Logistics Never Sleeps – 3 Key Strategies for Staying Ahead

Whether you’re an online merchant or a shipping manager for a fulfillment warehouse, you know that there’s no such thing as “downtime” when it comes to getting products out the door. Although things can seem a little slow when compared to the frenzy that is the holiday season, the earliest parts of the year are best used to improve on your processes and get prepared for success. Today, we’re going to talk about three strategies that we use to keep our consumer products fulfillment ops strong.

1. Sharing Across Channels

Over the last decade, order fulfillment has changed in many significant ways. The number of channels through which orders come in has increased dramatically and, in some cases, each one of these channels needs its own set of management. As a consequence, oftentimes each purchasing channel will also have their own inventory from which orders are fulfilled.

Successful 3PL providers need to have a clear pathway established for reaching across these channel divisions and using inventory where it’s most needed; and this clear pathway needs to be traveled without disrupting operations. Set practices for doing this in your warehouse and it’ll pay off when a certain product spikes in popularity through multiple channels.


2. Demand Forecasting

To the untrained eye, product demands seem to rise and fall at random. However, even seemingly timeless items have purchasing trends. Spend some time looking through the backlog of your orders and try to find some patterns in purchasing. If there isn’t enough data to study on your own, reach out to your partners and see if they anticipate any fluctuations in demand. By anticipating the crests and valleys of sales on certain items, you can more efficiently use the precious space in your fulfillment warehouse.


3. Future-Proofing

We write about logistics technology a lot on our blog and there’s a good reason for it. The future is coming whether you’re ready or not and that future is intrinsically linked to advances in technology. If you’re looking to get ahead, you need a 3PL provider that’s willing to innovate, adopt, and learn at the pace of technology. When a new skill or tool changes the paradigm, you don’t want to be left in the dust.

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

To the Skies: How Drones Will (or Won’t) Change Order Fulfillment

If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you’ve likely heard some news about using drones to make package deliveries. This initiative has been pioneered by Amazon, your local neighborhood ecommerce giant, in a quest to use airborne drones to deliver parcels to paying customers quickly and automatically. If achievable, this feat has the capability of revolutionizing the world of order fulfillment. However, there are some restrictions and implications to keep in mind. Today, we’re going to discuss these implications and what they might been for the fulfillment warehouses of the future.

FAA Limitations

While Amazon’s technology is not yet fully development, this seems to be the least of their worries. Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been hard at work trying to get a handle on the rapid increases in drone use.

In order for drone delivery to get underway, Amazon needs a few permissions from the FAA. The first, which Amazon has already secured, is called a Section 333 Exemption, which allows for the training in the use of unmanned drones. In addition, however, the FAA mandates that drones must stay 500 feet for people during operation. Getting exempt from this rule is difficult, but not impossible, as evidenced by a recent exemption grant for Kansas State University Polytechnic.

Weight Limits

In order to fly quickly, efficiently, and legally, Amazon’s drones of choice must weigh less than 55lbs. At that weight, Amazon is able to transport parcels weighing no more than 5lbs. Fortunately, this accounts for the majority of Amazon’s order fulfillment. However, this leaves a significant portion of items unaccounted for.

Open Field for Competitors

When (and if) the FAA opens the floodgates and allows Amazon to follow through with their drone-powered, 30-minute order fulfillment strategy, competitors are sure to follow suite. In fact, Wal-Mart has already begun research of their own. How Amazon plans to account for potentially crowded skies remains to be seen.

What Does this All Mean?

For consumers, it means that some of your lightweight packages will arrive quickly should you be in an approved and supported area. However, on a B2B level, moving large amounts of freight is likely to remain grounded. Regardless of your delivery needs, this is certainly an exciting time for logistics.

With the landscape looking ready to shift, you need to find a 3PL provider that embraces new technologies and is able to stay competitive in a developing market. Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment has always and will continue to adapt and develop the latest and greatest technologies to make sure everything finds its rightful place—quickly.  

---

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

The Biggest Day in E-Commerce You Didn’t Know About

If somebody asked you, “What’s the biggest single day for e-commerce sales?” you’d probably come up with one of two responses. Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great choices—billions of dollars move through online channels on these days and, for many retailers, these represent the peak of online sales for the year.

However, what you might not know about is the single biggest day in e-commerce sales volumes that happens, primarily, across the Atlantic, in China. November 11th is “Singles Day,” and it’s on this day that fulfillment warehouses the world over are in a frenzy shipping packages out to paying
customers.

So, just how big is Singles Day?
The holiday weekend that spans from Thanksgiving Day (11/26/15) through Cyber Monday (11/30/15) is known for bringing in massive volumes of sales. Last year, the online sales total for the entire weekend was roughly $11 billion dollars.

The total value of goods transacted through Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., during Singles Day 2015 was a staggering $14.32 billion. In a single day. That means a single company moved more than the entire 2014 GDP of Jamaica in one day. And while the amount of commerce done is impressive just by looking at the numbers, we can’t help must wonder about the amazing logistics and order fulfillment that goes on behind the scenes.

Singles Day in the US?
For all of you wondering if this means there’ll be yet another day in November in which you’re encourage to spend, spend, spend—don’t worry. Chances are, Singles Day won’t translate into a holiday in the US to any sort of magnitude near China’s. Retailers here plan all year long for Holiday Weekend special events and sales. The odds that they’ll want to prepare another sale for just a few weeks previous are slim.

---

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

The Order Fulfillment Technology that Fuels Fulfillment Warehouses

Just like with any other task in life, getting consumer products fulfillment done properly requires the right tools. Unlike other tasks, the ‘right tools’ happen to be a collection of sophisticated, specialized technologies. Today, we’re going to review a few of the technologies that power our fulfillment warehouses and make Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment such an efficient 3^rd party logistics provider.

Predictive Packaging Technology

Powered by sophisticated software, predictive packaging technology enables fulfillment warehouses to package goods as efficiently as possible using product dimensions and safety as guidelines. Complex algorithms package goods in just the right way to minimize dunnage and waste, which translates to more efficient logistics and savings for the client.

E-Commerce Expertise

The face of commerce has transformed radically over the last few years. Now, during the busiest shopping times of year, more business is done online than in-store. This makes efficient order fulfillment more paramount to success than ever before. Your 3PL provider must understand how e-commerce works, from back-end to front, and understand the complexity that goes into building an online storefront.

Pick-to-Voice Devices

Pick-to-voice devices powered by voice recognition technology allows warehouse operators to have constant direction as they place items in their proper place. With these devices, workers can simply speak the name or code of the item they’re holding and voice recognition technology will respond with the correct destination with 99.9% accuracy. Free of the burden of constantly glancing at order sheets, employees move about the fulfillment warehouse safely and efficiently.

---

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

How to Reduce Your Abandoned Shopping Carts

According to the Baymard Institute (baymard.com), 68% of all ecommerce visitors abandon their shopping carts – leaving behind merchandize valued at approximately $4 trillion!¹  How can you reduce this trend, and close the sale with your customers?  Fortunately, the same research tells us that 63% of those abandoned carts are recoverable.  Following are three significant reasons causing those abandons:

• Not ready to buy yet 16%
• Having to create a new user account 23%
• Unexpected shipping costs 28%

Addressing just one of these factors can have a positive impact on your sales, so let’s look at the biggest factor – unexpected shipping costs.

A well-designed ecommerce site focused on the user experience can support your efforts to close sales.  Your billing and shipping page should provide multiple shipping time options, with the delivery time and cost clearly displayed.  Set the least expensive as the default.  Include descriptions and input examples for input fields – you want to make completing the forms as simple as possible, and not leave room for questions or errors that result in the customer walking away from the cart.  And always provide an option to select the shipping address as the same as the billing address – never make your customer input the same information twice!

Your 3PL fulfillment partner can help you fine-tune your shipping options and ensure that you meet your shipping deadlines, to help maximize your cart close rates.  They can be a key partner in crafting your inventory and shipping strategies.  Talk to your partner today, and start recovering those abandoned carts today!

Exciting news: Vision will be at the SEMA Show November 3rd through 6th in Las Vegas www.semashow.com.  The SEMA show is the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world!  If you’re thinking about going, let’s connect!  661-702-5050.

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!

http://visioncpf.com

CPFSales@VisionMediamgmt.com

¹ https://econsultancy.com/blog/66680-top-10-digital-marketing-stats-from-this-week/?utm_source=Econsultancy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5922660_1836-daily-pulse-us-2015-07-10&dm_i=LQI,3IXYC,9O32IC,CN17Z,1

Managing Rising Consumer Expectations for Shipping

Ecommerce is on the rise. Consumers are visiting vendor sites, carting goods, and checking out more often now than ever! However, as online sales surge, so do consumer expectations for shipping their purchased goods. Let’s take a look at the kinds of expectations customers have these days and what you can do to keep up.

                                                       

How Many Days to Wait?

As consumers come to expect more and more from online retailers, the amount of time shoppers are willing to wait for their products to arrive decreases. The exact number of days a customer is willing to wait depends on the cost of shipping. When shipping is free, 85% of consumers are willing to wait five days or more, while only 66% of customers paying for shipping are willing to wait that long.

Shipping Fees and Shipping Free

Anyone who’s ever mailed a letter knows that shipping isn’t free. Although many companies opt to absorb these costs as a way to attract customers, the fact remains that shipping a product is going to cost somebody some cash.

Despite this fact, studies have shown that 76% of consumers expect some sort of free shipping option when shopping online. This disconnect between shopper expectations and reality creates increased costs for vendors.

Customers Expect the Unexpected

Shoppers maintain lives as complex as the ecommerce stores on which they shop. As a consequence, many consumers find the need to change shipping details days after the transaction is complete. Some shoppers want to change a package’s destination, while others want to push a delivery date back to ensure they’re home to receive it.

According to a recent study, less than half of consumers are currently satisfied with their options to change delivery dates or destination after their order has been placed.

How to Meet Expectations

If there’s one thing to be said about shipping expectations from online shoppers, it’s that they’re constantly in flux. The best way to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers is to work with a fulfillment warehouse that is constantly dedicated to matching those needs. You need professionals who are always updating, refining, and perfecting order fulfillment services.

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!

http://visioncpf.com

CPFSales@VisionMediamgmt.com

What to Look for in a 3PL Provider

If you’ve been following our blog, then you’ve seen us define third-party logistics (3PL) and discuss reasons why you should consider using 3PL for your company. Today, we’re going to take a slightly different approach and tell you how to pick the right 3PL. The ideal 3PL provider has all of the following:

International Reach

Today’s connected environment gives even the smallest companies the ability to extend reach worldwide. While earning global visibility is achievable by the individual, actually shipping your goods across the globe requires specific expertise. Your 3PL should be able to take your goods across the world. Even if you aren’t shipping internationally right now, choose a 3PL team that will allow you expand when you’re ready.

Domestic Expertise

While shipping across borders and overseas gives you a competitive edge, mastery over domestic shipping is absolutely essential to any business. Select a 3PL that's quick, accurate, and affordable when it comes to order fulfillment.

Local Cartage

While most order fulfillment companies work with other carriers when necessary to get the job done, the best teams make use of their own fleets to satisfy local orders. Order fulfillment companies using an in-house fleet are able to fully own responsibility for local orders, ensuring that the product gets to the consumer without ever switching hands.

Small Parcel Shipping

Some business models involve shipping small packages to individuals across the country—these orders aren’t always best handled by entire fleets of delivery vehicles. To accommodate smaller orders, a good 3PL will work with other carriers at competitive rates to ensure that packages arrive on time. Every delivery should be treated as important, no matter the size!

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!

http://visioncpf.com

CPFSales@VisionMediamgmt.com