Foreign Trade Zones Continue to Drive Local Economies

A Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) can provide a wealth of import and export benefits.  The impact on a business leveraging an FTZ can be significant with results across many areas.  Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment has extensive experience and expertise with setting up and managing a FTZ.

In this article the statistics for Foreign Trade Zone 43, located at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Port of Battle Creek, pointed to significant growth in volume in 2015.  It presents clear and objective success pointing to the impact on commerce through the utilization of a Foreign Trade Zone.

The benefits of an FTZ are clear.  The article mentions these specific points:

• Reduce or eliminate tariffs: It is not uncommon for parts or raw materials to have a higher duty rate than the final product. Within an FTZ, companies may select the lower duty rate when the product leaves the zone. Sometimes, duty is altogether eliminated.
• Delay duty: Distribution firms may warehouse imported goods for extended periods. No duty is owed to U.S. Customs until the merchandise leaves the zone. If goods are exported, no duty costs apply. There is no time limit for merchandise remaining in a zone.
• Reduce paperwork and Customs processing fees: FTZs allow a company to notify Customs about shipments on a weekly basis. With Customs approval, frequent importers using Weekly Entry procedures can accrue a substantial savings.
• Improve logistics: FTZs are considered a best practice by the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, permitting direct delivery of containers to zones.

Many other benefits can also be explored on the Vision CPF website here.  Check them out!

Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment is a certified General Purpose Foreign Trade Zone - #276. We are members of the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones, and we’re one of the few certified General Purpose Foreign Trade Zones in the Southern California area.

If you’re looking to take advantage of the benefit of doing business in a Foreign Trade Zone, Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment can help.  Let us share with you how implementing and managing a Foreign Trade Zone warehouse, with Vision as your partner, can significantly impact your bottom line.

Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment has decades of experience and industry expertise in consumer products fulfillment services.  No matter who your customer is, we treat your customer as our own.  We know what makes a raving fan out of an individual customer, as well as what makes a business partner trust you with their business.  Call or email us to learn how.  We’re certain we’ll be the best fulfillment warehouse partner you have ever had!

www.visioncpf.com

CPFSales@VisionMediamgmt.com

What’s New - Meeting Direct to Consumer Order Fulfillment Demands

Consumer Products Fulfillment is the heart and soul of Business to Consumer (B2C) fulfillment.  While the industry is already fairly mature, there are new innovations and best practices emerging daily.  Recently an article was published by Multichannel Merchant.  The article, which can be found here presents a number of concepts and ideas for meeting consumer demand.  It provides a great starting place in reviewing your operations.  Points covered included:

•  Digital and consumer behavior driving change.
• Capitalizing on wave’s strength.
• Enter order streaming.
• How order streaming works.
• Let consumer expectations be your guide.

 

Consumer products fulfillment and B2C order fulfillment efficiency is all about finding the similarities within dissimilar items or processes.  Process efficiency and streamlining is critical – every second counts.  That said, all of the efficiency is for naught if the quality and customer experience is not top notch.  Quality and timeliness much coexist together for overall success.

Vision has decades of experience in the field of small parcel order fulfillment, with many years of relevant innovation success.  We would love to show you our methodology and how we’ve blended quality and timeliness in order to provide success for both our customers as well as your customers.

Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment has decades of experience and industry expertise in consumer products fulfillment services.  No matter who your customer is, we treat your customer as our own.  We know what makes a raving fan out of an individual customer, as well as what makes a business partner trust you with their business.  Call or email us to learn how.  We’re certain we’ll be the best fulfillment warehouse partner you have ever had!

www.visioncpf.com

CPFSales@VisionMediamgmt.com

E-Commerce Experience

In an era where everyone keeps a potential shopping device within hands’ reach at all times, maintaining an e-commerce presence is a must for all companies. A customer’s experience with your e-commerce store makes a significant impact on whether they convert or move on to a competitor with a nicer site.

Details, down to the most basic design and content choices, on your home page will capture a potential customer’s interest and urge them to continue browsing your products, eventually leading to a purchase. The key here is to always consider the user’s experience. The easier your website is to navigate, the easier it is for a prospect to convert and come back for more.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re thinking of the customer’s experience on your e-commerce site:

• Make sure your buying process doesn’t contain any broken links. Regularly audit your site to be sure that all internal links lead to accurate products and current offers. A broken link makes customers uneasy and if a customer feels uncomfortable with any part of the buying process, they won’t hesitate to find another company they are comfortable with. 
• The store should be full of beautiful, detailed images. Customers like to see what they are purchasing before they even put it into their basket. Show off your products in great detail and highlight anything specific to the product. 
• Make sure your site loads quickly. The average e-commerce customer will lose interest in a site if it takes over 2 seconds to load. Slow load times can lead customers off your site completely—make efficiency a priority. 
• Most e-commerce interactions are completed via mobile. Don’t let your lack of mobile experience be the reason you lose customers. Make sure the mobile version of your site has identical functionality, affording smartphone and tablet shoppers all of the same amenities.
• Customer rating and reviews matter. Display previous and current customer’s satisfaction via a rating system or comments section. Studies have shown that customers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations. Use this to your advantage! 
• Focus on great customer service. Customer service can come in many forms, such as chat, email, or phone support. According to a survey completed last month by Onestop, 63.3% of customers who had a good customer service experience returned to make another purchase.

E-commerce should be flawlessly intuitive. Anything that breaks the customer’s train of thought could prevent them from making the purchase. Remember—a customer’s second option is just a Google search away; make sure your site flows naturally from landing page to conversion. Think like a customer, consider the experience, and start racking up online sales.

--

Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment has decades of experience and industry expertise in consumer products fulfillment services.  No matter who your customer is, we treat your customer as our own.  We know what makes a raving fan out of an individual customer, as well as what makes a business partner trust you with their business.  Call or email us to learn how.  We’re certain we’ll be the best fulfillment warehouse partner you have ever had!

Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment

Fulfillment Warehouse Services

http://visioncpf.com

CPFSales@VisionMediamgmt.com