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Winter Woes Won’t Keep Your Business Down, If You Do This

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Winter Business|Winter Woes Won't Keep Your Business Down, If You Do ThisYes, winter is going to threaten every business regardless of whether or not there is a pandemic. It’s always been like this and may always be like this. Winter presents unique challenges that businesses have to prepare for every year. Not only is there a lot of snow and ice to contend with, but you have to deal with colder operating temperatures, less daylight time, more morale-boosting ideas to think of, and trying to beat your competitors during the seasonal rush. Not to mention, the challenge of meeting export and import needs too. But, winter woes won’t get your business down if you do these things.

Get shoveling, or not

Commercial snow removal is very popular for businesses and if you are interested in this, then we recommend you read this. Not only do they use professional heavy-duty equipment, but that will also mean that snow is carefully removed and safely taken away. But it also means that if you have a complex area such as a car park, you won’t be in any danger of doing unwarranted damage to your foliage, lighting, wiring, machines or curbs. And of course, you lessen your liability to injuries. Employees that have an unsafe car park or exterior to the business could slip, fall and get seriously injured. Not only will they need to get sick pay but they could sue you. So commercial removal is quick, easy and very effective when you have suffered a heavy snowfall.

Protect logistics chains

The number one challenge of winter is the travel. The highways and train lines are covered in snow and ice, making them a hazard. It draws logistics to a crawl and can harm your bottom line because you’re not getting supplies and inventory when you need it. So prepare beforehand and ready your logistical chains. But how?

  • Increase your fleet number temporarily. If you have a fleet of delivery trucks, you should seek to increase the number by 10-20%. So if you have 20 trucks, increase the number to 22 or 24. If one or two trucks break down, another is involved in an accident, another gets trapped, you at least have a technically, full strength fleet.
  • Export markets need some love too. Just because it’s slow and challenging in your local or national marketplace, doesn’t mean it’s the same on the other side of the world. You should seek to increase your export customers during this time, as you try to compete with your rivals.
  • Hire more. If you cannot handle your logistical challenges, hire those that can. Hire more drivers, more warehouse managers and employees to make sure you can meet the higher demand and keep things ticking over.

Keep morale high

Make sure the ambient room temperature is nice and toasty in the office. Keeping morale high with surprise hot meals for lunches, extra time for completing projects and providing mental health care for the holiday season, is so crucial.

It’s easy for businesses to suffer from winter woes as they battle the weather and the seasonal rush. But these things will keep your employees happy, your business open at all times and ahead of the competition.

Where Professionalism Is Important In Running A Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Professionalism in Business|Where Professionalism Is Important In Running A BusinessSure, you can be as free and liberal with your brand as you want; you can present a silly and non serious front, or you can present a laid back and easy going front. Branding is all about what you want it to be, and who you want to attract!

But even with this in mind, even with the kind of customers you’re pulling in, when it comes to certain areas of running your company, there are quite a few factors in which you’re going to have to be professional. Here are three key components of business that require you to be skilled, experienced, and professional in your manner.

In Customer Security

Your customers need to feel secure when they’re shopping with you. They need to know their payment details are safe and will never fall into the wrong hands. And seeing as you’re the retail portal they’re relying on, this is up to you.

Both online and offline, you need to be professional about security. Sure, you lock up your shop and make sure there’s no cash in the till at the end of the day, but what about your website? Is it even encrypted, when the time comes to put in card details to pay for items? It’s time to check on that.

In Shipping and Delivery

You need to be very professional about the way you pack, ship, and deliver any and all products and services. You need to have a safe and secure way to get your packages from point A to point B, and without professionalism to guide your way, there’s a good chance your delivery options will be subpar for the time being.

It’s why you might want to look into courier services; this will allow you to have more control over the process, be able to bundle your shipping needs, and with a handy Transport Marketplace to make use of, you’ll have a surefire way to chop and change your delivery services as you need to. There’s nothing quite like speed to show off your professionalism!

In Running Your Sales

And finally, you need to be very professional about the amount of sales you’re bringing in. After all, when it comes to building a customer base, and then ensuring you’ve got plenty of return sales to make profit off of, you need to cast a sure and professional eye over your books.

And being able to balance your books is another area that requires professionalism; if you can’t do it yourself, be sure to outsource your issues here to a trained and experienced accountant. Bring in the skills you need to ensure there’s plenty of professional talent behind the scenes, and your business will steadily climb up the profit margins.

Professionalism is something every single business needs. If you’re not sure about what you can manage in terms of bringing the right experience to your customers, make sure you’re working behind the scenes first, and then brand yourself second.

3 Common Shipping Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |common shipping mistakes |3 Common Shipping Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemDid you know that UPS and FedEx each ship around 34 million packages each day?

If you’re looking to ship a package, you need to focus on how you can avoid certain kinds of shipping mistakes. If you don’t do this, your package might experience some kind of damage while it’s in transit.

Below you’ll discover three common shipping mistakes that people tend to make. If you avoid these shipping mistakes, your packages should arrive safely at your chosen destination.

Let’s begin!

1. Not Paying for the Right Kind of Shipping

One of the biggest mistakes people make is not paying for the right kind of shipping.

Most of the time, this happens because people are trying to save money. However, in some cases, trying to lower the cost of shipping can often lead to an increase in overall costs.

That’s because the item you’re shipping might ‘break’ due to the fact that you didn’t select the correct form of shipping.

In some cases, you might select the wrong kind of shipping, simply because you don’t know much about shipping. For instance, if you’re looking to ship a painting, you might use a ‘standard’ form of shipping.

Yet, in situations like this, couriers actually offer a dedicated form of shipping for those that want to ship paintings. If you use such shipping, your painting will receive special treatment, and this will lower the odds of it being damaged during transit.

Following this, always make sure you speak to your chosen courier company before you ship a given item. They’ll be able to tell you what kind of shipping is right for your chosen item, and this will then help you minimize any issues.

2. Not Packaging Your Items Properly

A lot of people don’t know how to pack items properly, and so their packages often experience an excessive amount of damage during transit.

If you want to package your items properly, you should use some bubble wrap, or even ‘packing peanuts.’ You might also want to invest in a high-quality box that will be able to withstand lots of bumps and scrapes.

3. Not Focusing on Presentation

Another thing that people forget about when it comes to shipping is presentation.

This is especially important if you’re shipping out items as a business, as your packaging can have a big impact on how people perceive you.

If you want your packages to look good, you might want to hire someone to help you with the package design. You should also think about coating your packages so the design doesn’t fade while the item is in transit.

If you’re going to coat your packages, you can generally choose from aqueous coating or UV coating. If you’d like to learn more about each option, this post takes a closer look at UV coating vs aqueous coating.

Will You Avoid These Common Shipping Mistakes?

If you avoid these common shipping mistakes, your package should arrive safely at your chosen destination.

In some cases, you might still experience shipping problems, even though you’re doing everything right. This can happen if you’re working with a lackluster courier, and so if you’re in this position, you might want to work with someone else.

Did you like reading this blog post? Go to our blog to see some of the other content we have to offer!

Logistics For Your Business

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It can become somewhat of a conundrum. Working out how to get your products from the manufacturers, to the storage, and then from that warehouse to the customer. All of the logistics need to be worked out and in play pretty early on in your business planning. Setting up your website, working on getting finances sorted, they are all part and parcel of a startup too. If you are selling a physical product then you’re going to need your logistical situation setup or at least well thought out and ready to go.

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Before we take a look at the different points that go into logistics it is important to know how it will impact your business and what it actually is.

Many people get logistics confused with supply-chain. It is a part of it, but the two terms aren’t interchangeable. Logistics is the movement of goods and supply chain is that movement – however, it is also sourcing, cost of goods, relationship management and everything else.

“Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy, yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must win through superior logistics.”
 
Tom Peters – Rule #3: Leadership Is Confusing As Hell
Fast Company, March 2001

Priorities

It is something that most of the tie you don’t even think about. Because we are so used to having our deliveries the next working day, or same day. And when we go into a shop, we expect the products to be on the shelves. But behind the scenes, there are a lot of logistics in play. It has to be a well-oiled machine. When you are a customer, you get irritated when things aren’t available when you think they should be. When you are the owner – you need to make sure everything is where it should be.

Speed and cost will influence each other, and your customers too – what matters more? Speed or cost?

Planning

The whole process relies heavily on your ability to plan production and demand. You will know that you need 6 weeks for X product to arrive from China, and 3 weeks from mainland EU – so you can opt for a lower price for a longer shipping time. And you will then have a longer lead-in time for the product launch and release.

Process

You are going to want to try out a few different types of freight methods. If you have planned correctly, you can choose to have a more extended travel time, slower, but ultimately cheaper way or you have time to find the right contract logistics company for you. Your internal logistics matters here too. How fast can you process orders? Working on the basis that your initial planning has gotten products from manufacturers to your warehouse in good time, you’re ready to ship to customers.

If you are promising a specific shipping date, then you should make sure that you are 100% sure that is what you will be doing. Managing your customer’s expectations is always the aim. The whole logistics process is what will keep your business running smoothly and your customers happy.

How the Rapid Growth of Ecommerce Is Driving Changes in Logistics and Transportation Management

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Ecommerce|How the Rapid Growth of Ecommerce Is Driving Changes in Logistics and Transportation ManagementThe e-commerce industry is fulfilling one of the biggest needs of today’s shoppers: instant gratification. This means that American shoppers are drifting away from traditional brick-and-mortar stores and towards the so-called “Amazon effect”. This is causing the industry to grow by leaps and bounds.

Smart devices and wireless connections are now nearly everywhere and have already contributed immensely to the growth of the e-commerce industry. But, the desire for instant gratification is also forcing logistics and transportation businesses to provide delivery options that are faster, more cost-effective, and convenient as well as offer increased flexibility to the customer.

With the customers demanding faster deliveries, field service businesses are now looking to develop a more time-definite supply chain. They are in a race to conquer the “last-mile” and are seeking the most effective ways to deliver packages of all sizes directly to customers’ homes.

From the size of shipments to the distribution networks and even the way warehouses may need to be built, e-commerce is impacting more than we realize. It is changing the entire logistics industry and the world we live in.

How is Ecommerce Transforming Logistics and Transportation Management?

To maintain customer loyalty and stand out from the crowd, most e-commerce companies are continually trying to offer cheaper and faster shipping or easier returns. This means that logistics companies need to rethink their fulfillment processes.

Transportation Needs Are More Complex

The fulfillment process is well-trodden territory for brick-and-mortar retailers: packages come directly to the stores at predictable intervals. However, for e-commerce businesses, shipping parcels to different locations safely and punctually requires complex planning. Expensive and complex processes, such as reverse logistics and last-mile delivery, mean that logistics businesses are continually adapting their processes to meet customer expectations and stay competitive.

The latest trend in last mile delivery management focuses on the localization of distribution, where the goal is to leverage the existing infrastructure and optimize it through technology. Cloud-based optimization may also help transportation companies handle the fluctuations in demand through better scheduling and planning.

Inventory Planning Has Become Crucial

Online shoppers are becoming increasingly demanding. A recent study found that almost 80% of customers want same-day shipping, while nearly 61% expect their packages to arrive within 1 to 3 hours of placing an order. Many logistics companies are struggling to deliver on this expectation. So, rethinking inventory placement is key to gaining a competitive edge over rivals.

Distribution Centers Are Closer to Customers

With the omnichannel approach to e-commerce gaining ground, there is a major need for distribution centers to be located near urban markets. The proximity to urban areas allows parcels to get delivered faster, which is a key differentiator. Companies with a planned network of strategically placed distribution centers will be better able to handle the scalability issues that the hugely growing e-commerce market is likely to impose on them.

Operation Costs Have to Be Reduced

With customers expecting free shipping and membership schemes that guarantee same day delivery, transportation costs have increased. Route planning tools can help plan and share accurate routes with the drivers to deliver the parcels on time, while ensuring the lowest cost of transportation. In fact, according to a McKinsey report, algorithmic route optimization results in an almost 16% increase in a company’s profit, without compromising on quality.

Conclusion

The rapid growth of the e-commerce industry will demand an equally strong response from the transportation and logistics businesses. To keep up with the increasing demands from e-commerce companies and to meet the expectations of customers, logistics companies will need to invest in warehouses and distribution centers.

Businesses that fail to keep up with the logistics trends will risk losing a competitive edge and falling out of favor with customers. The successful logistics businesses will be those that can quickly find innovative solutions to new problems and are ready to find solutions to more problems the day after that.