By streamlining your company’s operations through a pick and pack despatch partner,
this can greatly improve your fulfilment procedures as well as saving a
significant amount of money in import and export fees, and eliminate
security headaches. Order fulfilment can be a real headache, a drain on
time resources and a crucial thing to get absolutely right; by hiring
someone to do this for you this can lead to effective gains in consumer
satisfaction which, when it boils down to it, is how a company stays
afloat in the current climate.
Order fulfilment can be made easy with a pick pack despatch partner
Designing an order fulfilment system is extremely complex, it requires much time on your resources and the practicalities of the space to hold your stock; more staff to deal with the picking and packing, hiring in couriers and distributors can all be very costly. You will need to put the staff through training, provide equipment to conduct the tasks, pay for the running costs of the vehicles (which could be traveling world wide) and oversee that everything is done correctly – or you could get a pick and pack despatch partner to cover the fulfilment side of your business and prevent the many major business headaches.A pick and pack despatch partner will have the manpower, space and vehicles in place to provide a swift and smooth process for your customers. All major online retailers hire fulfilment companies to deal with their pick and packing, such as Littlewoods, EBay and Argos – it is a tried, tested and proven method of effective logistics, with all the main players in the industry providing products this way. When you think of the staff, equipment, running costs and training programmes that you would need to finance, hiring one pick and pack despatch partner to do this for you is extremely cost effective. Contracts can range from six months to two years and you can really afford to be extremely selective with the company you go to, they need you as much as you need them and so negotiations will likely be very flexible.
The importance of security and accuracy of your pick and pack partner
It is imperative that you choose a good pick and pack despatch partner, the person who will control this side of the logistics will be the last person to see the product before the consumer. It is this partner who will be checking for incomplete orders, product damage, wrong sizes and colours and also they who will be responsible for the product being packed safely and securely to eliminate damage during transit. The bottom line is that if the shipment is not complete, prompt, accurate and in perfect condition on arrival then the customer will return it and this brings many problems. Your company can face losing its great reputation, word of mouth recommendations as well as the cost of rectifying this, which will greatly reduce the profit margins on the order.You need to investigate what security systems will be in place, to safeguard your products through the entire inventory lifecycle. Many pick and pack despatch partners are using state-of-the-art and very hi-tech security systems; as much as you want to protect your company name, they want to do the same. For the more advanced security systems you will pay a higher price, with the average in the UK being around £150 p.m. for storage (and protection) per 32 cubic feet, small – medium items being packed and dispatched from £2 per item up to £10 and larger items being around £15; weight dependant. For distribution and transportation this is usually charged to you on an hourly rate with the average being around £40 per hour – if you were not going through a pick and pack despatch partner and paying for transportation yourself the cost of this would be much higher, taking into account all the running cost of the vehicles as well as drivers wages.
The benefits of outsourcing your Pick Pack Despatch work
Outsourcing your pick and packing services is, as well as more convenient, a whole lot cheaper than running this yourself within the company. The size of your company will dictate the amount of staff, room needed, storage equipment, the number and regularity of of training programmes and the machinery that you will need. For example, forklift trucks will be needed to move many products of heavy weight as well as conduct the loading and unloading of products; not just anybody can drive these vehicles. A special license is needed which is obtained through a training programme, That will be at your own cost – and can cost in excess of £150 per person. You will need at least two people trained in this to provide smooth logistics, which works out at a minimum of £300,and then you will then need to purchase or hire the trucks themselves, which cost at the very least £3,000 for a second hand model. (Don’t forget you’re likely to need more than one forklift too!) Not including the running costs of the vehicles or the wages for the drivers, this alone is already costing you £6,600 at the absolute minimum. The costs of running an in-company warehouse yourself also has many small costs which may seem fairly insignificant but certainly add up, such as; caretakers wages to clean the warehouses, cleaning equipment, packaging supplies, lighting, heating and security systems. All of these things will need to be to the highest standard for effective logistics, with a price tag to match the quality. Security systems, for example, need to be 24 hour and a simple alarm on the outside of a building is not enough to safeguard your products. High-tech and innovative systems are needed to guarantee safety, a singular CCTV surveillance camera using state of the art technology is in the excess of £400 – this is for one single camera. As well as cameras, you will need alarm systems, security patrol staff and monitors which all have running costs.Choosing a pick and pack despatch partner who have security systems in place already, a good security record and can evidence this well is a partner that you can work closely with to ensure that your security headaches are kept to a minimum, and can save you money in the long run.
