5 Smart Ways How 3PL Services Help Your Company Grow Profitably

Here is how multichannel companies use and benefit by using 3PL companies:

• Costing per order: When compared to internally managed operations, a third party logistics company can provide lower cost per order. While this might not be true for all business sizes but for small to mid-size business that don’t always have four season business, this can be extremely useful.
• Management Time: Hiring a 3PL company allows you to concentrate more time on your marketing and other core areas of your business.
• Low Capital Investment: Having the right 3PL partner beside you helps your company to reduce capital outlays for new fulfillment facilities, order management, and warehouse systems, telephone technologies, and in some cases website platforms. This allows you to use your capital to grow your business in other ways.
• International Distribution:  Multichannel companies use 3PL partners to serve different countries such as Canada, Europe, and Asia. This also allows you to use 3PL companies to consolidate orders from domestic multichannel companies as well.
• Additional Services: Hiring a 3PL company allows you to avail few other 3PL services such as transportation, distribution, and cross-docking. Since 3PL companies are dedicated to handling all aspects of logistics, which you might find difficult to carry out if done all on your own.

Are you looking for a 3PL or a third party logistics company to take care of your company’s logistics needs, Direct Traffic Solutions is the one that you are looking out for. Visit our website https://directtrafficsolutions.com/ and contact us to know more.

How to Develop Better Third-Party Logistics Relationship?

There are many clients who have learned the power of outsourcing in growing their business profitably. However, there are few other businessmen who feel that they want complete control over their customer service and they believe that handling logistics on their own would lead them to deliver products at a lower cost per order by handling fulfillment internally.

However, businesses that use 3PL get the most out of their outsourcing relationship, which includes customer services. Here are 3 steps that you can take to build amiable partnership:

• Finding and partnering up with the right third-party logistics providing company can help you in the long term. It is a partnership that gives you a platform to grow your business on and that too for low cost per transaction service. Honestly, it is a win/win situation for both parties.
• How many times have you experienced companies failing to make quality and performance standards part of their contract or responsibility. Although you might get daily updates on how the 3PL is getting the required workout, but it is important to understand that senior management usually delegate the day-to-day oversight to a company liaison. So, it would always be a great idea to negotiate and establish a scorecard approach that reviews performance monthly or quarterly.
• Many 3PL require ongoing forecasting in forms of receipts, orders, shipments, and etc. However, companies that do not have this system might be seen as restrictive, but that is the only way a 3PL can assure that it has the right number of professionals working to service your account. This method allows 3PL companies to provide short-term planning and forecasting.

These 3 steps, if taken carefully, can greatly enhance your experience with a 3PL partner and give them the opportunity to provide quality services at your anticipated costs.

Good Fulfillment Strategies to Leave Your Customers Happy

In business, time can get quite uncertain at times and the only businesses that survive are the ones that offer excellent fulfillment. One can easily talk about good order processing and higher accuracy but no one ever considers how things translate into happier customers. The key to happier customers is of good fulfillment.

Earlier, customer would happily wait for weeks for their order to be filled. However, with the internet coming into the picture, the dynamics have changed altogether. The idea of good fulfillment boils down to 3 basic but important elements and even missing one of these elements can turn shoppers into lost opportunities:

• Fast and Accurate

Fast and accurate fulfillment begins at the warehouse. This element also involves proper inventory control and storage of products that make it easy for workers to move seamlessly through the sorting process and into boxes for fast order fulfillment. This is why it is important to pay attention to your warehouse and distribution partner that is currently putting effort into getting your shipments out the door faster.

• Flexibility and Transparency

Agility is yet another key element to allow the best fulfillment possible. The 3PL processes can be hectic and uncertain at time and there might be scenarios where you might need to reroute an order to a customer or resupply in a pinch. Your fulfillment center should be able to turn on a dime while keeping you and your end customer updated on the status of an order.

• Data Points to Help Businesses do Better Business

Today, data is everything and it is especially true when it comes to good fulfillment. Your data points are just as important as the number of steps a worker takes to pick one order. Every data points helps and makes a difference.

These are the three elements that leads to good fulfillment and leaves your customers happy and wanting to do more business with you.

Your Basics to ELD and Why it is Mandatory

With the FMCSA rolling out nationwide ELD mandate for commercial carriers and transporters, there are more questions and concerns that are constantly rising that can affect the supply chains. Some questions such as will it increase transit times, decrease the amount of available equipment, increase the cost of transporting freight, will you be making less money as carrier or driver, and so on. In order to make informed decisions, it is important that you better understand ELD mandate fully and we’ll try explaining it to you in this article:

1) ELD stands for Electronic Logging Device, which is small on-board computer that is added to the cab or the instrument panel of a truck that collects data. Earlier, there have been several variations of these devices such as the AOBRD and EOBR, but these devices actually phased out.

2) The task of an ELD mandate device is to monitor the three main components of data about from the truck. First, the device monitors the truck’s movements through a GPS signal. Secondly, the device records the engine data including running time and speed. Finally, the device records the driver’s trip details and notes.

3) The device captures the data and compiles it into a report that can be easily extracted and audited by local, state and federal authorities that ensure whether the driver is staying within legal speed limits or not. The report generated by the ELD device is either in a digital format or a printed copy. Any carrier doing without an ELD, indicates that that the driver is in violation of the legal operating hours that results in fines, shutdowns, and even CDL/authority suspension or revocation depending on the degree of violation.

With the basics of ELD and why it is mandatory, it becomes easier for you to make informed decisions and prevent yourself from creating violations, which helps in running your business efficiently.

Trends that are shaping the logistics industry in 2019

The revolution of technology has taken over every industry and supply chain. Logistics is becoming the backbone of every industry today like retail, e-commerce, hospitality, and hospitality, and etc. With technology advancing at an expedited pace, companies are now focused on improving their delivery happiness score and improving customer experience. With that in mind, here are 5 trends that are shaping the logistics industry in 2019:

• Delivery of Choice

With thousands of shopping websites available to customers, they also expect for different choices in delivery. This is where hiring a logistics company can be beneficial to businesses that are trying to ship products to their customers as quickly as possible.

• Automated Delivery

Automation is efficiently working in favor of logistics. Getting your grasp in automated delivery services can make your logistics services to stand out by growing security, lessen chance, and increase effectiveness.

• Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled physical objects to be associated with systems empowered by the internet. Logistics businesses have employed IoT in different forms today that help in identifying when the packaging was messed up during delivery.

• Social Media Platforms

With many people using social media on a daily basis, it has streamlined the logistics business as a whole. Social media is the simplest and the easiest means for companies to chat with customers, answer their queries and receive feedback.

• Improved GPS

Improved GPS has given logistic businesses the opportunity to implement it within their services. Logistics companies can now receive real-time traffic information, geofencing, fuel tax revealing, route streamlining and tracking driver’s hours. Improved GPS technology also enables organizations to keep track whether the driver is braking or speeding too brutally.

These were 5 trends that are shaping up the logistics industry in 2019. There are trends that are emerging on a daily basis. Anyone, who understands the potential of using these technological trends to their advantage can increase logistics business’ effectiveness and efficiency considerably.