10 Ways to Future-Proof Your Business
You can ship stronger, smarter, and with agility–all you need is a plan.
Rate increases, demand fluctuations, capacity issues, and inflation have all plagued parcel shippers since the pandemic - and that’s not stopping.
You can ship stronger, smarter, and with agility–all you need is a plan.
Here are 10 ways you can prepare your shipping for everything 2023 will throw at you.
1. Know where you stand
Visibility into your shipping operations and carrier contracts is essential to smart prioritization and planning. If you don’t know what’s happening with your data, you can’t see what challenges you face, and how to address them. For example:
- Where are you spending the most?
- How are costs trending over time?
- Are you hitting your minimum tier discounts?
- Are your customers happy?
Start by analyzing your shipping profile to understand areas of opportunity.
2. Set smart goals
Don’t know where to start? Here are some ideas:
- Revisit free shipping policies
- Decrease cost per package by 10%
- Decrease delivery time by 1 day
- Add a 3PL to your network
- Analyze box sizes and reduce unnecessary packaging
3. Ditch the better discounts mindset
It’s a carrier’s market, and they aren’t as lenient as they used to be.
Carriers want a specific type of shipper, and if you don’t fit into their efficiency model (i.e., small, light, and conveyable) —they don’t want it.
This makes them less likely to give discounts, and services have additional limitations. You need to go beyond a “better discounts” mindset and think about the win-win situation for both of you. Which packages do they want more of? Which packages cost you the most? Is there any overlap? Dig into your data and get creative.
4. Expand your carrier mix
Add regional carriers to make up for national carrier gaps.
Regional carriers can add flexibility, faster delivery times, cost reduction, and a less complicated network. It no longer makes sense to ship with one carrier–you need a smart carrier mix.
5. Choose the right service
Are you using the right service type for your business needs?
If you’re shipping within the same zip code, for example, don’t pay extra for an overnight service.
When choosing your carrier services and what’s best for your business, look at the carrier’s:
- Reliability
- Costs
- Tracking capabilities
- Delivery times
6. Put your customers first
Your customer experience is everything.
Rising expectations of free and two-day shipping are creating high-pressure situations for shippers–can you meet those expectations?
Start pivoting now to be an earlier adopter—and customers will recognize that. Plus, you stay ahead of the competition and industry evolutions.
7. Be creative with distribution
Start by asking yourself some vital questions:
- Where can I open a new distribution/fulfillment center or use 3PLs to increase my network?
- What locations and services best match my shipping needs?
If most of your client base is on the east coast, but your fulfillment center is in LA, you may want to consider a distribution center move.
Think like Amazon. They reach customers so quickly due to their massive network of distributors, which makes it easy to get products out. Did you know that you can use Amazon warehouses to enhance your network and do the same thing?
8. Build positive carrier relationships
Look at your carrier as an ally to your business, not an enemy.
Like any service provider, carriers have a reputation to uphold, and you can work together to remove stress from your operations with their support. Ask your carrier for help with getting your products out faster, switching to a service that better matches your needs, or even suggestions on their end to enhance your efficiency.
Use the relationship to your advantage
9. Balance technology and expertise
The sweet spot of shipping success is leveraging the data you already have with logistics intelligence tools and professional expertise.
Most of the time, people don't have true visibility into their data. It’s been a PDF and spreadsheets world.
Using Excel, it’s impossible to obtain the vital shipping visibility you need across all your carriers. You need to see how your shipping profile is performing across key supply chain metrics like shipping charges by service type, package count, transit time, average cost, and more.
Upgrade your operations with the right tools and technology that make it easy to ingest and normalize your data
10. Use shipping data to your advantage
Complete visibility across your shipping operations is the upper hand your business needs.
Clear data visibility allows you to see the unnecessary fees and inefficiencies and use that to your advantage. By illuminating those issues, you can find opportunities for improved shipping speed, costs, and most importantly, resilience.
Improve today to build a better tomorrow
Take your shipping business to the next level with Sifted Logistics Intelligence and secure your future with the right balance of technology and tools. Sign up for a free demo today.
