How a 3PL Can Help Your E-commerce Business

The shift in buyer behavior from offline to online shopping coupled with the current Covid-19 situation and government support, has increased the opportunity and competition in the e-commerce industry. Companies that are here to stay are focusing largely on streamlining their processes. Especially their last mile delivery process for a better turnaround time, but that’s not it – there are multiple logistics requirements that an e-commerce business might have, which a 3PL company can help with.

Logistics Solutions for E-Commerce that a 3PL Can Offer –

It’s not just Last Mile Delivery, logistics plays an important role in the e-commerce business processes. So, should you handle logistics in-house or partner with a third party logistics (3PL) company? A logistics company like ProConnect Integrated Logistics can provide a bouquet of e-commerce fulfillment and delivery services customized to your business’ unique requirement. Here are some of the logistics solutions for E-commerce by 3PL companies.

  1. Warehousing and Storage – E-commerce businesses usually don’t have a brick and mortar store, but they do need a physical location to maintain the inventory of their goods. A 3PL, like ProConnect Integrated Logistics, customizes warehousing and integrates their technology and WMS with your system, giving you visibility and control over your inbound and outbound shipments, your stock level and orders. One of our previous articles, Outsourcing warehousing and distribution to a 3PL, explains the advantages of outsourcing warehousing to a logistics company in more detail.

  2. Supply Chain Management – For an e-commerce business to thrive, supply chain management is vital. A 3PL can take care of your inbound and outbound shipments to ensure your goods are sourced in a timely manner, be it from one or multiple sources. The hassle that comes along with supply chain management can easily be passed on to your logistics partner.

  3. Consolidation of Goods from Buyer – E-commerce businesses usually source multiple goods in a single shipment, this helps them lower their shipment / sourcing costs. A 3PL partner will consolidate your goods into the most suitable shipment type and mode, help you understand the taxes and customs duty, thus helping you save on shipment hassles and cost.

  4. Sorting of Goods – Deconsolidation / sorting and segregation of goods comes in the picture next. A large shipment with multiple goods come to your warehouse – it could take in long hours of labor to segregate and tag your shipments. Your logistics partner will have all the required manpower, technology and space to sort your shipments into different SKUs, making it ready for your customer orders.

  5. Fulfillment of Orders – Streamlining order fulfillment is one of the most trickiest parts. This can be further divided into three parts –

    • Inbound Operations – Every e-commerce business needs to ensure their customers get the best quality of goods. Upon receiving the goods in the warehouse, your logistics partner will run quantity and quality checks, label the goods and then store them – this promotes better order execution.

    • Order Preparation – An e-commerce company receives huge amounts of orders each day. Your logistics partner will have your system integrated with their WMS, so that the order fulfillment processes starts as soon as an order has been received. This includes order picking, labelling and packing as per your brand guidelines.

    • Outbound Operations – An e-commerce company needs to ensure their goods dispatch from the warehouse on time and are able to be tracked by their customers and themselves. Your logistics partner will generate AWB and manifest for each of the shipment and then hand it over for last mile delivery.

  6. Last Mile Delivery – This is the most crucial step for any e-commerce merchant. On time and quick delivery hugely impacts a customer’s view of the company. A logistics partner can carry out last mile delivery for you that involves route planning, cash on delivery, and returns management.

This widely explains all the logistics requirement an E-commerce company has – which is huge! With a 3PL company to handle your logistics, you get to focus more on your business aspects, leaving all the hassles to the experts.

3PLs like ProConnect Integrated Logistics possess the expertise, infrastructure, technology as well as the network to cater to your logistics needs, which if you consider doing in-house will take up a good amount of investment in time, money and resources.

Discuss your e-commerce logistics needs with us or simply get quote.

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