Improving customer experience is a crucial part of making your business better. You’ll be known for your excellent service and you’ll build your reputation if you focus on customer experience. Not only that, but it can have a major effect on your bottom line.
Here are just some statistics from TechJury on what focusing on a quality customer experience can do for your business:
“There is an 80% increase in revenue for businesses that focus on improving customer experience.”
“73% of customers agree that customer experience helps to drive their buying decision.”
“Businesses that prioritize customer experience have a revenue increase of 4-8% higher than their competitors.”
While pleasing your customers clearly impacts your bottom line, it also has a knock-on effect for you. If you focus on improvements to your business, you’ll also find that you can cut costs, smooth out operations, save time, and more. Customer retention rates also increase, which lowers your costs of having to constantly obtain new customers.
In this article, we’ll list several ways to serve your customers better and faster using third party logistics to organize your business.
What is third party logistics?
Third party logistics, or 3PL, is a way to manage your business by outsourcing. Instead of buying a warehouse and managing your inventory and fulfillment yourself, you can use a 3PL company to do everything for you.
With some 3PL companies, you can either hand everything over to your outsourcer or use a hybrid model. The hybrid model allows you to focus on what you’re good at while using your outsourcer to help with the rest.
Either way, there are many benefits for both you and your customers when using third party logistics.
By using 3PL, you can provide a greater range of products and give your customers more choice. You can gain cheaper shipping which you may want to pass on to your customers. Fulfillment is quicker and easier, with picking, packing, and delivery provided by your outsourcer. You can also focus on what you do best, rather than worrying about the logistics. This can lead to a better experience for your customers.
How to serve your customers better and faster with 3PL
1) E-commerce Integrations
As an e-commerce business, you don’t have to stick to just one platform. You can sell on Etsy, Amazon, eBay, and more. This gives you a wider audience and the chance to make more sales.
However, if you try to manage everything by hand, then it will be an exercise in frustration. You’ll spend a lot of time splitting your inventory between platforms. And you’ll have to check what you’ve sold on each platform with a separate dashboard for each.
With e-commerce marketplace integration from a 3PL supplier, you can manage all of your inventory and quickly update your figures to show what you have left. Everything is on one dashboard. You don’t have to waste time logging into individual platforms and adding up sales and inventory manually to see where you’re up to.
You can also update your listings once in the software instead of having to update each item on each platform.
Another benefit of using a 3PL company is that you can get into more marketplaces than you could on your own.
While many of these are benefits for your company, they also benefit your customers by ensuring that inventory is always up to date. This ensures that customers aren’t faced with disappointment. With easier listings, it is also easier to sell more products, which gives your customers more choice.
2) Warehousing
Instead of storing your goods yourself, you can save time and money by using warehousing from a third party logistics supplier.
A professional warehousing company understands how and where to store your goods to take up the smallest amount of space. Your 3PL supplier will have professional software that enables accurate receiving, picking, packing, and fulfillment of your goods, reducing errors. You’ll have better track of your inventory and what you need to order.
This enables a smooth purchase process for your customers who can rely on good service from your warehouse. Customers receive their goods quickly and without unnecessary delays in picking.
3) Fulfillment
E-commerce fulfillment manages the process of getting your customer’s order from your warehousing to their door. With professional software, a specialist provider can handle all of your orders from multiple platforms at once. Your orders will be picked, packed, and shipped accurately and quickly.
With a professional company, you’ll find that customers receive their orders faster. Orders are shipped from their nearest local warehouse, not from across the country. This can also allow for cheaper shipping.
Professional companies also have arrangements with the most popular carriers, such as FedEx. This allows them to negotiate cheaper rates and better deals for volume. You benefit from cheaper prices and so does your customer.
4) Dropshipping
With dropshipping, you can order goods from a third party retailer and they will send them straight to your customers. This cuts out any need for warehousing, inventory, and fulfillment.
You can expand your offerings to your customers without the risk of a full warehouse of things that might not sell. It’s convenient for you and your customers.
Some 3PL companies will help you with organizing your dropshipping, including everything from storage and inventory to shipping. As with the other options above, this means that your customers can benefit from a greater choice, faster delivery, and cheaper shipping.
If you want to take your e-commerce business forward, and focus on providing a great customer experience, 3PL could be your best option. You gain a smooth running, lower-cost business, and smooth running behind the scenes leads to a smooth experience for your customers.
