A key ingredient to building and running a successful company is devoting the right amount of time, on the right activities. If you have a company with products to offer consumers, you know that order fulfillment and shipping processes are usually easily managed in the early stages of a business. However, what happens when your business begins to take off and orders come in faster than you can manage? Our answer is to engage a third party logistics (“3PL”) provider, like K-5 Solutions, to help you manage logistical challenges and “get it right.” Improving customer satisfaction is possible by engaging K-5 to help manage a portion of your supply chain. Your business is not too small to benefit from a 3PL.
What is a third party logistics provider and what do they do?
A third party logistics provider, also knowns as a 3PL, is a resource for businesses that involves three parties — a business owner, a carrier and a logistics provider. 3PL providers offer logistical solutions for businesses that includes inventory management, warehousing, order fulfillment (picking and packing) and shipping. Is order fulfillment your strength? Do you consider it a part of your core competency?
Why would you want to use a 3PL provider?
If your business faces challenges with inventory management, warehousing, order fulfillment and shipping, then engaging a 3PL may be a great solution. Working with a 3PL can help you scale operations and be more flexible with operations overall. If you need more time to devote to other aspects of building your business, a 3PL provider can be a perfect addition. A 3PL can save you time by managing inventory, fulfilling orders and shipping products so you do not have to. A 3PL can be helpful if you have supply chain issues, limited space to store inventory or if you are short on labor to fulfill orders. If you need assistance geographically, meaning you need products closer to customers so orders are promptly delivered, engaging a 3PL provider can fill that need. Are you picking your orders electronically?
What is important to look for in a 3PL provider?
When selecting a 3PL, there are several things you want to make sure are offered to your business. You want to make sure the 3PL offers a reliable inventory management interface so you can keep track of your inventory in real time. It is important that the 3PL has good e-commerce store integrations. This will enable you to sell products on multiple channels and allow you to reach more customers. A 3PL should offer automatic order fulfillment that fully integrates with your e-commerce platforms so incoming orders are fulfilled immediately. Multiple warehousing locations will allow your products to be shipped from locations that are closest to your customers, saving your business money on shipping and allowing your products to be delivered faster. A 3PL should also offer fast and efficient shipping once orders are received. Same-day or next-day fulfillment is ideal so there will be no concern about customers receiving products in a timely manner.
At K-5 Solutions, we know how important it is for you to effectively manage your inventory and get products into the hands of your customers as quickly as possible, but you must trust that your customers, and or your inventory, are in good hands. We have the necessary solutions to improve order accuracy, and inventory management, but the key to our success is our people. Since we operate K-5 as a subsidiary of Colonial, LLC, a manufacturer of branded point of sale product for over 50 years, we have an infrastructure of people to handle the spikes in your business that makes staffing and order fulfillment more challenging. How would it improve your daily operations to have your weekly or monthly container processed off site?
People, Processes and Performance – K-5 Solutions.