We all want to work for a successful, growing business. But with growth comes pressure to fulfil demand, with ever-changing customer expectations, sales channels and international regulations, which only adds to operational complexity. There’s also the added challenge of ensuring you have effective contingency plans to deal with peak periods or times of unexpected change. Efficiency is critical to ensure you can scale to sustain this growth long-term. But how can you keep delivery simple, when it only seems to be getting more complicated?
Multiple carriers shouldn’t mean multiple technologies
To get the range of delivery options you need to meet the needs of your customers, you’ve likely opted to use multiple carriers for shipping. But this means you may be dealing with multiple printers, labels and processes. You might also have various technology integrations to deal with, which crucially results in a disjointed and fragmented view of your overall operation.
So, what’s the best plan? The answer is simple – embrace multi-carrier technology. By consolidating all your carriers into a single multi-carrier platform, you still get all the advantages of multi-carrier shipping, but you can despatch all your parcels through one system. This offers one centralised system which will streamline your processes so you can do things faster, increase the productivity of your warehouse staff and free up precious man-hours to focus on more business-critical tasks.
Support global growth with expert support
Shipping internationally presents many operational challenges – what are the best carriers and most cost-effective services for each market? What customs duties need to be paid? Are there specific trade regulations to consider? It’s fair to say cross-border delivery isn’t easy!
Especially now that we’ve left the EU, eCommerce businesses should be prepared for continued disruption and changes to cross-border trade. Carriers have reported delays at the borders and have been known to switch services on/off at the drop of a hat. A global multi-carrier delivery partner can help you stay abreast of regulatory developments as they happen, and offer industry insight, breadth of service and technology automation to take the hard work out of cross-border delivery.
Have a ‘Plan B’ when you need it most
Peak is the busiest, and most lucrative, event in the eCommerce calendar. But it takes a lot of work behind the scenes to make it happen. Lots of customers depend on you, and your carriers, to get their orders to them on time.
While you can do everything possible to plan and prepare, if we’ve learnt anything in recent times, it’s that we never know what’s round the corner. What’s your plan when things go wrong? Can you switch carriers quickly and easily? Can you get extra vehicle capacity if orders overtake your forecasts? Do you know what other options are available to you?
At GFS, we combine our expertise with innovative technology to help you streamline your multi-carrier approach, maximise your resources and give you contingency, both at peak times and throughout the rest of the year. From the latest tech to global capabilities, we’ve got your back.
To test your current readiness and capabilities, take one of our quizzes now…