Why a 3PL Makes Sense for E-commerce Businesses

If you thought 2012 was a busy one for your e-commerce business, you’re not alone. Figures from the U.S. Commerce Department show that e-commerce sales in 2012 continued their upward trend, maintaining their steady climb since 2003. And e-commerce companies can expect an increase in online sales well into the future. Research conducted by Forrester Research estimates that online sales will grow between nine and 11 percent over the next five years. To translate that into dollars, in 2010, online sales totaled $172.9 billion.

Is your e-business ready to handle the growth in online sales and meet customer demand in a timely and efficient manner?

Public Warehousing Is a Perfect Fit for E-Commerce

By their very nature, e-commerce businesses have to be lean and efficient in order to entice customers to buy from their website instead of a retail store, catalog, or a competing online store. But are you taking advantage of one key resource that can really impact your bottom line and bring added savings and enhanced service to your customers?

No where does outsourcing logistics make smart business sense than with e-commerce. For Internet businesses that are home office based, a third-party logistics provider (3PL) is a must for storing product, managing it and moving it out expeditiously. But larger e-commerce companies and retail businesses that do B2C e-commerce, B2B e-commerce, or both, are also discovering the economical benefits associated with outsourcing warehousing and distribution.

Adding Up The Savings

At Brendamour Warehousing, Distribution & Services, our clients often tell us how our services actually make a difference to their bottom-line. We’ve compiled the Top 6 ways here:

1. Saving on Infrastructure – By using Brendamour’s warehousing and distribution services, an e-commerce business doesn’t have to worry about finding a place and furnishing it for business operations. We even have office rental space complete with secretarial and phone answer services for when you need to meet with clients or vendors, or require access to computer or copying services.
2. Significantly lower warehousing costs – Because we divide our overhead costs among all our warehousing clients based on space usage, everyone pays much less than if they had to lease a space themselves and pay for equipment, supplies, utilities, staff and other associated expenses.
3. Reduced shipping costs through consolidated shipping – Often times, e-commerce merchants send different merchandise items to the same location. Our advanced technology recognizes this and consolidates same location deliveries into one package to save on shipping or freight costs.
4. Less costly order fulfillment – Online companies lose a lot of money on returns. With our automated order fulfillment system, what the customer ordered is sent out on time and arrives in good condition. This accurate and error-free system reduces the costs associated with returns, including reverse logistics and restocking.
5. Technology update savings – E-commerce merchants using our services don’t have to worry about the costs involved in making upgrades to logistics hardware, software and equipment. Because logistics is a core business at Brendamour, we have the most advanced technology and have a pulse on new advancements in web-based warehouse management software and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
6. Scalability As Needed – Most e-commerce companies start small and grow as the business dictates. As a third-party logistics provider, Brendamour Warehousing has the flexibility to accommodate growth, no matter how large or small, or how fast or slow.

For e-commerce businesses looking to reduce fulfillment costs, create a distribution center network in the U.S.and abroad, lower shipping costs and enhance customer service, a third-party logistics vendor makes perfect sense. Contact Brendamour Warehousing, Distribution & Services today to see what makes our services click for e-commerce businesses.