Stop thinking of fulfilment as a cost; start seeing it as an opportunity.
Retailers shouldn’t think of order fulfilment as a “cost centre”. It is a vital business operation that, with the right investment and strategy, can drive growth. At PHL, we believe that flexible fulfilment is crucial to help retailers flourish in a crowded, highly competitive digital marketplace. In this article, we discuss the main advantages of flexible fulfilment vs an off-the-shelf solution.
The primary aim of fulfilment is to get goods to customers quickly, accurately and in good condition. However, to step-up your fulfilment game, you should aim to win-over customers through an engaging brand story and personalised offers. Flexible fulfilment can deliver this through branded packaging, targeted promotions, and customised rewards. An excellent fulfilment experience builds customer trust, a vital ingredient in boosting brand loyalty. Loyalty is a crucial driver of sales and, therefore, growth. Flexible fulfilment can also help with your changing business priorities; never has this been truer than during the current COVID-19 crisis. Most businesses have had to react quickly to changing customer demands and supply chain issues. The ability to meet these challenges quickly and efficiently has meant the difference between surviving and thriving in the past 12 months – the definition of flexible “capable of bending easily without breaking”. One of the main advantages of flexible fulfilment is that it can help solve business challenges—for example, efficiency in the supply chain and improving sustainability – as the process is built around your priorities. Additionally, a business will face different challenges dependant on its industry sector and target audience. Therefore, it makes sense to select a customisable solution to ensure a fantastic and fitting customer delivery experience.
Flexible fulfilment can be a game-changer for keeping up with changing retail trends. For example, in a recent blog on this theme, we talked about Direct-to-consumer (D2C) and subscription services as significant retail trends in 2021. Both require a flexible fulfilment partner capable of building a bespoke solution to deliver on the objectives. Off-the-shelf order fulfilment solutions work very well for some retailers; however, etailers do not have to choose between service level and price when considering flexible fulfilment. Modern technology and innovations allow for an ever-expanding list of customer benefits that do not cost the earth, bringing added value to the delivery experience. So if you are interested in exploring how flexible fulfilment could help grow your business, talk to the experts.
