When you’re running a direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecommerce business, logistics is a major consideration. Consumers expect an Amazon-like experience that gets their orders to their doors in just a couple of days. Any error or delay in the delivery process could impact the customer experience and lower your retention rates.
A significant portion of D2C ecommerce brands use third-party logistic (3PL) providers to take care of their warehousing and D2C shipping needs. However, many brands make the mistake of using multiple 3PL locations, with hopes of improving the shipping experience for the destinations in which most of their current customers reside. This often complicates their processes, increases operating costs, and causes unnecessary errors and delay. More importantly – it isolates their potential to grow into new markets with predictable margins.
Instead, you should work with a single warehouse that can handle all your logistics. Here’s how this can save you time and money while increasing your ROI.
Reduce the Number of Warehouse Points of Contacts
When you only have to communicate and coordinate with one warehouse, the process becomes more efficient. There are fewer moving parts and you only need to work with a single team or person to coordinate the warehousing activities. This will streamline the logistic workflows so your products will get shipped more expediently and reach your customers faster, allowing you to deliver a satisfying shopping experience.
Simplify Inventory Management
Using a centralized warehouse simplifies inventory management. It’s easier to track company-wide inventory with one single report to help reduce errors. You can also better implement unified inventory management policies since you don’t have to coordinate efforts with multiple warehouses throughout the supply chain. Finally, it’s easier to provide a more accurate shipment timeframe to shoppers for a better customer experience.
Reduce Errors
Coordinating shipment and inventory across multiple warehouses is a complex process that can result in costly errors and delays, which not only create a frustrating customer experience and increases your customer service load but also requires your employees to spend hours tracking down packages and re-routing shipments.
Improve Accountability
When you use a single operator, it’s accountable for all your warehousing needs. You don’t have to spend the time and resources to track down orders. It’s less likely that things will fall through the cracks, which can cause delays in customers receiving their products. Using a single warehouse also minimizes the time and costs associated with tracking down and resolving these logistics mishaps if they occur.
Streamline Operations and Improve Cost-Efficiency
You only have to communicate with one source to get details on all your inventory and warehousing activities when you use a single warehouse. From operational execution to performance reporting, you can get all the information you need from one place. This eliminates the time and resources you spend on managing multiple providers and then reconciling the data.
Lower Warehousing Cost
Consolidating your logistics needs with a single warehouse allows you to take advantage of volume discounts and better service without compromising delivery speed or your customer experience. Since logistics can be a major expense for D2C ecommerce merchants, you can increase your profit margin significantly by taking advantage of volume pricing.
Mitigating the Risks of Downsizing to a Single Warehouse
Many D2C merchants are reluctant to put all their eggs in one basket by using a single warehouse — we get it!
When you work with traditional shipping carriers, multiple warehouses make sense because of long shipping times and added expenses. However, you can eliminate those risks when you use a non-asset-based, point-to-point digital shipping carrier that can provide you with 100% supply chain visibility and seamless last-mile delivery no matter where your packages are heading.
With our zoneless pricing and shipping API, X Delivery™ allows you to consolidate your operations while still meeting the customer expectation of Amazon-like 2-day shipping at a reasonable cost. This means you can stay competitive without adding to your operating expenses.
Contact us today to see how X Delivery™ can help you reimagine delivery!