Most ecommerce brands are sales-focused–viewing operations simply as a cost center. As your brand focuses on everything from advertising to customer service to increase revenue, operations may be tossed aside or saved for later. You could be excelling in all areas, but if you can’t break through the barriers and nail your logistics strategy, it’s all for nothing.
As an ecommerce accelerator, Pattern knows the potential operations has to be a revenue driver. We have helped multiple brands achieve operational excellence and increase revenue with our end-to-end resources and proprietary data.
Let’s review three barriers that often prevent brands from transforming logistics into a strategic weapon:
1. Identifying Shipping Costs and Contracts
Part of a successful operational strategy is minimizing shipping costs, utilizing better shipping options, and staying up to date with contracts and requirements. If a brand can identify the shipping options available to them, while gradually improving shipping speeds based on customer preferences, they can be one step closer to making operations become a revenue driver.
Amazon achieved significant operational excellence when they introduced Prime. Amazon realized that customers don’t necessarily care about fast shipping, they just want to know when to expect the package. Predictability in shipping timelines is key to customer satisfaction. Why do you think McDonald’s has been so successful? Anywhere in the world, you know you’ll have the same flavor and quality of hamburger–it’s predictable. And, in the end, customers just want predictability.
2. Increasing Proximity to End Customers
Because of a powerful combination of warehouses from major distributors such as Walmart and Amazon, 95% of the U.S. population lives within a 2-day shipping radius. As ecommerce continues to grow, the proximity to end customers should increase, bringing their purchases in a quicker and more predictable manner.
Luckily, if you’re just starting out selling your products on marketplaces such as Amazon, you don’t have to worry about getting proximate to your end customers because Amazon already solved the problem. As a 3P partner on Amazon for over a decade, Pattern has built its own distribution process and fulfillment to complement and supplement Amazon’s solutions.
3. Navigating Marketplace Complexity
The retail space is fractured and the division is accelerating at an incredible speed. Keeping up with this pace can be overwhelming and complex. Businesses often deal with the fast pace by looking for alternative ways to succeed such as using dropshipping (Direct Fulfillment, SFP, FBM, etc.).
Finding alternative ways is part of a brand’s competitive advantage and pathway to operational revenue. If brands can figure out a better, faster, and cheaper way to get their product to the end customer, it will save them time and money in the long run.
Pattern Helps Brands Turn Complexity Into an Opportunity
Getting your product to consumers in a safe and timely manner, while continuing to drive revenue, is key to success on all global marketplaces. This success only comes once brands break down their logistics and understand how and where to find revenue opportunities.
As the world’s foremost ecommerce accelerator, Pattern uses its proprietary data and knowledge to help brands make the best logistics decisions for their business. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t and then, as a 3P partner, assist brands in navigating the barriers to a successful operations process.
Want to turn your operations into a revenue driver? Contact us.
