The benefits of using a portable generator to power your business can be significant. Whether you’re in a bind or simply want more reliability, having a portable generator on hand is a smart idea. Here are five steps for how to streamline the entire operation of your logistics department without sacrificing long-term success.
Distribute your inventory across multiple locations and regions when it comes to logistics planning
If you have a limited number of items to sell, and especially if they’re costly, it’s best to sell them all. This is called inventory splitting. It can be difficult to determine exactly where your goods should be delivered so that consumers can buy what they want when they want it. Split up your inventory between multiple strategically positioned fulfillment centers, and
Orders are immediately routed to and fulfilled from the center near to the order’s destination point once they have been received.
Another benefit that derives from utilizing your shopify account and integrating with the Shopify POS is reduced shipping distance and time, which lowers costs and speeds up delivery. This benefits consumers by lowering prices, increasing conversions, and encouraging repeat buying. If you can, distributing inventory saves time, money, and work for both you and your customer.
Another advantage of distributing inventory is that, by spreading your SKUs across locations, you avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket. If you can meet some customer demand, especially if your items are critical, this method will safeguard your inventory in the event of a warehouse or fulfillment center disaster (or even severe weather events when carriers can’t pick up), and ensure that you can fulfill some client expectations.
However, before you arrange your shipping around decentralized inventory, there are a few factors to consider. When distributed inventory is the best fit for your needs, there are several things to keep in mind:
- A business’s AOV and profit margins are high
- Products are heavy or bulky
- Customers are spread out across the country (or world) rather than consolidated in one region
If any of these statements are true for your company, you should evaluate how to put your plan into action. Partnering with a 3PL is frequently the most cost-effective choice for achieving distributed inventory since you don’t have to own or rent a warehouse yourself.
Forecast demand to meet increased expectations
Forecasting demand is critical for supply chain management since having adequate inventory to meet demand is crucial for delivering the correct product to the right customer at the right time.
When you can accurately predict demand levels, you can ensure that you don’t undersupply any goods or oversupply them, both of which are bad for your company’s efficiency and bottom line.
Inventory forecasting has a significant impact on virtually every aspect of your business, from your budget to your production timetable to your storage expenses to the inventory turnover. As a result, you should always consider demand forecasts into your logistics planning system so that miscalculations or assumptions don’t bring down the whole efficiency of your operation.
Demand forecasting is made simpler by certain 3PLs than others. For example, Launch Fulfillment allows you to:
- To discover new patterns and spot seasonal, geographic, or product-specific trends, use real-time inventory counts, historical sales data, and more complex analytics.
- Use these findings to create more precise demand forecasts and advise supply planning for the future without having to manually keep track of essential data.
Don’t rely on one carrier for shipping and transportation
If you only have a single carrier to rely on and no backup plan, problems with that provider may wreak havoc on your operations.
When arranging logistics, it’s critical to look into several carriers — including their coverage area, pricing, 2-day capabilities, technology, and reputation — and utilize a mix of them.
Don’t undervalue regional parcel carriers, as they may be less expensive than bigger ones like DHL or FedEx and can provide personalized services or access to areas that larger carriers can’t.
Consider all forms of distribution and transportation, including air and ocean transport, for larger shipments or moving completed items to warehouses. One of these methods may be preferable than traditional ground shipping based on how big, bulky, or perishable your products are.
However, by choosing a 3PL to ship with, you may often save money on shipping and transportation. 3PLs like Launch Fulfillment can negotiate far more effectively with carriers for reduced shipping costs than small shippers can because of their size, which they pass on to their customers.
Use cutting-edge logistics technology and software to your advantage.
Technology has advanced to the point where it is considerably easier to both optimize and “future-proof” your current logistics operations management. Order processing, inventory management, storage, and fulfillment are all simplified and digitized through software like IMS and WMS.
These technologies provide tools that make logistics planning easier, such as real-time inventory monitoring to guarantee demand forecasts are accurate. Lower labor costs and improved order accuracy are also achieved through automation in order processing and warehouse functions.
The goal of these solutions is to provide users with the information they need without requiring them to sift through pages and articles. This data should also be collected and recorded automatically, and kept in one location for easy access at any time. The merchant dashboard on Launch Fulfillment was created with this in mind – particularly, it integrates directly with your ecommerce platform
Our solution is full-stack and has already been implemented in all of our warehouses, so you won’t have to juggle several tools and platforms to handle multiple locations.