ShipBob’s software, including its built-in inventory management features, allows merchants to split their inventory across multiple fulfillment center locations and access real-time inventory data from one dashboard. This allows for more accurate purchasing and stock decisions to optimize https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ inventory levels and save on logistics costs. Warehouse management is a crucial component in establishing a proper retail supply chain. Proper warehousing can impact inventory management, the picking and packing process, storage space and costs, shipping, and inventory distribution.

• An automated system to help you manage inventory is a must-have when running an ecommerce business, and will help you avoid inventory headaches.
• In 2020, global retail sales exceeded $23 trillion, and experts predict ecommerce demand to continue expanding.
• The need to build flexibility into your supply chain is more important than ever.
• The backend operations of inventory storage rely on high throughput systems, many partially or fully automated.
• Our team has the services you need to get your products from the warehouse to your customers’ front doors.

To cement these learnings, retailers can also develop employee incentive programs that reward new hires for demonstrating skills on the job. Such a program can be an attractive offer to candidates, bringing in more applications. Less visibility over the procurement phase can also result in missed opportunities to optimize.

Understanding returns management

Less than a decade ago, buyers were more than happy to find that their orders would be delivered within a week. Recently, this has changed completely, with eCommerce consumers seeking next-day or same-day deliveries. The supply chain can sometimes be difficult to navigate through, especially for relatively new and inexperienced business owners. E-commerce companies need to constantly maintain their inventory and update them with every purchase made.

Efficient logistics ensure that customers find the products they need and receive their orders when they expect them, thereby enhancing the shopping experience and building customer loyalty. During the O2C process, accounting and inventory management tasks must proceed. These include locating available items in the inventory and accepting customer payments. If you collaborate with a third-party fulfillment company, ordering and fulfillment tasks will be automated. The supply chain is often completely invisible to the end customer, and that’s by design.

Trends and the future of the retail supply chain

The optimisation of a solid retail logistics strategy is key to operating a sustainable direct-to-consumer (DTC) retail business. Due to the time delay of home deliveries, as opposed to the immediate access in stores, there is a range of goods that are less suitable for e-commerce. Groceries and pharmaceuticals have a lower e-commerce share than apparel, cosmetics, and electronics. To capture additional market share or new market segments, online retailers are trying to establish same-day or next-day deliveries by pre-positioning high-demand goods in urban logistics depots.

Although retail logistics may seem like a complicated concept, it does not have to be with the right fulfillment partner. Airhouse provides ecommerce businesses of all sizes with cost-effective fulfillment solutions. Our team retail logistics software has the services you need to get your products from the warehouse to your customers’ front doors. A 3PL also uses a warehouse management system (WMS), software designed to optimize operational processes in a warehouse.

ShipBob offers outsourced fulfillment and a WMS if you have your own warehouse. Request a quote by filling out the form.

To fulfill customer orders, your goods should be received and processed first. This involves unloading and checking incoming inventory, which is then documented before storage. Retailers like Lululemon and REI have launched resale operations over the past few years, and we’ve seen the growth of marketplaces like ThredUp and StockX. You can take advantage of this trend by creating a buyback, trade-in, or upcycling program in your store.

Overall, incorporating retail logistics solutions that make returns more efficient can have a huge impact on your business growth. Investing in retail logistics expertise can help build supply chain resilience by delegating logistics, so you can focus more on increasing sales, product development, market research, and customer service initiatives. Digital supply chain transformation takes traditional supply chain management processes and optimises them with the latest logistics innovations, such as automation, data and analytics, robotics, and AI learning. Having a cost-effective and efficient order fulfilment strategy in place is crucial. When a company optimizes its logistics, it improves efficiency along all points of the supply chain. Understanding how to get the right resource to the right place at the right time can be a differentiator for a business, adding value to the customer while at the same time cutting costs and boosting the bottom line.

How to improve retail supply chain management

With Shopify POS Pro I can take orders in-store, fulfill the order from our warehouse, and ship the order directly to customers. That’s huge for us because we’re not always going to have stock on hand—especially for larger items that take up a lot of space in our backstore—but can still transact in-store and offer customers next-day delivery. Business growth brings a whole new set of problems that demand solutions, especially when it comes to your supply chain. A good supply chain system oversees the entire production process, from raw goods to manufacturing and sending to customers. The success of your supply chain depends on integrating your retail systems.

Examples of such operations include unloading, receiving and allocating SKUs. Ordering items online and receiving them at your home on time is an example of well-executed retail logistics. As a consumer, you expect a relaxed, trouble-free experience, and so do your customers. It’s quite clear that retail logistics is one of the pillars of any eCommerce business – something you can’t afford to forget at any cost. Failing to keep up with your customers’ expectations regarding timely and affordable deliveries can ruin your business.

Growth of Mobile Commerce

Traditional supply chain management methods are improved by digital supply chain transformation using the most recent advancements in logistics including automation, data and analytics, robotics and AI learning. The objective is to build a quicker, more durable and sustainable supply chain. It comes as no surprise that there has been a considerable shift to mobile commerce given the broad adoption of smartphones. More people are now purchasing online due to the temporary closure of brick and mortar stores worldwide to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the avoidance of those stores by many customers who chose to adopt social distancing. EMarketer reports that 43% of online retailers experienced an increase in sales during the pandemic. Distributed inventory is a method of allocating inventory where stock is distributed among several warehouses or fulfillment locations as opposed to just one.

ShipBob partners with leading end-to-end ecommerce solutions, from marketing tools to returns platforms, to create a custom retail logistics solution that fits your brand. Online retailers can grow best when their operations are automated to work at optimum efficiency. Better integration of your retail logistics tech stack can keep your business running smoothly. For instance, digital inventory systems can support multichannel retailing, allowing brands to expand across channels and still have full visibility of their supply chain. As online shoppers expect more – free returns, free and fast shipping, even share-worthy unboxing moments – retail logistics has turned to a technology-enabled approach that is focused on speed, location, and automation. In this article, you will learn the ins and outs of retail logistics and tips on how to improve your logistics management process.