We’re all familiar with the hypothetical question: If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about your business, what would it be? What this exercise effectively does is help us hone in on the most troublesome pain point, most perplexing challenge, or least desirable task in our organization. We’ll never get that magic wand, but once we are focused on that single issue, we can do the next best thing: Develop a practical strategic solution.
At Spectra, we spend a lot of time talking to representatives from organizations spanning the spectrum from small to large, local to national, B2B, B2C, e-commerce, retail, and everything in between. When we ask them a fulfillment focused version of the “magic wand” question, what we find, much to those representatives’ relief, is that the answers to those pain points and challenges are often within reach.
In this two-part series, we’ll introduce some of the biggest challenges that organizations struggle with in the area of fulfillment, and demonstrate how outsourcing the fulfillment process to a 3PL partner like Spectra solves those challenges quickly…almost as quickly as waving a magic wand.
1. Learning the Fulfillment Ropes
To the online shopper who places an order and then receives a box on their front porch a few days later, fulfillment appears to be simply the logical conclusion of the ordering process. In reality, fulfillment is a complex industry, with college degrees, training programs, and ongoing research dedicated to it. No company can be expected to operate an expert, fully optimized fulfillment department from day one.
The issue is that customers have come to expect an incredibly convenient, responsive, and affordable experience when they order from an online retailer. Customers don’t know or care whether the company they interact with is well established or just a few days old; they just want to get what they ordered as quickly as possible, with minimal cost and delay.
Partnering with Spectra instead of building an in-house fulfillment department is a way to do the (almost) impossible: Launch with a fully developed, expert-led fulfillment operation already in place run by a team of experts. As the Spectra team connects your CRM and online sales platforms with our fulfillment software, you gain the ability to serve your customers with top-notch fulfillment right from the start.
2. Customizing B2B Offerings
One of the huge benefits for B2B fulfillment clients partnering with Spectra is the ability to curate the selection of materials that appear in their online ordering portal.
A large national corporation that supplies hundreds of retail locations around the country with a wide variety of products often faces complexity challenges when their B2B end users try to order from them. Not all of those end users need all the products offered by the corporation, and if they have to sift through dozens of options in an online catalog, it becomes difficult to quickly find and select relevant items.
The difficulty of this user experience means that end users will avoid using the system, reducing adoption and limiting potential sales opportunities. Spectra, on the other hand, enables clients to customize the options that appear in their online catalog based on end users’ tier level. When an end user logs in using their unique username and password, they only see the materials in the catalog that apply to their tier. They can easily see what options are actually available to them, and they can quickly decide which will help them with their current sales goals.
3. High Level Quality Control
Along with a seamless user experience and quick delivery times, customers today, both in B2B and B2C contexts, expect very high levels of accuracy in fulfillment. This calls for levels of quality control that are simply not possible to achieve in-house as a startup e-commerce company, particularly during the initial growth phase.
With decades of experience in fulfillment, Spectra has all the pieces in place to exercise rigorous quality control over every package. The pick and pack team uses powerful barcode scanning systems and meticulous inventory management to ensure the right items are placed into each box. Packages are also checked by another staff member to verify that they are kitted correctly.
Even a correctly kitted package, however, could disappoint the customer on arrival if items are damaged. This is another area where Spectra’s fulfillment experience plays an important role. Our team follows industry best practices for packing items of all types to ensure safe delivery. Our facility is stocked with the packing materials needed to protect those items throughout transit until they reach the customer’s door.
Tune In Next Time
We aren’t done with the magic wand yet! In the second part of this two-part blog post, we’ll examine other major pain points that make it difficult for both large national suppliers and startup e-commerce businesses to succeed in fulfillment.
If these problems resonate with you, you’re not alone! The process of developing a fulfillment department in-house is incredibly complex, not to mention expensive. Deciding to work with a 3PL partner instead isn’t the whole story, however. You need to make sure that the provider you choose is capable of quickly getting aligned with your company’s goals, priorities, and workflows. Only then will the entire process work seamlessly, satisfying your customers and giving your organization the freedom to explore new opportunities.
You can learn more about Spectra’s fulfillment expertise by visiting our website or scheduling a consultation with our team. Contact us today to get started.
