A 3pl (third-party logistics provider) will offer businesses a very flexible service, in which they can take over a singular aspect of your supply chain operation, or multiple or even the entire operation if need be. These aspects can include warehousing, distribution, shipping and storage, and fulfillment needs.
This flexibility is especially useful to businesses who do not wish to outsource their entire operation due to operational or financial reasons but do need to outsource singular aspects of it. This in turn makes 3pl services very affordable for businesses as well as being flexible and versatile. In addition to this, 3pl offers numerous more benefits that can significantly impact your business and help you in different aspects, primarily to do with shipping operations and supply chain management. If your business is associated with shipping and provision of products to paying consumers, then looking into a 3pl can help you to reduce costs and many more other benefits.
Here are some ways that a 3pl can help to grow your business.
They can help you to scale your business
As your business grows, you will need to be able to perform more and more tasks in order to keep the business operation running smoothly.
As demand increases, you need to start fulfilling more orders, and with higher demand, you could be ultimately slowing down the production of the business by doing it yourself. A 3pl can help to scale your business exponentially according to growth. Smaller businesses will likely not have access to the funding that is required to start running warehouse operations, which will be required as the demand for product increases. 3pl providers are able to implement systems that will streamline business operations and processes and will handle the fulfillment and the aspects associated with this. This will allow you to focus on the acquisition of customers and brand awareness, marketing, etc. to continue to grow the business, as the 3pl will handle the growth and scale your business accordingly.
They make warehousing and distribution streamlined
Most businesses will not be the best when it comes to warehousing and distribution, as many of them are only just getting into these aspects of business due to growth and distribution. Regardless, warehousing and distribution are important aspects of any business that’s primary purpose is the distribution of its products. The result of many businesses not knowing much about warehousing and distribution is that it often does not go well.
Time and money are wasted and employees are not able to focus on other aspects of the business which also require attention. For these companies, using a 3pl will ensure that the warehousing and distribution aspect is handled by those who know what they are doing. Because this is more efficient, time is saved and employees will be able to focus on other aspects of the business, and thereby money is also saved. Furthermore, the better logistics of the business will be noticed by consumers which in turn will mean repeat business and an increase in consumers through reputation.
Time to consumer can be reduced
Smaller to moderately sized companies will often not have the necessary scale of distribution to handle increased demand. This will mean a lull in the operation and distribution of the products and business. A 3pl will often have multiple distribution centres as well as efficient and effective methods for distribution. By offloading the work onto an external provider, the business ensures that consumers will be receiving their goods in a timely fashion and sometimes even a reduction in time.
In summary, a 3pl will be able to grow the business through scalability and through the provision of various benefits to do with efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain and distribution.
