The increasing popularity of eCommerce platforms has put additional strain on logistics companies that are responsible for shipments and product delivery. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a substantial increase in online shopping to mitigate store visits. The growing influx of online orders has not only disrupted logistics services but also left warehouse operators in a state of turmoil. The logistics industry directly relies on warehouses for the procurement and timely delivery of various consignments. Therefore, warehouse managers must optimize their operations in accordance with dynamically changing customer demands and volatile market conditions.
Despite the apparent comfort and convenience that online shopping has to offer, most customers expect superfast delivery of their products. Moreover, many popular eCommerce platforms have started offering express delivery options for select items within 24-48 hours. Completing such orders requires a proactive approach and effective coordination between warehouse and logistics service providers.
For small-to-medium retail and eCommerce businesses, independently running logistics and warehouse units doesn’t sound like a practical solution. That said, the ideal way to get off the ground is to outsource a third-party company to handle logistics and warehouse operations. Therefore, we have 3PL services to successfully establish collaboration with prominent warehouse management solutions providers.
Here, we highlight the importance of 3PL warehouse management solutions for small-to-medium businesses with a focus on their key benefits.
What Is a 3PL Model?
Third-party logistics or 3PL is an operational strategy that refers to the use of external resources for managing logistics, warehousing, and supply chain operations. It enables retail and eCommerce businesses to outsource a third-party logistics and warehouse solutions provider to handle these processes. With a 3PL strategy in place, eCommerce store owners do not need to get into the complexities of warehouse operations such as procurement, storage, distribution, packaging, and shipment. As a result, they can focus on improving their sales strategies without getting bogged down by these operational challenges.
Benefits of 3PL Warehousing
Evidently, 3PL warehouse management solutions provide scores of benefits to small-scale retailers, manufacturers, and eCommerce store owners. We have already discussed the key benefits of implementing 3PL warehouse management solutions. Now let’s delve into more details to explore its benefits for diverse business use cases.
Stock Visibility
Most 3PL warehouse management solutions providers let you integrate their warehouse management module with your in-house ERP software. Therefore, it helps you gain real-time visibility into stocks’ data and connects you directly with shipping services. As a result, you can virtually oversee stock availability, inventory movement, shipment status, and document verification processes.
At Oodles ERP, we help you build an enterprise-grade software solution to seamlessly integrate with a 3PL warehouse management system. Our custom ERP development services render holistic support for inventory and warehouse software development solutions.
Agile Processes
One of the main benefits of outsourcing a 3PL warehouse solutions provider is that they have an established warehouse infrastructure. Therefore, they can handle warehouse operations faster and more efficiently while providing real-time updates about inventory and in-transit shipments. By letting these third-party companies handle your stocks and inventory, you can rest assured that your orders are delivered in due time. However, it is critical to choose the right 3PL company to ensure that your stocks are handled with care and orders are delivered on time. It is advisable to conduct thorough market research beforehand to find a reliable 3PL warehouse management solutions provider.
At Oodles ERP, we provide complete warehouse management consulting services to help you find a robust 3PL partner. Our 360-degree warehouse management development services offer complete support for developing a custom WMS system from the ground up.
Also, Read Custom ERP Software Development For Inventory Management
Billing and Invoicing
Effective financial management is imperative to successfully running a retail, manufacturing, or eCommerce business. It is, therefore, critical that you gain complete financial visibility from your 3PL partner. In fact, ensuring financial transparency should be your top priority while partnering with a 3PL warehouse management solutions provider. Most 3PL companies have dedicated software modules that automatically generate accurate invoices. Therefore, it adds a trust factor and significantly reduces the scope of errors due to manual processing.
Better Flexibility
The 3PL model works on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis. It means you only pay for the orders that are processed and completed successfully. Besides, it is easy to scale in accordance with changing customer demands and increasing volume of orders. Therefore, you get ample flexibility and scalability to manage routine warehouse operations with minimal disruption.
You may also be interested in reading Optimize Warehouse Operations with ERP Software
Conclusion
These were some of the key takeaways from this post that highlight the importance of a 3PL strategy in logistics, warehousing, and supply chain management. In addition to extrinsically handling warehouse, logistics, and supply chain activities, the 3PL approach takes care of the compliance issues and regulatory challenges. It is because the outsourced company will handle these tasks on your behalf while you focus on improving sales and customer services. Following this approach can be increasingly beneficial for small and medium-sized companies that can not afford to overspend on establishing new business units.
Avail Our Custom ERP Software Solutions To Enhance Business Productivity
We are a 360-degree ERP development company that specializes in building scalable enterprise solutions for inventory and warehouse management. Our development team holistically analyzes your business requirements and formulates effective strategies for custom ERP application development. We use open-source ERP platforms like Odoo, Opentaps, ERPNext, and Apache OFBiz to develop performance-driven inventory and warehouse management modules. Our end-to-end warehouse management software development services enable organizations to efficiently track and manage their stock levels, inventory movements, and in-transit shipments. To learn more about our custom ERP software solutions, visit our website or drop us a line at [email protected].
