Some say it is an Amazon world whereby brick stores are falling
by the way side. Even the largest retailers in Canada and the US
continue to ramp up their online operations at the expense of their
traditional retail brick store outlets. Call it a new way of doing
business, or call it a retrenchment strategy for retailers getting hurt
by their lower cost, more nimble e-tail counterparts. Case in point?
Look to the Future Shop and Best Buy who in 2013 announced the closure
of 15 of their big box stores in Canada.
Apparently the customer that previously wanted to feel, touch and smell the product before purchasing no longer needs that. Call it the trust factor - that you can readily shop online today with confidence that what you'll get is what is described online. With so much business establishing well regarded operations online with attractive shipping rates and return policies, it's not just Gen X and Y shopping online today.
Ecommerce for Small Business - How to Play with the Big Brand Retailers Online
Small businesses, even retailers that are exclusively online, can enjoy the benefits of selling via the internet. Some have experienced fantastic growth and established brands in their own right - but as the big retail brands have come to the e-tail party, the competition has become stiffer.
How can a small or mid-sized businesses match the distribution prowess, efficiency and know-how the big guys employ with already established distribution networks?
The answer may be "3rd party integrated fulfillment". Rather than warehousing product, marketing and making sales, and then picking, packing and shipping retail orders in-house you CAN, as a small business, achieve scale by leveraging a warehouse that specializes in fulfillment for its client base.
Ecommerce has given rise to such companies and services available to businesses that have outgrown their garage or basement and are ready for their next phase of growth.
How 3rd Party Warehousing and Fulfillment Works
The concept is easy, but of course the details matter when selecting a warehousing and fulfillment partner. In summary, it works like this:
We've already listed several benefits to outsourced warehousing and fulfillment, but the true value comes in the form of efficiencies achieved and scale that can be achieved with minimal capital investment. Typically, these are a pay-as-you go variable cost arrangement where costs often fluctuate with your revenues. This allows small business to essentially function as a much larger company.
It might be time for your retail operations to think bigger and partner with a warehousing and fulfillment partner. It need not be a new world only for Amazon and the big brands and by contracting services to a 3PL warehouse, small and mid-sized business owners can focus on marketing and sales growth - and leave the fulfillment logistics to the professionals.
Apparently the customer that previously wanted to feel, touch and smell the product before purchasing no longer needs that. Call it the trust factor - that you can readily shop online today with confidence that what you'll get is what is described online. With so much business establishing well regarded operations online with attractive shipping rates and return policies, it's not just Gen X and Y shopping online today.
Ecommerce for Small Business - How to Play with the Big Brand Retailers Online
Small businesses, even retailers that are exclusively online, can enjoy the benefits of selling via the internet. Some have experienced fantastic growth and established brands in their own right - but as the big retail brands have come to the e-tail party, the competition has become stiffer.
How can a small or mid-sized businesses match the distribution prowess, efficiency and know-how the big guys employ with already established distribution networks?
The answer may be "3rd party integrated fulfillment". Rather than warehousing product, marketing and making sales, and then picking, packing and shipping retail orders in-house you CAN, as a small business, achieve scale by leveraging a warehouse that specializes in fulfillment for its client base.
Ecommerce has given rise to such companies and services available to businesses that have outgrown their garage or basement and are ready for their next phase of growth.
How 3rd Party Warehousing and Fulfillment Works
The concept is easy, but of course the details matter when selecting a warehousing and fulfillment partner. In summary, it works like this:
- Your partner warehouses your product, with the benefit in most cases being that you can scale up your space needs or down (depending on seasonality). These warehouses have other clients just like you and typically house several or up to dozens of clients.
- You connect with the warehouse to communicate sales. This can be as sophisticated as an EDI between your system and their inventory management and fulfillment network. Or as rudimentary as faxing over order sheets requiring fulfillment.
- Warehousing staff picks, packs and prepares your order for shipment. This 3rd party staffing, which also means you are not responsible for human resource management.
- The order ships out. The order can "ship blind" which is a key component. In other words, you're the seller and the recipient will see that the order was "shipped from" you. Importantly, you can often leverage your 3rd party partner's preferred shipping rates - be they courier or freight rates. All of a sudden, you may be able to achieve shipping discounts you could never due to their pooled volume which achieves greater discounts of which they typically pass on a portion to you (better than list rates).
We've already listed several benefits to outsourced warehousing and fulfillment, but the true value comes in the form of efficiencies achieved and scale that can be achieved with minimal capital investment. Typically, these are a pay-as-you go variable cost arrangement where costs often fluctuate with your revenues. This allows small business to essentially function as a much larger company.
It might be time for your retail operations to think bigger and partner with a warehousing and fulfillment partner. It need not be a new world only for Amazon and the big brands and by contracting services to a 3PL warehouse, small and mid-sized business owners can focus on marketing and sales growth - and leave the fulfillment logistics to the professionals.
