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.  

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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.

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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.

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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

What We Learned from Cyber Monday 2015

It’s the most wonderful time of year—for retailers and consumers alike. As we move into December and the dust settles from the zounds of online and in-store holiday shoppers, it’s time to take a look back and see what we can learn from the year’s most potent weekend for commerce.

Retailers Aren't Prepared

This year, out-of-stock rates were at an all-time high. Approximately 13% percent of product views were for out-of-stock products. That's double the normal rate!

While scarcity is a solid sales tactic and “Doorbuster” deals go hand-in-hand with Cyber Monday, the fact remains that ‘out-of-stock’ equals zero revenue. Next year, if you’re planning on flooring your consumers with amazing deals, make sure you have an all-star fulfillment warehouse to help you manage your stock as products fly off the shelves!

Ecommerce Has Gone Mobile

This shift has been happening for years, but now it’s official: Making your site mobile-ready is non-negotiable. 49% of Cyber Monday shopping visits were from mobile devices. No matter how efficient your fulfillment warehouse, your online storefront needs to be ready for mobile visitors. In order to keep up with the pace of technology, be sure to find an order fulfillment provider that knows the ins and outs of ecommerce.

Get Ready for Some Heavy Lifting

Although the process of shopping has gone online, the resulting purchases always require a physical response. The top-5 selling electronics on this Cyber Monday were, in order,

1. 4K Televisions
2. Microsoft Xbox One
3. Apple iPad Mini
4. Apple iPad Air 2
5. Sony PS4

The Xbox One is a chunky 447 cubic inches and weighs 7 pounds, the PS4 clocks in at 269.5 cubic inches and weighs 6.1 pounds, and 4K televisions come in all shapes, weights, and sizes. The common thread between these items is that, when shipped in mass, they’re heavy. The driving force for all these purchases must be a consumer products fulfillment provider that’s willing to orchestrate heavy lifting in a timely and efficient manner.

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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 Thanksgiving Weekend 2015 Means for Your Business

Thanksgiving 2015 falls on November 26th. It’s a time to be with family and friends, treat yourself to delicious treats, and, in recent years, start hunting for deals. From Thanksgiving on through to the 30th of November are four of the year’s biggest shopping days, and although sales numbers as a whole continue to rise, there’s been a dramatic shift to getting shopping done online.

Last year, physical retail sales dipped 11% from 2013’s total.¹ While physical stores may be suffering, IBM’s U.S. Retail Black Friday Report 2014 boasted a 63.47% increase of online sales year-over-year (YoY) on Thanksgiving and a 9.48% increase YoY on Black Friday.² Across 2014’s holiday weekend, shoppers flooded digital channels, spending over $4.5 billion.³

As an online business, what does this mean for you?

1. You need to prepare your website for heavy traffic volumes.
   Building on trends established from last year, sales volumes are set to increase again, but physical retail stores may share an even lesser share of the commerce. Consumers are going to be out in force, but more than ever before, they’ll turn to their computers, smartphones, and tablets to make the sale. Make sure your website is ready for heavy traffic volumes so you don’t have to turn anybody away.
2. Your order fulfillment company must be ready for anything.
   For every digital checkout completed, there needs to be a physical reaction of shipping those goods to your consumers. Late November into early December is the single more important time of the year for 3rd party logistics companies to be highly performant and responsive.
   
   Vision Consumer Products Fulfillment runs their fulfillment warehouses with a mix of proven expertise and advanced technology to ensure that everything you sell gets out the door quickly. If your 3PL isn’t equipped to do the same, then it might be time to consider switching.

With each passing year, Thanksgiving Weekend becomes a bigger shopping spectacle. You want your business to be part of these record-shattering days, and you need a 3PL provider to back you up.

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 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/business/thanksgiving-weekend-sales-at-stores-and-online-slide-11-percent.html?_r=2
² http://www-01.ibm.com/software/marketing-solutions/benchmark-reports/black-friday-report-2014.pdf
³ http://www.statista.com/statistics/266104/online-retail-spending-on-thanksgiving-black-friday-and-cyber-monday/

FedEx Fuel Surcharge Déjà Vu

Effective 2 November 2015, FedEx is adjusting its fuel surcharge index.  Experiencing some déjà vu? That may be because just nine months ago, in February 2015, FedEx adjusted its fuel surcharge index.  

This time around, fuel surcharges for FedEx Express/International will increase 1.5% to 1.75%, while FedEx Ground surcharges will increase 0.5% – 1.0%.¹ These are in addition to the fuel surcharges implemented in February.  And the hits just keep coming: FedEx also announced increased shipping rates effective 4 January 2016, with FedEx Express, Ground, Home Delivery and Freight, all increasing by an average of 4.9%.²

You have to get your products into your customers’ hands, so you have no choice but to ship.  So, how will these changes affect your planning? What are your options for managing rising shipping costs?  How can you proactively address your logistics management?  

Before you panic and start taking the hit to your bottom line, talk to your 3PL fulfillment partner.  A great fulfillment partner can help; transportation is the backbone of their business, and they’re on top of the trends and working on ways to optimize their options to their partners’ benefit.  Talk to Vision, we can help you understand and plan for your transportation future.

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Exciting news: Vision will be at the SEMA Show November 3^rd through 6^th 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 http://www.mytotalretail.com/post/oops-fedex-increases-fuel-surcharges-products-effective-nov-2-2015/

² http://www.mytotalretail.com/post/fedex-announces-2016-general-rate-increase-changes-shipware-analysis/