Retailers worldwide are grappling to take advantage of the boom in eCommerce activity, as consumers ramp up their online orders. According to Shopify, global online purchases have grown from 17.8% to 21% over the last two years and are expected to reach 24.5% by 2025.
This means as sales grow and new consumers come to market, competitors will need to find a point of difference that raises them above the pack in consumers’ eyes.
With so many parcels flying around the world, speed of delivery will no doubt become an increasingly important consideration for buyers, as discovered by Australia Post. A survey by the national postal service found that three-quarters of shoppers see speed as an important part of the delivery experience.
One way to improve this metric is centralised warehousing and this becomes even more important the larger your business becomes. For those merely delivering within a single state of Australia, for example, their warehouse could effectively be located anywhere in the state and a reasonable delivery time could still be achieved.
For larger companies, a centralised warehouse would ideally be located at the crossroads of the world, where all major consuming regions are just a flight away.
For Blu Print and its customers, this is the case with its premises in southeast Asia. This blog will explain why warehouse placement can make the difference between a booming business or going bust.
Our eco-friendly packaging is just the start of the value we bring to commercial printing. To take advantage of our centralised warehousing, get in touch with Blu Print today.
Better Control and Visibility
The first benefit of a centralised warehouse is in its minimalism. You might hear about a global brand and think there are countless parts involved to keep this machine churning. But by keeping all inventory in one location for distribution to the world, you’re actually minimising the steps required to dispatch each product.
This creates less room for error in each delivery and better control over your product flows.
The minimalist approach of centralised warehousing is also enjoyed in the reduction of paper trails and inventory management. When all of your products pass through the one checkpoint somewhere like southeast Asia, there is less chance of misplacing stock and it becomes easier to find stock in those rare instances.
Reduced Lead Times
Some global brands might think they can get by selling to the world while warehousing back home in Australia, but they would be mistaken. Australia, for all its quirks and benefits, is relatively isolated from the greater Western world and therefore makes for a poor manufacturing hub. To reduce shipping and manufacturing costs while maintaining the same standards Australian brands have come to establish, a centralised warehouse combines the best of both worlds.
Once this central facility is set up, lead times for customers in multiple regions will be reduced and, at worst, evened out – removing the possibility of any one region suffering persistent delays.
By centralising your warehouse and standardising your delivery time around the world, you can make shipping promises with your customers with more certainty.
Cater to Large Orders
Alongside reduced global lead times, you’ll gain the capacity to fulfil larger orders to more locations. This is because when you combine all of your inventory into one facility, you’ll naturally need a larger space to accommodate.
Once a larger warehouse is achieved, larger orders are able to be fulfilled within a reasonable time, and your business will soon be catering to other global brands of significance.
This has been the case for Blu Print, as the past few years have seen us add several heavy hitters in the fashion industry to our list of loyal customers. They have since begun delivering their products using our Enviro 80 eCom satchels and their customers have appreciated the effort to become more environmentally sustainable.
Better Customer Service
With all of your ducks in a row at your new centralised warehouse, you’ll be far better equipped to please your global customer base.
Deliveries will become quicker, there’ll be less room for error in your products, and any returns will be far easier to manage due to this single returns address.
Australia Post also found that customers appreciate certainty over speed of delivery. Fortunately, a centralised warehouse will give you the ability to better calculate your delivery times, allowing you to manage customer expectations and stick to your promises.
The Proof is in the Blu Print
We speak from experience because our centralised warehouse in southeast Asia has taken our business to the next level. We can better serve numerous Australian brands who have a global reach and their packaging has never looked better!
If your products need more sustainable packaging, get in contact with Blu Print to understand how we can help.