Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Brands spend a lot of money building positive connections with their customers. They are looking for touchpoints to increase awareness, create personalized experiences, and establish emotional connections to increase engagement, sales, and loyalty. And they know very well that every interaction matters.
But in this flurry of activity, there’s one thing your brand may be overlooking: an important relationship that can make or break your entire connection with your customers. It’s a partnership with our customers. third party logistics (3PL) Provider.
Like any successful relationship, this connection thrives on clear communication, mutual trust, compatibility, and a deep understanding of each other’s needs and goals. It’s not just the 3PL that makes the relationship work. It is a collaborative path that leads to success.
Beyond contractual agreements, here are three key strategies brands can adopt to grow their 3PL partnerships and improve the customer experience.
Related: 4 Key Principles of Successful Partnerships
1. Communicate openly and often
When brands work with a 3PL, establishing transparent and consistent communication is key to long-term success. This begins during the evaluation phase, where the brand presents its requirements, leading to the proposal phase, where the 3PL shares its core competencies. Before deciding to partner, a 3PL should carefully develop an implementation plan, taking into account key factors such as the brand’s system integration, inventory management, packaging details, and carrier preferences.
Open communication shouldn’t end with a service contract. To create a truly successful partnership, a brand cannot take a set-it-and-forget-it approach to his 3PL. You can visit warehouse sites, establish channels of communication, and share important information on a regular basis. The same goes for 3PL. It is impossible to simply take over warehousing, inventory management, picking and packing, shipping and delivery without understanding all the nuances of a brand’s business, from brand identity and SOPs to specific compliance requirements for order fulfillment. you can’t. Each partner must be committed to transparent communication, frequently sharing forecast and sales data, providing visibility into inventory levels, and discussing issues, performance metrics, and customer feedback that arise. .
By fostering strong working relationships with 3PLs, brands can operate efficiently, have transparent pricing that aligns with their expectations, and communicate effectively to meet their unique needs. This collaboration fosters a positive customer experience characterized by predictability and reliability.
2. Treat your 3PL as an extension of your brand
A successful 3PL brand partnership is more than just a transaction. In the most successful partnerships, a brand sees his 3PL as a true extension of the team. This is an intentional process that requires more than just collaboration. That requires a willingness from both brands and their 3PLs to integrate into each other’s businesses.
3PLs are usually not experts in retail, but they are experts in getting products to shoppers. By limiting 3PL to only operational tasks without integrating it into a broader strategic framework, brands can run into inefficiencies and missed opportunities.
Let’s take sales and promotions as an example. Suppose a brand invests significant time and resources to launch a new product with a flashy advertising campaign, but he fails to notify his 3PL partner that inventory and sales are expected to increase. This results in staff shortages, delivery delays, and disappointed shoppers. By leaving 3PLs in the dark and not giving them a chance to prepare, brands were unable to support successful partnerships.
Communicating the differences, whether it’s a new SKU or expected volume changes, is an easy way to get your 3PL on board. A point of contact for brands and 3PLs to regularly share updates and discuss KPIs such as dock-to-stock metrics, inventory and picking accuracy, and coordinate customer support programs to quickly resolve customer issues. By establishing this, you can move forward with your efforts.
By operating as an integral part of the brand team, 3PLs gain the flexibility they need to adapt their operations to meet the needs of their partners, rather than imposing rigid one-size-fits-all solutions. can do.
Related: Do’s and don’ts when working with third-party service providers
3. Adopt 3PL technology and the visibility it provides
As retailers look for ways to improve the customer experience, technology-enabled 3PLs are rising to the occasion to meet that need.
However, partnering with a technology-advanced 3PL is not enough. Brands need to be fully committed to the technology they have available to stay competitive and meet evolving customer demands.
Various technology platforms, such as order management systems (OMS), warehouse management systems (WMS), and transportation management systems (TMS), provide brands with real-time insights into their 3PL, fulfillment, and delivery operations, increasing efficiency and improving brand Provides 360-degree visibility. Surgery. Additionally, 3PL automation, robotics, and AI tools can increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve the employee experience, leading to greater warehouse and delivery worker satisfaction and brand partner performance. will lead to improvement.
Embracing technology and the 3PLs that employ it improves operational efficiency, provides brands with the visibility they need to make informed decisions and proactively respond to customer needs, and improves the bottom line. This ultimately leads to a more seamless and satisfying shopping experience.
Related: How to get the most out of external partners
Maintaining open lines of communication, viewing the 3PL as a strategic partner rather than a service provider, and embracing its technology are all keys to a successful partnership.
Strong 3PL relationships allow brands to improve the customer experience, increase brand loyalty, and stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive retail environment.