How Third-Party Logistics Can Help Your Business

 

With the rise of online businesses, shipping has become a big deal. Most people order online during the year, which means companies need a way to get products to customers quickly.

Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. It takes a lot to build a reliable product fulfillment infrastructure, and that’s why many people rely on third-party logistics experts to help.

It’s led the third-party logistics industry to be worth $1.1 trillion.

If you’re still trying to handle logistics yourself, you’re doing things the hard way. Keep reading to learn how third-party logistics can help your company succeed.

Save Money

Cost savings are the primary reason businesses use third-party logistics (3PL) companies. It takes a lot of money to set up an inventory and shipment process. On top of that, you’ll have higher shipping prices since you don’t have as much volume as larger companies or shipping providers.

You can save money by working with a 3PL company. Your 3PL provides a lot of volume to material and shipping companies. Because of that, they get massive discounts and pass those savings on to you.

In most cases, the price you pay for a 3PL company is smaller than if you tried to handle shipping in-house. As a result, you’ll have more money in your business bank account and can put it towards other activities that will help you grow your company.

Shipping Expertise

There isn’t one way to ship an item. It may not take much to ship small objects, but things change when you start producing larger and specialty items.

Unfortunately, shipping unique products isn’t always straightforward. Large items need special packaging, and you need to protect more fragile items from getting damaged in transit. That isn’t always feasible for smaller operations.

A 3PL shipping company knows how to ship heavy items and handle any unique requirements you have. That means you’ll have less infrastructure to set up for yourself and have peace of mind that your products are safely making their way to your customers.

Inventory Management

It’s hard to run an effective warehouse if you don’t track your inventory well. This isn’t hard to do if you don’t have much stock. It’s a different story if you have several product lines and thousands of items in stock.

You need a combination of planning, software, and tools to make inventory management easy. All of this takes special expertise to get right.

Your 3PL provider can set everything up for you. They have already invested in the right tools to handle tracking inventory. In most cases, you can integrate a 3PL company’s inventory system and sync it with your online store.

Because of that, you’ll always have accurate inventory counts in the warehouse and your website. All of that saves time and energy and ensures your customers don’t buy any out-of-stock products.

International Shipping

It’s not easy to ship out of the country. The same rules don’t apply when shipping internationally, which means you’ll have more red tape to work through and laws to learn. On top of that, you’ll need the right connections in other countries to help get your products to customers.

3PL can help with your international logistics goals. They already have the international resources to ship your products worldwide.

You can immediately tap into your 3PL provider’s network and start shipping internationally today. If you tried to do everything yourself, it would take a long time and cost you more money than it may be worth.

Reduce Space

It’s no secret that you need a large space to run a shipping operation. You can’t just throw your products around in an office and call it a day. You need a large warehouse with enough room to organize your products and create traffic lanes that help with efficient picking.

You don’t have as much of a space requirement when you work with a 3PL company. They already have product warehouses set up. You can manufacture your products on your own and send them to your 3PL provider once it’s ready to head to a customer’s location.

That means you don’t need nearly as much warehouse space to store products. If you handle manufacturing with another company, you can send your products straight to your 3PL provider instead of your location. You can avoid having storage at all if you go down this route.

Flexible Scaling

Even if your current shipping operation works well, that may not be true in the future. There will be times when you experience a surge of demand that causes chaos in your shipping department.

If you don’t have a big enough team, it’s hard to scale your logistics operation. You’ll need to hire new employees, train them, and make them productive as soon as possible. That’s too hard to scale.

Working with an established 3PL company solves that problem. An experienced shipping company has the resources in place to grow your business. They can dedicate as many resources as you need to serve your customers.

That means you won’t need to worry about a surge in demand grinding your operation to a halt.

Look at the Services Offered by Third-Party Logistics Companies Today

Getting products to customers is one of the most challenging parts of running a product business. Unfortunately, setting up a shipping operation yourself takes a lot of time, energy, and money. Reach out to a third-party logistics company to get the help you need to get your products out the door on time.

Do you want to learn more about creating new processes that will help you run a more efficient company? Check out the latest business tips on the blog to learn how to get more from your team.