Want to know a secret for increasing profit for your E-Commerce business?
There is a mistake many companies make in their quest to increase profits — using cheaper materials as a cost-saving shortcut. But, saving a few pennies on a roll of shipping labels, or finding cheaper packing material, will not produce savings that go straight to the bottom line.
The Danger in Pricing Yourself Out of Business
That’s a dangerous strategy for any business, but especially for E-Commerce and online retailers.
Your business isn’t a success because of cheap labor or money saved on labels. Continually cutting your costs and driving price down is risky. That’s how you price yourself out of business.
Success is built on delivering a superior customer experience.
Accuracy and efficiency is how you can deliver a better customer experience. After all, delivery is a critical part of the experience — it makes a lasting impression. Successfully delivering the product to the customer undamaged and on-time must be the goal.
Increasing Efficiency for E-Commerce Distribution
Most E-Commerce distributors have greater success reducing expenses by increasing efficiency. Unseen and unnecessary costs can creep into your shipping processes and bite deep into profits.
Your goal should be to identify and eliminate unnecessary costs. This might mean an adjustment to operations, or it could be a change in packaging or labels — your E-Commerce distribution supplies.
Every step you take toward increasing efficiency will not only reduce unnecessary costs, but also improve the customer experience.
4 Questions to Increase Efficiency
We work with many of the top online retailers and E-Commerce companies in the world. In fact, we provide more than one billion shipping labels to our customers annually.
We know E-Commerce. Here are four questions you should ask yourself as you evaluate operations.
- How am I managing shipping operations?
Do you have visibility to your shipping operations? Review each step of the process. Identify where problems occur. Sometimes a small change in workflow can deliver a big return. As you collect and evaluate this information, you’ll discover strategies for improving efficiency.
- Are you using the right labels and packaging?
Not all labels and packages are created equally. Using the wrong label or the wrong packaging causes problems and increases your costs in the long run. So ask yourself, am I using the right packaging for my products? Is using the wrong printer creating barcodes that can’t be read? Am I using the correct label material, so it can withstand wear and tear while in transit?
Are auto-apply labels a solution for my business that delivers instant cost savings? Is my packaging unnecessarily increasing cycle-time for each order? Efficiency is only possible with the right supplies.
- Do you have Quality Assurance testing in place?
A successful pick, pack and ship operation should be a synchronized symphony of materials, actions and processes. It requires seamless execution in every phase. You need consistency and reliability in adhesives, tack and release, printing and barcode verification. Problems can cause a line to shut down. Consider how much time is lost on quality escapes. Quality Assurance (QA) can help.
You should have a QA process in place to identify issues before they impact operations. Preferably, it should be your supplier that provides quality control. With QA, faulty products can be caught before they reach you, saving both time and money.
- Do you have unique challenges holding you back?
Every business is unique, and applying a one-size-fits-all solution can leave you with problems. Sometimes a custom solution — one that is created, tested and executed for your business — can unlock increased efficiencies.
Perhaps it is a new type of packaging that delights customers. Maybe it is a variation on printing operations, or a change in the layout of shipping. Talk to an expert in E-Commerce. Don’t delay eliminating the challenges holding you back.
A Final Word on E-Commerce Distribution and Efficiency
As a business, your goal should be exceeding customer expectations. You need to create satisfaction with every interaction.
Cutting corners and costs is not how you exceed expectations. Finding ways to increase efficiency, eliminate unnecessary costs and deliver value is the key. Take the time to identify inefficiency. Address and solve the challenges holding your business back.
Every success will increase customer loyalty, and deliver a sustainable increase in sales and profit.
