D2C brands must find ways to efficiently store inventory, pick/pack orders, and ship to customers in a timely manner. Developing an effective fulfilment strategy is crucial for any D2C brand looking to scale whilst controlling costs and providing a positive customer experience.
Understand Your customers' expectations: Align your operations and logistics strategies to their aspirations. With the growth of ecommerce, customer expectations for shipping times, costs, flexibility, and service quality are high. Implementing a customer-first logistics approach can significantly enhance the customer experience and foster brand loyalty.
Pick the right fulfilment model: In house/3PL (Third-party logistics)/dropship
Optimize inventory management: Effective inventory management is vital for minimizing holding costs and ensuring product availability. This involves balancing the right amount of stock to meet demand without overstocking. Employing a cross-functional approach to inventory management to align Marketing, Planning and Supply chain teams can help in reducing inventory excess/shortages, and can also help to free up cash-flow through effective critical path management.
Leverage technology early: Investing in the right technology can streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve service levels across your network. Additionally, data analytics can provide insights into customer behavior, product performance, and operational bottlenecks, thus enabling more informed decision-making.
Establish strong partner relationships: Building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with partners can lead to better pricing, terms, and reliability. Regular communication and performance reviews can help to maintain these relationships and ensure that your supply chain is resilient and responsive to changes in demand.
Focus on sustainability: Sustainability is increasingly becoming a critical consideration for consumers. Implementing eco-friendly practices in your logistics and operations not only contributes to the environmental cause, but also aligns with consumer values, potentially boosting your brand’s appeal. Explore circular or sustainable packaging options, delivery route optimization, and waste reduction processes.
Prepare to scale: Focusing on building processes that are scalable and flexible ensures that you can handle increased volumes without sacrificing service quality. Identify crucial points at which to your develop your logistics network, explore new shipping methods, or automate processes.
