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Logistics trends to watch out for in 2017

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As the New Year gets underway I thought it would be useful to look at how I believe supply chain and logistics services will develop in the next 12 months.

I predict that our industry will be subject to aggressive transformation in 2017. The continuing growth of e-commerce, the increasing empowerment of consumers, the stagnation of bricks-and-mortar retail and Brexit will all play their part in influencing change.

As industry leaders we need to recognise these challenges as opportunities. As traditional practises get turned on their heads we have a real chance to innovate and revolutionise our industry.

Those who embrace change will be at the forefront of one of the most exciting times our industry has experienced.

So what are the main trends that will act as the catalysts for these changes?

Growth of e-commerce – there is now hard evidence that traditional bricks-and-mortar retail is stagnating. As you would expect e-commerce continues to go from strength to strength. Overall the trend is for Omni channel retail which in turn will mean more companies looking to add or extend their online offering. As industry professionals we should be looking to develop our capabilities and services around e-commerce logistics.

Same Day Delivery – the genie has definitely been let out of the lamp! What we used to say was impossible is now quickly becoming the norm. With companies such as Amazon and Argos trailblazing this service, customers are beginning to expect it, and other retailers will have to get with the trend in order to stay competitive. Can you offer retailers a same day solution?

Customer centric deliveries – we are living in the age of increasingly empowered consumers. They expect delivery to be about them. They need to be made at a time that suits them, to a destination of their choosing. They want to be able to change the delivery time and place last minute. They want to know the name of the driver and see a photo. They especially want to be able to track and trace that last mile.  This is a paradigm change for the industry and creates real opportunity for technological innovation and creativity.

Supply chain visibility – the growth of e-commerce challenges logistics providers. Automation, high volume, stocking products in line with demand, multiple delivery options all make traditional practises unworkable. We are entering a new world of full supply chain visibility. Companies want to be able to track their products from manufacture right the way through to the final moments of delivery. They want real time information and touch of a button reports. To keep at the top of our game we need to have the technology and skills to be able to offer service at such a detailed level.

Brexit – the full effects of this are unknown and it is extremely difficult to predict what will happen. We could see an upsurge in trading with countries such as China as free trade with European countries ceases to exist. Import and export in and out of the UK may take a hit and shipping companies may feel the pinch. I will be watching developments keenly.

I am looking forward to 2017 and am eager to see how our industry responds to the challenges ahead.

Who knows may be next year I will send you all a copy of my article using a drone!

All the best for 2017, Les.

christmas-feature

THE LOGISTICS OF CHRISTMAS

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It’s time to get the log fire burning, mull some wine and settle down with a mince pie or two and watch a feel good Christmas movie.

But before you switch off completely I thought it would be fun to take a look at some mind boggling Christmas logistics facts and figures.

First we must pay homage to the ultimate King of Christmas Logistics, Father Christmas himself. While we are all still trying to find solutions to the ever changing supply chain, he has been quietly providing the definitive next day timed delivery for hundreds of years. Maintaining exceptional customer service and 100% delivery accuracy means his place as King is guaranteed for some time to come.

Do you know he flies 317 million miles on Christmas Eve. That’s 1800 miles per second!

Recently he has reacted to customer demand and now offers a track and trace option through his Norad Tracks Santa Site

norad-stanta-tracker

The most amazing thing is his charges have never been subject to any kind of increase. He still does all this work for a glass of Sherry, a mince pie and a carrot for Rudolph!

All of our businesses have been affected by the growth in B2C and it’s easy to see why when you take a look at how the value of online Christmas shopping has increased since 2012.

value-of-online-christmas-shopping

Online sales are showing no signs of slowing down. In fact online spending is forecast to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

growth-in-online-sales

As the amount of money we are spending online goes up so does the number of parcels we are expected to deliver.

number-of-parcels

More parcels means more vans and light delivery vehicles.

the-rise-of-the-van

And let’s not forget all the extra picking, packing and deliveries means a substantial increase in workforce over the festive season.

Here’s how Christmas affected a few of our major players last year.

staff-increase

So, if you are feeling exhausted and ready for the holiday now you know why!

Happy Christmas and a relaxing New Year to you all!

Group of multi-ethnical people celebrating their new start-up business.

Are you delivering customer service excellence?

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The relationship between business and customer is the true foundation of any 3PLs success.

“By developing close relationships with clients and reacting to changes in the market, 3PL firms are giving customers the vision and capability to grow now and in the future” Nigel Wright

Excellent customer service and the ability to pro-actively meet the challenges of the ever changing supply chain give 3PLs a distinctive edge in this highly competitive market.

As we all begin to review 2016 and plan for 2017 it’s a great time to take a look at your customer service.

In my opinion, excellent customer service stems from outstanding performance in four key areas of your business, information technology, delivery solutions, your people and cost.

Information Technology

State of the art WMS allow you to provide customers with transparent, accurate real time data on inventory, stock movement and costs. This touch of a button technology impresses customers providing the ability to solve queries and get answers quickly.

As supply chains become increasingly demanding and customers require pallet, layer, case and single picks WMS provide sophisticated systems that allow you to provide full service solutions.

Cutting edge WMS provide paperless, error proofed processes. This not only looks impressive and reassuring to a customer but also improves overall accuracy and efficiency that becomes visible in excellent KPI’s.

It is not enough to just install a WMS. Frequent changes to the supply chain mean to be progressive you need to be constantly working to improve and expand the capacity of your system.

Delivery Solutions

As B2C services continue to expand with the growth of the e-commerce culture, you need to find creative, cost effective solutions to offer your customers.

Traditional lead-times of 3-5 days are simply not good enough anymore. You need to have reliable next day, same day and even 2 hour delivery solutions. On top of that the end user is demanding full track and trace, flexible delivery slots, parcel shop and click and collect.

To provide the best service you need to be working on solutions to all of these challenges.

People

Your greatest asset is your workforce. The key to providing the highest level of customer service is excellent staff, who enjoy their job, understand their value, are unafraid to suggest new ideas and improvements and who communicate enthusiastically and professionally with staff and customers alike.

A strong leadership team and a multi skilled workforce are essential.

Attracting and retaining the best quality people should be a key component in your business plan. Good salaries, clear training and development plans, comfortable facilities, clear communication, multi-level involvement in decisions, investment and fun should all play a part in your core values.

Cost

Cost remains and always will be a key component in any customer service solution. However customers now place a much higher value on exceptional service and niche solutions. Costs should be flexible and transparent and clearly communicated and documented.

Customer service excellence is the driver of growth for both your customer and for your business. Achieving the highest standards possible should be a major priority for you in 2017.

Huge distribution warehouse with boxes on high shelves

What is a 3PL?

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3PL is the abbreviated version of Third Party Logistics and originally started out as a military term.

Now 3PL refers to companies who offer a comprehensive and wide range of outsourced services for pretty much all aspects of your supply chain.

When I started my career in logistics 3PLs simply looked after your products and ensured that they got to all the right places at the right time.

Competition, advances in technology, increasingly intricate and demanding supply chain requirements, the e-commerce boom and global growth have seen the range of services offered by 3PLs increase dramatically.

3PLs are now strategic partners who add serious expertise and logistics proficiency to your business.

You can expect your 3PL to define your logistics, take bold steps to improve your supply chain, manage costs and generate ideas for improvement.

Partnering with the right 3PL is a key component in your company’s success.

Let’s take a look in more detail at the services 3PLs provide.

Warehousing

  • Basic functions of store, pick, pack and ship
  • E-commerce order fulfillment
  • Returns processing
  • Gift design and packing
  • Product customisation and rework
  • Sourcing packaging

Transportation

  • Pallet deliveries
  • Parcel delivers
  • Container shipments
  • Reverse logistics
  • Import
  • Export

Information Technology

  • EDI order receipt and processing
  • Web and cloud based order communication
  • Advanced warehouse management systems with real time RF control
  • Extensive reporting capabilities
  • Access to live stock data

Customer Service

  • Designated telephone number for your customers
  • Trained customer service agents available to support your brand
  • Supply chain consultancy

What are the benefits of working with a 3PL?

You can expect a move to a 3PL to result in a reduction of current costs. 3PLs have a scale advantage that means they can access much better rates than you as an individual company.

The same economies of scale will mean that 3PLs will manage and reduce future costs.

The expertise and know-how of 3PLs will improve customer satisfaction. Their knowledge of supply chains result in on time deliveries presented in line with retailer requirements. Their infrastructure and network allows them to respond quickly and resolve problems fast.

If your growth plans involve exporting then choosing a 3PL with global expertise can provide your company with the tools to achieve your goal.

3PLs can save you a whole lot of hassle and risk associated with running your own logistics. You can avoid additional salaries, the administration of holiday pay and stake holder pensions, work place risk assessments and environmental issues.

If you are launching a business 3PLs can enable start-up. By outsourcing logistics you instantly acquire a large logistics infrastructure that allows you to compete with the more established brands. The use of a 3PL also frees you to focus on sales and growth safe in the knowledge you have the ability to respond to any opportunity that comes your way.

Behind every successful brand is an excellent 3PL.

Have you found your perfect logistics partner yet?

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Top Tips to Problem Free Christmas Logistics

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The Christmas period is valuable to a 3PL both in terms of revenue and reputation.
Our customer’s peak sales season has a direct impact on our bottom line creating a challenging spike in activity.
The festive season with all it demands and challenges also provides us with the opportunity to impress customers.

Exceptional service levels across the busy period drive home and emphasise skill and competence. A successful Christmas highlights and strengthens your relationship with customers and kicks off the New Year on a high.
Here are my tips for problem free Christmas logistics.
1. Start planning early – with Black Friday and Cyber Monday the seasonal Christmas spike begins as early as mid-November. For 3PLs involved in gifts it may even have started as early as September. Planning should ideally begin in August.

2. Appoint a project team – a trusted and experienced leader and team will enable focused planning without affecting your standard day to day operation.

3. Review previous year’s volume and performance – in order to plan effectively it pays to review previous year’s volumes and estimate expected activity levels. Analysis of past performance, challenges and triumphs will enable the project team to design a targeted plan.

4. Set goals – a clear set of goals for the season helps to focus planning and motivate teams. It ensures emphasis is placed on strengthening areas that may not have been up to scratch in the past. Perhaps you need to improve picking accuracy, or on time deliveries?

5. Weekly review meetings – schedule regular review meetings to update managers and teams with plans and actions.

6. Manpower planning – appoint key team members and brief with accountabilities and responsibilities. Schedule additional shifts for weekends and evenings. Recruit and train seasonal staff in advance of demand. One KPI regularly affected during peak periods is pick accuracy. This is often simply down to the use of untrained inexperienced temporary staff. Early planning and up front training is a quick and easy way to remedy this.

7. Materials planning – order in extra materials whether that’s pallets, packing cases, fork lifts, pump trucks, tape guns or shrink-wrap. Nothing brings a process crashing to its knees quicker than a lack of materials.

8. Prepare for returns – reverse logistics can see a huge spike over the festive period. Ensuring you have a robust returns process will guarantee returns won’t become a distraction and affect your outbound operation.

9. Communicate with customers – begin to talk to customers as early as possible. What are their plans? Are they running any specific promotions? All this data can then be factored into your planning. Update customers on your plans. Tell them who is heading up the Christmas team and what additional services are available. This is a real opportunity for you to impress and inspire your customers with confidence. Make the most of it!

10. Communicate with suppliers – organise additional collections with Royal Mail and your parcel carriers. Brief hauliers and contractors on increased requirements. There is no point getting all the orders picked on time if you haven’t organised the additional resources to deliver them.

11. Don’t forget customer service – the seasonal period always sees a huge spike in emails and calls to your customer service team. Where is my parcel? What’s the tracking number? My parcel is damaged! In order to maintain a high standard of customer care, why not appoint a person or small team to work solely on this throughout the busy period. You will be able to give customers a clear process and point of contact that will reassure them and you can avoid this increase in work affecting your normal day to day workload. It’s also worth investigating automated tracking number notification with your parcel carrier.

Providing exceptional service levels through peak periods is what defines great 3PLs.
Make sure you stand out this Christmas.

black-friday

10 facts you didn’t know about Black Friday

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Love it or hate it Black Friday, Black Fiveday and Cyber Monday are here to stay.

This year Black Friday falls on 25th November.

Black Fiveday kicks off on Thursday 24th November and runs through to Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday falls on 28th November.

Here are 10 facts that you probably didn’t know about the event and its history.

Black Friday used to refer to US stock market crashes in the 1800s.                                              

Although it is now known as the biggest shopping day, in the US the term “Black Friday” originally referred to very different events.

The first time the term was used was on 24 September 1869, when two speculators attempted to corner the gold market on the New York Stock Exchange. The government stepped in flooding the market with gold, prices plummeted and many investors had a very black day and lost large fortunes.

Black Friday now references the huge profits that are generated on the day.                                 

Many retailers see their biggest profits of the year on Black Friday. Black has always been associated with profit whereas red has always been associated with loss.

Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving which is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November.                                                                                                                                                    

Tradition denotes the Friday following Thanksgiving marks the official start of the Christmas shopping period. The department stores in New York City embraced this concept and in 1924 the world famous Macy’s Christmas Parade began.

Black Friday didn’t officially become the biggest shopping day of the year until 2001.                        

Up until 2001 the biggest shopping day was the last Saturday before Christmas. Black Friday has cunningly converted us from shopping procrastinators and last minute buyers to early organised bargain hunters.

Black Friday has now become Black Fiveday.

In an attempt to maximise sales and profit retailers have extended the original one day event to a 5 day bonanza starting on the Thursday and going all the way through to Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday was the online version of Black Friday.

Black Friday was historically a bricks and mortar event. As e-commerce sales grew e-retailers created their own version of the mayhem and called it Cyber Monday. In reality the whole 5 days of madness is now available both in store and on online.

Retail consultancy Salmon are tipping 2016 as the best so far for consumers using smartphones to bag their deals.

They are predicting approximately 5 billion pounds of sales over the five day period, 2.55 billion of which will be generated by mobile devices.

Research network  SimilarWeb have revealed the biggest profit makers of 2015.

HouseofFraser.co.uk, Debenhams.com, Newlook.com, Etsy.com and Boots.com

If you are looking to grab a deal this year the hot retailers we are being tipped to watch are;

Argos, Amazon, Currys, Marks and Spencers, John Lewis, Tesco, Gam and House of Fraser

According to a Royal Mail survey:

52% of people spent more on Black Friday 2015 then they did in 2014 with an average spend per person of £191.00 and an average purchase per person of 5 items.

However you feel about Black Friday its impact on our economy and businesses is undeniable.

I recommend we embrace it fine tune our own sales and promotions to make the most of it and don’t forget to bag a bargain or 5 for ourselves!

Group of multi-ethnical people celebrating their new start-up business.

5 BENEFITS OF WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A 3PL

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Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are reaping the rewards of the boom in e-commerce and the growing interest and passion for independent brands.

At the same time consumer attitudes to service and delivery are rapidly changing. Customers are more demanding and expect delivery on their terms. They want to receive their order quickly and at a time and place of their choosing. E-commerce logistics is becoming delivery led not delivery last.

These changes provide real challenges for SMEs. Without the budget or logistics expertise of the big brands they have to work hard to deliver a customer experience that allows them to compete with their larger competitors.

The answer for SMEs is to partner with a 3PL who can become an extension of their business and provide best in class logistics solutions.

3PLs provide the following benefits:

Cutting edge delivery expertise                                                           

3PLs are delivery experts. It’s their job to know, understand and access the best delivery solutions available. Whether its same day, next day, timed, tracked or international 3PLs will have a range of services to suit all. This combined with excellent rates and experience handling paperwork, customs, taxes and duties means an SME working with a 3PL can expect to save time and money while offering their customers a first class service.

Industry know-how                                                                                      

Many 3PLs specialise in a specific sectors such as toys, healthcare, beauty or chilled & frozen foods for example. Their specialism allows them to amass huge amounts of industry specific expertise and knowledge. Utilising this knowledge 3PLs apply the best industry practices and processes. By tapping into this an SME can focus on growing their brand confident in the knowledge their logistics partner will be able to handle any opportunity and challenge.

Safe, secure, suitable storage

Long or short term secure storage, bulk movements, pallets, cartons or unit pick. Retail, wholesale or e-commerce direct to consumer, there is a 3PL to suit every business and budget.

Technology                                                                                                                                             Exciting developments in IT mean companies can access and track their stock and orders through on-line portals. Batch code traceability, inventory levels, order progress and inventory tracking throughout the supply chain. Most of this technology is available on mobile devices and tablets giving customers instant access anywhere at anytime. All this is are now available at the touch of a button reducing the complicated and time consuming record keeping and administration management that businesses used to have to complete.

Peak season capability                                                                                                                                              3PLs have access to flexible space, resources and manpower. This enables them to react and ramp up quickly to meet seasonal peaks and promotions. 3PLs provide businesses with the ability to fulfill increased volumes at short notice while maintaining delivery excellence.

In a crowded market place 3PLs level the playing field between big brands and SMEs providing smaller businesses with the opportunity to offer cost effective industry leading logistics solutions that deliver exceptional customer service.

Woman signs parcel in post office

ARE YOU READY FOR BLACK FIVEDAY?

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Black Friday is nearly upon us. This year its falls on Friday 25th November, that’s less than TWO WEEKS AWAY!

It doesn’t stop with Black Friday though. We now have Black Fiveday which starts on the Thursday before Black Friday and culminates in Cyber Monday.

I just did some research and the facts and figures are mind boggling. Did you know?

  • Consumers are expected to spend 5 billion over the 5 day period.
  • Black Friday 2016 will be the biggest day of online spending the world has ever seen.
  • 1.1 billion is predicted in sales on Black Friday alone.
  • 3.3 billion is predicted for the 3 day weekend.

As a 3PL, especially if you offer internet fulfillment services, you’re at the sharp end of this annual event. The statistics speak for themselves, we need to take this event seriously and have a clear strategy in place to maintain our service.

If you haven’t started your Black Fiveday planning yet, here’s a checklist to get you on track.

  1. Identify which of your customers are hosting Black Fiveday deals.
  2. Ascertain whether their deals are on specific stock lines or across their whole stock offering.
  3. Request details on the volume of orders your customers are expecting.
  4. If order volumes are expected to rise significantly speak to your customer about increasing the number of order files you receive from them during the day and the following days. You may need one an hour!
  5. Determine the exact length of Black Fiveday promotions. Is it the full 5 days or just the Friday or Monday?
  6. Clarify the delivery promises your customers are making to their customers, (next day delivery, within 3 days etc.)
  7. In order to maximise productivity, output and service levels decide if and when to run night and weekend shifts.
  8. Check you have enough packaging, boxes and labels available.
  9. Liaise with your IT support company or department to ensure you have access to their assistance should it be required.
  10. Notify your parcel carriers and Royal Mail about the increased volume and arrange additional collections or larger collection vehicles if required.
  11. Pre-print Royal Mail franking labels if applicable.
  12. Calculate staff numbers, devise shift plans and organise additional training.
  13. Arrange for products on offer to be retrieved from bulk storage and placed in an accessible area.
  14. If a customer’s deal is just on one or two items, arrange to pre-pack a certain volume of these so they simply need mailing labels and despatch paperwork adding when the orders start flooding in.
  15. Make customers aware of any additional charges for night or weekend opening.

And most importantly

16. Have FUN and ENJOY IT! Fast paced, logistics and warehousing  challenges are what get us up in the morning. This is an opportunity for your business to excel. This is what we do best!