A good percentage of our B2B fulfillment clients here at Spectra are large corporations. They need to reach end users around the United States and sometimes even around the world with delivery of all sorts of products, requiring an organized, powerful 3PL fulfillment system. 

However, those are by no means the only kind of clients that we work with. The flexibility of the Spectra approach to fulfillment means that we can construct a set of fulfillment solutions for a small company or a nonprofit that fits all of their specific needs. Most importantly for the client, that set of solutions is affordable as well. Here’s a case study featuring a nonprofit organization that found Spectra to be the perfect partner for all of their varied fulfillment needs.

One Church, Multiple Campuses

Alongside the rise of the “megachurch” movement over the past few decades, some quickly growing churches have chosen to divide into multiple smaller congregations rather than remaining as a single very large group. These organizations generally value the closer community feeling of a small church and its encouragement of interpersonal relationships. At the same time, by remaining united in many ways, these multiple small “campuses” gain many benefits in terms of outreach capabilities and a fully aligned mission in their community.

While these churches may not use the term branding to describe the names, logos, color schemes, and other details associated with their signage and printed materials, the concept is very similar to the branding that is so important to large corporations. Church leaders want guests at any of the campuses to have a similar experience and recognize that all of the campuses are part of the same larger organization and share the same philosophies and goals.

Seeking Support Through Fulfillment 

One of these large churches, serving 12 different campuses, was looking for a third-party service provider that could help them create and distribute many different types of printed collateral, promotional items, and other materials to all their campuses on a regular basis. With weekly worship services and many special events taking place at any given time, this represented a sizable and very complex project.

Unity and Customizability

In addition to the desire to have materials for all the church campuses be unified in their look and feel, this client also needed a high degree of customizability. Since each individual campus conducts events on its own, flyers, mailers, and other collateral needed to be customized with each campus’s address, contact information, and other details. 

Pulling Together a Range of Services

When all was said and done, the entire fulfillment solution for this client involved a range of different fulfillment activities.

• Inventory management for large scale signage and other physical items that campuses could order, use, and return to be restocked until its next use.
• Use of an online storefront by individuals at the various campuses to design and personalize printed materials, then place orders for the resulting materials.
• Printing of customized and standard materials at Spectra’s in-house print facility.
• Handling of drop shipping details for items supplied by other vendors.

Spectra’s Experience Came Through

While this unusual set of needs did indeed present many challenges, the Spectra team was ready to tackle them. Spectra quickly set up a system for inventory management, built an online storefront with all of the capabilities that the client required, and began the setup phase for the printed materials that would be needed.

In fact, this type of account is exactly the realm in which Spectra’s team shines most brightly. As a single 3PL provider with an integrated fulfillment division and print division, Spectra has an unusual ability to pull together different print, mailing, and fulfillment activities under the same team of experts and accomplish all of them at high levels. The client has been very pleased with the quality of the materials printed and supplied by Spectra, the convenience with which materials can be designed and ordered through the online storefront, and the speed with which orders are processed, kitted, and shipped.

Nonprofit Specific Needs

While corporations may have a sizable amount of capital to devote to fulfillment activities, nonprofits must be very aware of where capital is being spent and minimize costs wherever possible. Spectra’s integrated approach to printing and fulfillment was a huge benefit to this particular client. Having a single team manage all of the activities in the account cut expenses in many different areas compared to having multiple service providers do different tasks. Spectra also offers valuable savings in bulk mailing and postage, which nonprofits are not able to take advantage of when conducting these activities in-house.

There are many other nuanced challenges involved with this client’s relationship with Spectra, but the deep knowledge of the industry that Spectra’s project managers bring to the table allows them to assess each request, quickly determine the most effective and affordable way to incorporate it into the client’s account, and turn it into reality for the church’s multiple campuses. In the end, the user experience for all 12 locations as they order materials on a weekly basis is seamless, enjoyable, and not often available to organizations such as this one in the nonprofit space.

Tell Us About Your Organization’s Needs

If you have been avoiding looking into 3PL fulfillment services for your organization because the needs are just too complicated, it’s time to set up a consultation with Spectra. In our decades of work with organizations from small e-commerce startups to national and global corporations to nonprofits in all types of sectors, we have many times over proven our ability to create a set of solutions that checks all the boxes for each unique client. In addition to working with churches like the one in this case study, we also work with charities, health advocacy groups, and other nonprofits.

Make your appointment today and learn more about our fulfillment, print, mailing, and other services. Spectra’s team is ready to help you solve your most complex logistics challenges, cut costs by streamlining the process, and offer your B2B end users an amazing experience.