Shipping Solutions for Small Businesses
When you are starting to grow your business, you need to find a shipping solution that delivers for your business as it continues to expand. Small businesses often find it hard to provide a reliable shipping solution that delivers for their customers.
Here are our tips for growing your business and assessing what type of shipping solution is best for you.
How Many Parcels or Deliveries are you Making Each Week?
If you are currently only sending 1-2 parcels per week it will be more cost-effective to use a standard courier service. Companies like Royal Mail, Fedex and Hermes offer great solutions where you can drop off the goods at a local pickup point or have the courier come to you directly.
As your company scales and you start to spend more time sending items to clients then it may be worth looking for a company to handle your shipping for you.
Benefits of Working with an Established Supplier
Warehouse Space
Working with a logistics company that can hold stock in their warehouses can drastically cut the costs associated with growing your business. You do not need to mess around with warehouse space or staff to handle the shipping – you can simply place the order with your shipping company each day and focus on bringing in sales and growing your company.
Established, Scalable network
If you’re outsourcing your shipping to an established logistics business, such as Allegro Logistics, you do not have to worry about finding the right drivers or having the equipment required to load/unload your products. Logistics companies specialise in getting your product from the source to the end user. They will already be equipped with trustworthy drivers and equipment for lifting and unloading your goods. As your small company grows and demand becomes higher a dedicated logistics company can adapt to ensure that you can deal with the increased demand for your product.
Professional and Efficient Service
The last thing you want is to worry about the service that your customer is receiving – your focus instead needs to be on driving sales and growing your company. Having an established courier service that you can trust to oversee your delivery process will ensure that your customers’ needs and expectations are met.
See more: The Importance of Efficient Delivery Management for Ecommerce Businesses and Online Retailers
How to Choose a Logistics Company
Location
It is logical to find a logistics company that is local to you or at least has a local depot/pickup spot. You want to make sure that you can send/pickup stock to and from their distribution centre when required.
Capacity
Whilst it is always good to support smaller local firms you should also be mindful of capacity and capability to deal with your workload. Picking a 3PL that does not have the capacity to deal with your current orderbook will struggle when it comes to expanding. You need an established network that can help you grow, not hinder the process.
Reviews/Reputation/Reliability
One of the hardest things to maintain and build with a new company is your reputation. You need a logistics company that you can trust to deliver and provide a service that will complement your business. Make sure that you check online for feedback from other customers and also other local business owners if they have made use of the service before.
What Makes Allegro Logistics different?
Allegro Logistics provide a fully managed fulfilment solution from point of sale material through to e-commerce. Our customers benefit from a seamless, flexible solution enabling them to differentiate within their marketplace.
With ever tightening deadlines and demands for last minute picking, packing and shipping, Allegro have the resource and responsiveness to offer a market leading solution.
- Same Day dispatch
- Integrated Warehouse Management System
- Range of distribution channels (National / International)
- Accurate real time information
- Total accountability
- Flexibility
Working with Allegro allows you to offer bespoke packaging for your customers allowing you to stand out from the competition –
- Branded boxes and tissue paper can be designed and supplied by us in many different shapes, sizes and colours.
- Automatic stock synchronisation across all platforms allows visibility at management level, ensuring real time for budgeting and forecasting.
- We provide a fully automated 3PL accounting model to take the pain away from fulfilment invoicing, enabling automated calculations for picking, packing and shipping.
By working with a 3PL like Allegro Logistics your delivery service will scale as your company grows allowing to you provide a bespoke tailored delivery network for your clients.
If you would like to find out more about Allegro Logistics’ services, please contact our team today. We would be happy to advise you of the best solution for your growing business.