According to Forrester Research, a full 10 percent of Canadian retail will be conducted via the online space by the year 2019. Statistics Canada reported that total retail sales in Canada in 2014 stood at $505 billion, and they are likely higher today if trends are any indication. If you are looking to bring your products or services to Canada, you must prioritize the distribution and fulfillment of your business to this growing market. Logistics is a full-time job in itself, and you will need help. Here is why shipping logistics is so necessary and how to get the help you need to succeed.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPER SHIPPING LOGISTICS
“The early morning has gold in its mouth,” as Benjamin Franklin once said. In order to expand your business at the rate of Canadian consumer growth, you need to act now. A built-in hardware structure, savings and a strategic partnership are the three main advantages of outsourcing to a 3PL. Here is a closer look at each topic.
GAINING IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO A FREIGHT SHIPMENT NETWORK
If you are putting your full effort into the other aspects of your business, you probably do not have time to cultivate relationships and partnerships along the distribution and fulfillment supply line. This is an aspect of business that your 3PL partner company has already taken care of. If you need to move product in a particular area quickly, you only need to make one phone call to your partner instead of many phone calls to suppliers, drivers, movers and warehouse specialists on your own.
SAVING TIME AND MONEY
Partnering with a professional 3PL company gives you access to volume discounts through shared warehousing facilities. Perhaps your business does not have the scale to warrant a full shipment with every order. However, you will pay full price on each distribution and fulfillment order if you do not cultivate a partnership with a company that maximizes its spacing on every delivery.
Your partner company will also have the latest technology and software for securing, monitoring and tracking products as they are delivered to their final destination. Setting up this network can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for an individual company, money that your company would have more use for in other aspects of business.
BEGINNING A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
Starting a distribution partnership early in your business cycle allows you to scale in a much more natural way. If you have seasonal spikes or other irregular product demands, you will not take on the ongoing costs of your own distribution network in those slow periods if you outsource. Saving money during the slow months will help you grow more quickly during the relevant months, and your logistics company will be able to provide you with the support for those sales spikes as well.
GETTING THE RIGHT LOGISTICS HELP
If taking care of your own distribution and warehousing while managing your day-to-day business seems like a lot of work, you have good instincts. It is a lot of work! It’s so much work, in fact, that even Fortune 500 companies with the ability to hire entire departments outsource their logistics to third-party specialists.
Because logistics is not the priority core value in a company, it is much easier and more effective to outsource fulfillment to a company with that core value as its priority.
THE JOB IS NOT DONE UNTIL IT IS DELIVERED.
The great Robert Kiyasaki once said, “A product is only as good as its distribution.” Yours is not complete until the product is actually delivered to the customer. Going 3PL gives you the ability to outsource your logistics without losing track of your core values. Your employees will certainly thank you for the ability to focus on their jobs, and you will personally have more time to strategize as to how to grow the company instead of worrying about the cost of energy and fluctuation in transportation prices.
Ottowa Logistics is the fulfillment company that can connect your business to your customer seamlessly. Let us handle all of your distribution and fulfillment needs so that you can keep your eye squarely on the customer and the other aspects of your distribution and fulfillment campaign. Why try to reinvent the wheel and spend all of your time and money administering the hardware that you will need to set up your own logistics? Use our system!
