Great eCommerce projects need a great eCommerce Logistics strategy behind them.
From being able to replenish the stock quickly until delivering orders precisely, eCommerce Logistics can determine if a good idea thrives or fails.
eCommerce Logistics means all the processes from getting products from a manufacturer until they are delivered to the customer. These processes include:
⇒ Goods procurement
⇒ Receive stock from a manufacturer or supplier
⇒ Store and manage the inventory
⇒ Order fulfilment
⇒ Shipping and delivery
⇒ Returns
Each of these processes has many complexities and can represent a competitive advantage for eCommerce Logistics:
⇒ Find a supplier with excellent quality and costs
⇒ Due to wars and logistics bottlenecks, there is a lot of uncertainty about freight. It means some products can arrive later than expected.
⇒ It’s important to sell online using different channels, so inventory management becomes a priority
⇒ Order fulfilment: in addition to the fulfilment operation, inflation and costs for warehouses, energy, staff, packing and more
⇒ Shipping and delivery: negotiate contracts with couriers, manage delivery delays and issues
⇒ Returns: manage all the returns operations and its influence on the other points (i.e.: inventory management)
Running all these activities in-house would need a considerable headcount, overhead and management time.
For this reason, usually some or all the processes above can be outsourced or run by a third party.
Unless Logistics are the foundation of a specific business, it’s better to outsource activities to focus on what’s more important.
3PL partners like Huboo take the complexity out of the logistics process so you can focus on growing your business. They are experts in logistics and fulfilment, staying ahead of the game with innovative solutions based on years of experience, to ensure we are operating in the most efficient way possible. This in turn, reduces your cost and provides greater transparency enabling you to make better decisions for your business.
Managing eCommerce warehouses can be a major headache due to various factors like legal fees, contract negotiations, long and inflexible leases, security, heating, lighting, health, and safety concerns. Our network of fulfilment warehouses across the UK and mainland Europe means we can serve your customers all over the world, efficiently and effectively. You can send your stock to multiple locations.
eCommerce distribution is the process of storing, picking, packing and shipping products to customers from a warehouse or distribution centre to the customer. It’s the same as the order fulfilment process. The term “eCommerce distribution” can be used for DTC (direct-to-customer) or B2B (business-to-business) operations.
eCommerce logistics encompasses the entire supply chain, including one more step: getting products from the manufacturer to a storage place or warehouse.
However, in practice, the terms eCommerce Logistics and eCommerce Distribution are interchangeable.
Supply chain management means to manage all the factors above – which isn’t an easy task – using technology, resources and people.
In addition to the challenges from Logistics for eCommerce, supply chain also includes forecasting demand to meet customer needs without overstocking.
Supply Chain management and eCommerce Logistics are also interchangeable.