
You need to have efficient and optimized supply chain management with efficient route planning software to layout the optimal path of delivery. It’s important to work with a company like Lean Supply Solutions to make sure there’s seamless connectivity from all aspects of your supply chain management.
Gain the Upper Hand in a Competitive Market
The best way to gain the upper hand in a competitive e-commerce marketplace is to offer the lowest price, which includes free shipping. However, you still need to make money, so this all starts with reducing your expenses and streamlining the logistics process to make it more efficient.
Working with a logistics company that has app-based technology will help you maximize time, minimize expenses, and result in shipments being delivered quickly to your customers. This will help you stay competitive and build customer loyalty.
Develop a Cost-Effective Supply Chain System
Take a look at your existing supply chain management and see where you can optimize or automate to not only make your supply chain more efficient, but also make it more cost-efficient, so you can gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. By reducing costs and increasing efficiency through artificial intelligence, you should be able to start reaping rewards, even during downtimes.
By streamlining your storage strategy, improving supplier relationships, analyzing customer demand, optimizing routes, and more, you can help boost your bottom line even during slower times when revenue valleys might occur seasonally.
The other trickle-down effect is that your order processing time will increase and your ability to upsell and cross-sell to your existing customers will multiply as they’re receiving their shipments on-time. This creates a satisfied customer that is more likely to become a repeat customer and a higher-value customer.
Look at your existing logistics program and see where the deficiencies are. If you need assistance, you can call on a supply chain management consultant, like Lean Supply Solutions, to help identify your needs and implement an optimized logistics program.
Generate Revenue Through Inbound Logistics
It might not be clear, but having your inbound logistics optimized can create an increased revenue stream from your customers.
Having a holistic approach to your entire logistics can significantly reduce costs, which can either boost your bottom line immediately or the savings can be passed on to your customers to encourage more customer loyalty.
Decreasing delivery times, even by a day, can also significantly boost your revenue numbers as your conversion rates will increase with each new customer converting into a repeat customer.
Providing quality products at a competitive price into the customer’s hands as quickly as possible can help boost your business. By working backwards, if you can speed up the delivery process, you can gain more business which could allow you get more competitive on your pricing and/or increase the quality of your product to give it increased value.
You can get all of this just from having an optimized logistics plan in place.
Integrate Your Supply Chain for Timely Demand Fulfillment
If you’re competing with the big boys, then you have to be able to have an efficient and responsive supply chain management company supporting you. Lean Supply Solutions provides effective end-to-end supply chain strategies for a range of industries and markets.
We also have full e-commerce and transportation integration to help optimize your logistics planning to help maximize your customer loyalty and satisfaction.
To get in touch with Lean Supply Solutions or to get a free no-obligation quote, contact us here.
- Published in Blog
How to Boost Customer Retention with Live Logistics Planning
As any business knows, the key to success and sustainability isn’t just acquiring new customers. Customer loyalty is the most important aspect when it comes to keeping a business running and growing. And it costs a lot more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.
While product features and value, competitive pricing, customer service, and return policies can all establish customer loyalty, these days a good or bad shipping experience can influence whether a customer becomes a repeat customer. In some circles, shipping experience can be the “make-or-break” for customer loyalty.
So how do you ensure that your customers get a positive shipping experience to keep them happy and buying from you again and again? The key lies in your logistics strategy to make sure that the journey of your product from your warehouse to your customer’s hands is quick and flawless to ensure a happy and loyal customer.
These tips for better logistics management can help you achieve those goals by helping you plan a live logistics strategy.
Use Live Logistics Planning and Delivery Route Optimization
On a basic level, live logistics planning is the ability to properly track your shipments in real-time so you can see exactly where your shipment is at all times. This not only helps with tracking and determining the location of the shipment but can also help allocate that the right shipment goes on the right truck with the right driver on the right route. For example, if the shipment requires refrigeration, you should be able to clearly monitor that your product is on the correct truck.
This can also help with delivery routes. Delivery routes and loads can be tracked in real-time to allow you to maximize space on a truck that might not be at full capacity and that is on a route that matches where your product needs to be. This can allow you to “piggyback” on that truck with limited lead time to get your product to your customer easily and cost-effectively.
All of this activity can be tracked with apps from your 3PL carrier partners.
Boost Delivery Experience for Customers with Capacity Optimization
Times definitely have changed when it comes to customer expectations. In the past, for example, when a customer would order a product from mail order or a television ad over the phone, it was expected that the product would take six to eight weeks to arrive at their door.
Now, with any e-commerce transaction, not only are shipments expected quicker, but the customer expects to be able to see their shipment progress every step of the way.
Be Transparent on Shipping Prices and Conditions
While competition is fierce to not only offer top-quality products, customer service, and delivery turnaround, it’s important to be clear to your customers when it comes to shipping prices and conditions.
The customer experience can be spoiled on checkout if costs and conditions aren’t clearly disclosed before the checkout process. A sudden and unexpected cost increase in the shopping cart can result in cart abandonment. Same goes for a sudden change in delivery time. If there’s a shipping cost, disclose it immediately in the shopping process, so that your customer is aware of the cost.
The best option is to review your competition to see what they are offering. You can also justify charging higher shipping costs for expedited delivery or lower quantity on the order.
No matter what your policy, make it clear and easy for the customer to access before checking out.
Offer as Many Options as Your Customers Need
As mentioned above, you need to not only reveal your shipping prices and conditions, but you should also give options to suit your customers’ individual needs. Give them different price points for shipping speed as some customers don’t mind paying more for shipping to get their product faster.
If you offer a free shipping element for a certain spending amount (e.g. spend $100 to get free shipping), make sure to reveal that fact during the “add to cart” process so they can see how much more they might need to spend to qualify for free shipping. This can not only increase your sales but will increase customer satisfaction.
Using coupon codes to save on shipping can also work. Having a rewards program or a “your first order ships free” promotion can also help increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Choose the Best Shipping Partners and Logistic Tools
The key to all of this, however, is to make sure that you’re using logistics and shipping partners that can provide you with the right tools and services so that both you and your customers are satisfied with the cost, speed, accuracy, and efficiency of product shipments.
They must have the ability and the technology that allows you ease of use, transparency, and full communication capabilities for feedback.
At Lean Supply Solutions, we offer fulfillment and supply chain management solutions using the latest Harmony technology that integrates the basics like track and trace throughout the network and also provides the additional view into shipping details, availability of inventory on specific dates, and detail per box tracking to end customers.
We also have full e-commerce and transportation integration to help optimize your logistics planning to help maximize your customer loyalty and satisfaction.
To get in touch with Lean Supply Solutions or to get a free no-obligation quote, contact us here.
- Published in Blog
How to Ensure Elastic Logistics without Losing Your Workforce
The relationship between supply and demand in logistics services has changed drastically from its origin to today’s digital age. What began as a supplier-focused field has now become increasingly consumer-centric. Nowadays, supply chains operate in a way where consumer demands define the process flow in the industry. However, the challenge with a consumer-centric system is that they are unpredictable in nature and uncontrollable. Corporations must be flexible to adapt to these changes and will establish a great connection with their customers if they get this right. You will need the right software, hardware, e-commerce, warehouse management, and more to be agile enough to meet customer demands. In other words, you need to ensure elastic logistics without compromising your workforce. Here’s how you can achieve this.
What Is Elastic Logistics?
Elastic logistics is a flexible model where the draw of consumer demand sets up lead times for deliveries and products for replenishment. The goal of elastic logistics is to quickly react before or right after the need arises. Companies that have an elastic logistics system can have a fast go-to-market distribution and clear tracking for all their delivery trucks and products. The goals of this system include:
- Reducing turnaround times
- Moving shipments faster
- Shrinking lead times
- Meeting the need of the end-customer by delivering their quality product faster
The term itself implies a requirement for companies to be able to make changes easily and quickly to keep up with the demands of the consumer or market. As with all big changes, there is a learning curve. Depending on how your organization is currently set up, this change can be easy, or extremely difficult. But before you panic, here are five change management fundamentals to consider so you can establish elastic logistics without losing your workforce to the advances in technology.
Position the Change as an Opportunity
In the digital age, technology has enabled the opportunity for people to progress in their careers. For your business, your workforce may change but it will not be lost if it can adapt to the changing environment. Whether you employ truck drivers or operations managers, or both and more, technology will allow your team to learn something new about the work they do. They will be able to use and analyze data so they can work more efficiently. As you incorporate technology into your workforce, encourage your employees to use these new strategies with their work. Teach them how to optimize their results by using technology as a tool and not a replacement for their job.
Implement Quickly and Communicate
If your workforce has not yet adopted technology into their work, they may be hesitant about the change. The key to making this a comfortable transition is to implement it quickly. If you implement technology too slowly it allows for wasted time, wasted money, and a waste of resources. Once you upgrade your technology in your logistics setup, start training your employees right away on how to use it in their daily tasks. When they can implement the technology quickly into their daily routine, they will understand it better and faster and have a greater respect for the plan as they grow and expand upon their skills.
Choose Your Tools Wisely
Before choosing the tech tools you want to incorporate into your system, take your time to carefully consider exactly what organizational benefits each tool will provide. You should also consider what employee pain points each tool will resolve. This will help you as you explain to your employees why you are implementing these changes. You can explain to them how these tools can help them work better and eliminate the fear that the technology is about to replace their jobs.
It is also valuable for you as a manager to understand what the most difficult parts are about your employees’ jobs. It will help you understand what additional resources can help them eliminate disruptions and challenges by replacing them with effective solutions.
Have a Highly Organized Plan
Once you have an understanding about which tech tools you need to improve your logistics, it’s time to create a highly organized plan to roll out the system. The goal of this technology is to make your job and your employees’ jobs easier and more efficient, but the implementation process itself can cause delays and frustrations. To resolve this, you should plan out principle dates, distribution levels, training opportunities, and make your expectations very clear.
To help your team organize the resources you need, you can use a project management software. This tool will also help you plan out your expected timelines. With this system you can layout exactly when these new systems will come into effect and when you require your employees to make the transition. Be sure to keep communication lines open and ensure that your employees are aware of these changes far in advance.
Follow Up and Evaluate
Keep in mind that once you implement your elastic logistics, you still have more work to do. You need to plan ahead to evaluate the success of this transition shortly after its launch date and at certain points during the following months. Consider the ways that you evaluate the success of your new plan, what your goals are to gain from it, and what you have actually accomplished.
Choose Lean Supply Solutions to Optimize Your Supply Chain
Elastic logistics is the future, so if you’re looking to turn your lean supply chain up a notch by making your operations consumer-centric, we can help.
At Lean Supply Solutions, we strive to provide a variety of logistics solutions to help our clients get competitive in their markets and meet consumer demands. We serve a variety of clients including distribution-sensitive supply chains, small- to medium-sized organizations, distributors, manufacturers, and retailers. We can help you transition to a customer-centric system that makes your business work better.
If you’re ready to experience long-term savings, customer satisfactions that deliver the best return on investment, lower operating costs, improved focus, high-end technology, and more, our team can help you. Contact us today for more information and to get started.
- Published in Blog
The Importance of Having a Customer Customer-Centric Logistics System
Now, more than ever, customers have endless choices about the types of products and services they want to spend their money on. Because of this customer-centered market, retailers need to have a customer-centric logistics system to stay competitive. With the right logistics optimization, you can improve your system to meet customer needs and demands.
Developing a customer-centric supply chain is necessary, but the process is not easy. Your entire organization, including your partners and members within your supply chain, also need to get on board. You need to create new ways of thinking and new approaches to each of your operations. However, with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) you can get the whole team on board in a seamless and time-sensitive manner. Once your new logistics management system is in place, you can gain a competitive edge and improve your customer reputation.
Evolution of Customer-Centric Logistics System
An important question to ask yourself as you contemplate shifting to a customer-centric logistics system is whether you should completely change your supply chain so it becomes customer-focused, or transition it slowly over time. Starting from scratch with a new customer-centric logistics system will be more expensive and stressful but it will get you to that competitive level faster. A more sensible approach that you can manage easier would be to gradually transition into this new system. Whatever your decision, it depends on your current standing in the market, your goal for where you want to be, how long you expect it to take for you to arrive at that goal, and the resources you will need to make the transition.
Business Case for a Customer-Centric Supply Chain
Part of transitioning to a customer-centric supply chain is to conduct extensive analyses. Here are some important questions to ask to help you assess your current supply chain, and prepare for the change:
- What benefits do you expect to gain from this new model?
- What are your projections for time, resources, and funding that will be required for this project?
- How will these changes improve your customer outcomes?
- Have you analyzed the market to see how it will respond to a move to a customer-centric supply chain?
- How do these improvements translate into tangible advantages in your competitiveness, revenue increases, and profitability?
- Who are your main stakeholders that will need to be on board?
Understanding the Customers and their Needs
To have a truly customer-centric supply chain you need to understand your customers’ needs. For example, if you are a retailer, your customer is likely a consumer in a retail store or an online shopper. They may also be a wholesaler or a white label vendor that wants to brand your product and sell it through their own channels. Understanding who your customer is and what their needs are will help you with this transition. Once you define your customer clearly, you will be better able to shift your logistics to suit them.
If you are having a hard time gaining the same perspective as your customers to understand their needs, you can simply ask them. Take time to set up phone calls or email surveys to inquire about their previous pain points and issues and interview them to identify ways you could improve. Delegate for your team to do this for each of your customers so that you can create a short list of new expectations that can help you as you plan.
Common Customer Needs
- Features: The product needs to meet all the functionalities and features that the customer expects.
- Availability: Your inventory needs to be optimized so your customers can get a hold of enough quantities when they need it, without great delay.
- Variation: You should offer sufficient variability among different SKUs to meet the needs of your customers.
- Distribution: Customers’ orders need to be delivered exactly where they need it within a reasonable time.
- Quality: The product must perform as expected and should not have any flaws, defects, or other issues.
- Value: The customer must feel that the product is priced appropriately for the value they get from it.
Choose Lean Supply Solutions to Optimize Your Supply Chain
The secret to transitioning to a customer-centric supply chain is to translate these common customer needs into changes that you can make in your supply chain. After you have interviewed your customers, you will get a better grasp of what their specific needs are to help you optimize. Every organization’s results will vary, but these are some examples to get you thinking about how this process works. When you are ready to optimize your supply chain, you can partner with a 3PL provider that already has the resources, personnel, and expertise available.
At Lean Supply Solutions, we strive to provide a variety of logistics solutions to help our clients get competitive in their markets. We serve a variety of clients including distribution-sensitive supply chains, small- to medium-sized organizations, distributors, manufacturers, and retailers. We can help you transition to a customer-centric system that makes your business work better.
We are located in Toronto, and our Lean Methodology helps our clients eliminate any operations, equipment, personnel, or resources that do not add value to their supply chains. We do our best to ensure that you consistently deliver the right products to the right customers at the right time.
If you’re ready to experience long-term savings, customer satisfactions that deliver the best return on investment, lower operating costs, improved focus, high-end technology, and more, contact us today. Our services also include warehousing and distribution, logistics management, pick and pack, repackaging, integrated solutions with companies like Amazon, labelling, online reporting, and transportation. You can trust us to provide consistent, predictable, and quality results.
- Published in Blog
How to Overcome Challenges and Improve Fulfillment Services
Whether you are a new or experienced business, growth is always your goal. You hope to offer better services to your customers, so you retain those you have, and gain new ones. This isn’t possible without an efficient and successful order fulfillment process. With so many moving parts, it is a challenge to be on top of everything, which is why these tips can help you get started and learn where to find the support you need.
What Does the Order Fulfillment Process Look Like?
The following is a step-by-step list of what the order fulfillment process entails:
- Order is received from the customer in person, over the phone, via email, or web site.
- Order is entered into the office ERP system or accounting platform.
- Customer receives notice that their order has been received.
- Order is sent to the warehouse.
- Order is picked by warehouse staff.
- Order is packed and prepared for shipping with labels.
- Order is shipped from the warehouse to be delivered.
- Customer is notified that their order is on the way.
- Transport service delivers item to customer’s door.
- Customer is notified that their order has arrived.
Fulfillment Process Challenges
Demand Planning
Demand planning is the process of using software and data history to predict the level of demand a product will have. This information can help companies know how many of each product to have on-hand in their warehouse, and how much effort they should put on marketing and promoting certain products.
Inventory Management
Successful order fulfillment involves meeting customer expectations, but this is impossible to accomplish without inventory management. Knowing what you have in stock, and how often to restock products is necessary to providing visibility to your customers and helping them measure expectations when items are delayed or backordered.
Supply Chain Implementation
When your inventory gets low, how quickly can you restock? How fast do your manufacturers work to produce more products for you? How long does it take for these products to arrive at your warehouse? These are important questions that need answers, as they impact your order fulfillment. A third-party logistics (3PL) provider can help you with supply chain implementation and ensure every part moves as it should.
Logistics
Logistics involves shipment and delivery. How long will customer orders take to get out of your warehouse? To their doorstep? How will the items be handled? Do you have tracking capabilities in case of any mishaps? This is another important aspect of running efficient fulfillment services.
Strategies to Improve Fulfillment Services
Classification of Inventory
You can classify your inventory to improve your operations. For example, fast moving inventory can be placed near the front and slower moving inventory can be further back in your warehouse. This saves your pickers’ time and makes their jobs more efficient. Popular items should always be at a central location that is easily picked, packed, and delivered to the shipping dock. The more logical your classification and organization, the more time you’ll save while fulfilling orders.
System Integration for More Visibility
To save time and be more efficient as you fulfill orders, you need to ensure you have visibility across your supply chain. This includes demand forecasting, sales, inventory, logistics, and more. System integration through an ERP system can help. It works by maintaining financial data, inventory systems, and logistic systems that manage the processes for picking, packing, and shipping.
Automate the Process
After gaining visibility across your supply chain, you need to see how you can automate or speed up individual processes. Automation does not always require robotics or conveyors but can be as straightforward as investing in barcode scanners so your warehouse workers can quickly enter inventory information as they work. They can scan items as they arrive in and out of your warehouse, which automatically updates the inventory count on your software.
Communicate with Customers
At each step of your process—shipping, delivery, arrival—you need to keep your customer updated. They can manage their expectations as they see where their order moves along the chain, and you can benefit from their patience as you work through any hiccups that may occur on occasion. This requires updated, on-demand, real-time communication that can only be provided by an experienced 3PL provider.
Choose Lean Supply Solutions to Manage Your Fulfillment
As you can see, there are many challenges to overcome, but there are solutions for each of them. From organizing where you store your items in your warehouse, to implementing automation to save time, the solutions available can help you get the most out of your warehousing and run a more efficient business. Unfortunately, unless you only sell a few items or a small stock, managing all these processes on your own isn’t possible. That’s why there is great value in partnering with a 3PL provider to handle all of this, so you can focus on other important parts of running your business.
At Lean Supply Solutions, you can benefit from quality and accurate fulfillment reports that help you make wiser decisions about optimizing your supply chain. We are a 3PL provider in Toronto, and our Lean Methodology helps our clients eliminate any operations, equipment, personnel, or resources that do not add value to their supply chains. We do our best to ensure that you consistently deliver the right products to the right customers at the right time.
Ready to get long-term savings, customer satisfactions that deliver the best return on investment, lower operating costs, improved focus, high-end technology, and more? Contact us today. Our services also include warehousing and distribution, pick and pack, repackaging, integrated solutions with companies like Amazon, labelling, online reporting, and transportation. You can trust us to provide consistent, predictable, and quality results.
- Published in Blog