Supply Chain Management Archives – unicommerce.com

What are the Benefits of Having Inventory Management Software?

Team Unicommerce — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 11:53:07 +0000

Inventory management refers to the process of getting the right things to the right place at the right time. However, there are different intermediate phases before the product reaches its final destination. The two most prominent stages are warehousing and shipment. Surprisingly, both of them are crucial logistical problems.

A reliable inventory management strategy becomes essential for e-commerce businesses as it enables them to employ complex inventory tracking solutions.

Why is Inventory Management Software Vital for E-commerce Businesses?

Effortless inventory management strategies demonstrate the importance of proper real-time stock management. When compared to manual data encoding, one always prefers automation.

Even if the company survives on human-centric data encoding, other formulas depending on prices are critical. Thus, the software helps streamline customer service, making transactions more seamless and easy.

Here are the benefits of affordable inventory management software one must learn before implementing it in retail.

Inventory Management Software – Top 9 Benefits

Before using inventory management software, all e-commerce businesses should know about its benefits:

1. Improves Inventory Control by Tracking in Real-Time

The best inventory management software can improve inventory control when the ERP is combined with it. It tracks in real-time and spots the product’s location and how it’s moving through the whole system. This reduces human error.

Most software systems track products that are entering and exiting the cycle from production to storage and, finally, sales. Using these systems helps e-commerce businesses reduce inventory management expenses and lets them build stronger relationships with loyal customers and partners.

2. Gives Accurate Reading

The best part of implementing these systems into an e-commerce strategy is getting a clear record of the whole inventory. The sales data helps the retail store understand when to bring more products to the platform and helps e-commerce platforms order the required amount of products to prevent any dead stock for a lengthy timeframe.

3. Makes Better Business Plans

Transferring data and monitoring the business becomes easier with a central data warehouse and the scanning of barcodes. With this, retailers can know the customers they are serving, their expectations, the level of inventory, how to implement an agile inventory to make the business procedure smoother, etc. All these can improve business conversions and increase profits in the long run.

4. Avoids Overselling of Stocks

Overselling is a crucial challenge for any e-commerce business. When they don’t have accurate details about the inventory, it goes out of stock. As a result, it fails to meet loyal customers’ demands. In certain cases, it also means suspension from the whole marketplace.

With inventory management software, online retail stores can monitor customers’ demands and measure whether they can meet the current stock level.

5. Reduces Business Costs

The most reliable inventory management software informs businesses about the stocks available in the warehouse. So, a company can easily access it soon after the order comes in. It does not require ordering products at higher prices. The inventory management tool can also reduce the business expense around transportation, employee wages, and insurance.

If a retailer has excess inventory, they might have to move it from one place to another, increasing transportation costs. Moreover, if the employees do not know how to handle the stocks clearly or how much to store, it can enhance the labor costs.

Insurance is a must for a warehouse taken on rent or lease to protect the place and its assets. But, if retailers rent a site and keep excess stock without customer demand, their business will face a loss, and they will have to bear the cost of the insurance unnecessarily.

6. Expands the Supply Chain

When it comes to supply chain operations, unanticipated challenges can emerge, such as scarcity of materials, hikes in prices, changes in customer behavior, inability to forecast the demand, congestion in the port, digital transformation etc.

But using the appropriate inventory management software, retailers can devise a plan to mitigate them.

With the data generated about the available stock, businesses can decrease the risks of long waiting times if the supplier cannot deliver products as per schedule.

7. Adds Innovative Selling Channels

Each e-commerce seller wishes to try out more innovative platforms or channels to list products effectively. The inventory management system provides an overview of all channels from a single point. This enables companies to understand how much inventory gets sold on a specific channel.

In addition, most software systems come with features like real-time inventory forecasting and syncing. This makes it easier for e-commerce entrepreneurs to maintain inventory controls around different locations.

8. Anticipates Inventory for Seasonal Purchasers

With a substantial rise in the order volume due to special events or holidays, the inventory should meet the demand. The significance of inventory management systems lies in analyzing and gathering historical or seasonal data to note sales patterns, making quintessential adjustments in stock levels.

9. Automates Inventory Management

Automatic inventory management systems eliminate the risk of manual mistakes while saving long hours in performing the same tasks repeatedly.
With its help, e-commerce businesses can see inventory levels as the stocks automatically update as soon as a sale occurs. They can also forecast appropriately, prevent overselling, and provide customers with a better experience. The reason is simple – it lets them see the products in real-time. Thus, be it handling more than one warehouse or selling medium, automation helps in everything.

Last Words

So, these are the multiple benefits that come with inventory management software systems. As an e-commerce enterprise, accomplishing these advantages requires having customized inventory management software. So, businesses should look at different options to streamline their supply chain.

10 Tips to Implement a Warehouse Management System for your E-commerce Business

Team Unicommerce — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 06:17:26 +0000

As e-commerce continues to dominate as one of the fastest-growing business industries today, many companies are trying to catch up. Running businesses online might seem relatively simple, but fulfilling these orders can be a big headache. Accordingly, there has been a rising demand for warehouse management system implementation.

What Does a Warehouse Management System Do?

A warehouse management system (WMS) offers visibility over inventory and supply chain fulfillment operations. This way, companies can apply certain functions that will make the transition from distribution center to shelf a whole lot smoother and more effective. Some key features of warehouse management include:
• Inventory management — Store, track, and update inventory data, such as stocks, expiration dates, delivery notes, and so on.
• Barcoding system — To make it easier to determine data points on batch orders
• Order management system — To take care of bulk B2B orders
• Shelf management — To store and segregate orders within a warehouse

The warehouse management system market is growing, and e-commerce businesses that haven’t implemented a warehouse management system should undoubtedly start putting up such a system if they haven’t done so yet.

Warehouse Management System Implementation Tips for Your E-commerce Business –

#1 Create an adhoc setup team
#2 Create an audit of your current systems
#3 Decide which features to prioritize
#5 Build a rollout plan
#6 Build in a budget for gradual implementation
#7 Provide training
#8 Implement a grace period
#9 Don’t forget to close up the project
#10 Set up regular evaluations

If you’re looking to implement a Warehouse Management System (WMS) in your warehouse or operation, then here are a few tips to help you through that process.

1. Create an adhoc setup team
Implementing this change will be an ad hoc project that will require someone’s headspace and attention. That said, it’s best to have a team focus on the setup process so that everyone in your current organization can still keep things running. That way, the business doesn’t stop operations from making this major shift.
• Project manager — To run point on the whole process
• Technical manager — To help implement any technical setup of software and other digital systems
• Training manager — To take charge of vision casting the changes and training staff on usage
• Database administrator — To handle any audits and data collection for the transition

You can either hire a consultant to help with the setup process or build an internal committee and give them free rein to focus on this implementation project.

2. Create an audit of your current systems
Many of today’s inventory management challenges deal with contextualizing a warehouse management system setup with your current workflow. So before setting up anything, it’s crucial to perform an audit first of your current systems. That includes manual systems and digital ones if you already have any software being used in your operation.

In some cases, a company might have ERP software or CRM software already set up. Find out how these systems might conflict or integrate with the inventory management system or warehouse management processes you would like to implement.

3. Decide which features to prioritize
Not all essential features of warehouse management software will be a priority for your organization. You might only need two or three to begin with, or your company could need more. It all really depends on your current setup and how much of your business you need to start automating with warehouse management software.

Also, determining what types of features you’ll prioritize will help you decide which types of warehouse management systems to implement. Not all WMS providers are built the same. Some are better equipped in a certain area than others. Still, that would depend on your specific needs. So start by determining which features you’ll need in a system and choose the software solution that effectively provides a solution in those areas.

4. Start implementing automation
Many of the key features of warehouse management software are automation-centric, meaning they take a task once manually done by staff and lets a system do it. Here are some of the automated tasks you can start implementing with your warehouse management system:
• Data analysis
• Monitoring and alerts for when stocks hit a critical mass
• Order processing
• Picking and packing activities
• Autonomous driving and stacking

This automation roll-out will also affect your manpower, so it should be in your company and team members’ best interests to determine what people affected by these automation systems will end up doing.

5. Build a rollout plan
Once all the assessment has been done, it’s time to build out a plan for roll-out. Do your absolute best to roll out changes in phases instead of implementing everything in one go. You can start by changing the inventory management processes first before digitizing your order management systems. As a best practice, it should be best to implement internal systems first before implementing anything client-facing.

6. Build a budget for gradual implementation
The WMS implementation process will cost money for sure. You’ll have to pay for digital software, manpower, and training. So factor in those costs. Try not to squeeze in everything for the sake of cost-saving. Those costs will be justified over time as automation and technology are predicted to help lower costs.

7. Provide training
When you implement a WMS, the most crucial part isn’t the setup, but the follow-through across the organizational chart. Installing a warehouse management system will mean nothing if people don’t use it. So the other essential part of this whole process is to provide your staff with adequate training to use the system.

Consider hiring someone who has proven experience in certain warehouse management systems to give the training. Much like the rest of the process, giving this training in groups can help ensure quality and follow-through. Implement an on-demand training system and set up the best learning management systems that fit you where current staff can get refresher training when they need it. Training with the help of an LMS will also come in handy when you’re onboarding new hires who might use the new software. You just need to integrate your LMS with your other tools.

8. Implement a grace period
While it’s in the company’s best interests to roll out the system flawlessly, that rarely happens. There will be a few hiccups here and there and it’s always good to be ready for that. So provide your team with a grace period as all systems will require a learning curve. Always leave margins where possible, especially in terms of delivery schedules and operations backlogs. Once the system becomes clockwork, the team will catch up in time.

9. Don’t forget to close up the project
When running a warehouse management system project, one crucial part that people tend to skip is the project closure. This involves evaluating the whole process and celebrating the win with your staff. If you’re hiring a consultant to help with the setup process, set up a few follow-up meetings to determine areas where you can improve and other possible improvements you can have on the system later on.

10. Set up regular evaluations
Running a warehouse management system is going to be a long-term cadence. So try to take the time to regularly evaluate your system. Be on the lookout for software upgrades and feature roll-outs that could significantly improve your operations. Most systems will have a maximum number of users or SKUs per payment plan, so it might be good to stay ready to upgrade your plan or system as needed.

Future-proof your business with WMS

There’s no questioning that setting up a e-commerce warehouse management system will take time and effort. It will also be a collective effort across the board. So ensure that you have buy-in from the team, especially among stakeholders and supervisors. If everyone stays committed to this change, there will be progress. And this should be a priority given that automation will continue to shape the landscape of business as we know it. Getting left behind could mean serious downsides for the business as a whole.

E-commerce Logistics Management: How can you overcome Supply Chain Challenges in the Philippines?

Team Unicommerce — Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:00:55 +0000

Can you think of a circumstance where there’s no detailed arrangement or plan regarding the movement of inventory from its starting point to the point of delivery? The whole idea of managing e-commerce operations will remain pointless if you don’t have a systematic approach to follow by!

While the warehouse, inventory, and order management could be some of the crucial aspects of your business operations, the one element that binds them together is logistics. What exactly is logistics and what is its role in running a business successfully, especially if you are operating in the Philippines?

Right from determining the order routes (based on expediency, regulatory environments, etc.) to aligning shopping providers as per the nature of the order, a systematic logistics management system attributes to minimized operational costs and amplified business profits.

Growing E-commerce Opportunities in the Philippines!

Are you planning to start your own e-commerce empire in the Philippines or you are established in the country but want to expand operations and boost business profits? Well, the answer is to ‘Manage your Value chain by organizing logistics operations’.

Despite the Philippines not keeping up with the growing trends of e-commerce digital in the early 2019s, the country’s economy today represents major opportunities for all sorts of e-commerce businesses. So amid such growing economy, wouldn’t you also want to grow your bottom line?

Before we go deep into the topic, we would like you to first understand the logistics challenges that e-tailers like you are already facing and couldn’t grow any further. Don’t you want to find that out?

Logistics Challenges that E-commerce Businesses are Facing in the Philippines!

E-commerce businesses in the Philippines are increasingly encountering unique logistics challenges as the market expands, here are a few major challenges:

1. Error-Prone Manual Processes

Even today after the advancement of technology, businesses are highly dependent on manual logistics operations. For instance, let’s take the case of the AWB number into consideration. In order to generate the AWB number of a consignment, your dependency as a seller increases on the logistics partner. The whole process of generating and assigning the number to each shipment takes both your and your logistics partners’ time. Not to mention that the discrepancies in the value chain along with the longer lead times could become the by-product of manual processes.

2. Faulty Infrastructure

The Philippines is roughly classified into two main regions; Luzon and VisMin (Visaya & Mindanao). While travel is difficult from one region to another, there are many linguistic barriers as well as the language; Tagalog and Bisayaof both regions are totally different from each other. Moreover, the status of transportation in the Philippines could be defined by congested streets and traffic issues, which only increases the lead time of order delivery. And this becomes an absolute problem when it comes to the delivery of perishable goods – given their shelf life is less and they may get expired before reaching the destination. The problem gets magnified when the delivery platform you have integrated into your system does not deliver to a specific location or isn’t aware of the nooks & crannies of the locality.

3. High Logistics Cost

The absence of the larger authorities around the country to track the movement of the goods generally create inconsistencies in the logistics, increasing the cost of shipping. Now, these overhead expenses could either be borne by the seller or the consumers. While the former could actually minimize the profit margin, the latter could lead to poor customer service, which would eventually discourage them to shop more. But imagine if you would have the choice the partner with different courier partner/shipping aggregators as per your preferences, then you might have saved your operational costs – given you can allot the orders based on the type of the shipping partner.

Know more about How to Sell On Lazada Marketplace in Southeast Asia?

4. Cumbersome Returns Processes

Right from manufacturing & production to transportation & distribution, operational glitches and distorted messages are bound to happen. And these all lead to high order returns. While returning an order is a cumbersome process, the failure could cost you both unsatisfied customers and heavy losses. Be it Customer Initiated Return (CIR) or Return To Origin (RTO), you can’t ignore the operational costs associated with them.

When the returned products re-enter your supply chain, it challenges your operational efficiency. Not only does it acquire your warehouse space, but there’s also a risk of it depreciating quickly than the other products. To help you understand the various struggles businesses witnesses when the customer returns a specific product, we have culled out a list of some main activities included in the process.

Organize the warehouse space
Allocate a dedicated area for returned products
Segregate returns items based on their nature and type

Coming over to the bad returns (where your products get damaged in the process) you not only have to take care of the operational costs, but the product cost will also make its place in your expenses. But imagine if you would have systematic doorstep QC systems, you would not have to think about the expenses, don’t you think so?

As we mentioned earlier, logistics is what binds all of the other supply chain management solutions; warehouse management, inventory management, order management, etc., together. To overcome the above-mentioned challenges, your business needs a consolidated view via a single platform that can further simplify your logistics management. Why?

7 Reasons to Centralize your Logistics Management in the Philippines!

1. Easy Returns

As returns management helps businesses enhance their customer’s experience, it’s always advisable to seek help from a solution provider who can manage the end-to-end process including sorting, integrating with smart shipping providers, providing AI-based reports, etc. But the question is why is it necessary to deploy a returns management system?

By serving the demands of your customer, you are not only enhancing their experience but also retaining social proof, as the chances to get positive feedback increase with the improved customer experience. Not to mention the fact that incorporating doorstep quality check processes in handy can help overcome the causes of bad returns.

2. Improving value chain visibility

You need to have complete visibility of the entire workflow; inventory receipt, storage, management of orders, and shipment. A centralized system enables you to ensure the shipments are following a prescribed route throughout the routing process and in case of any sort of disruptions, you can send notifications, alerts, etc., to the stakeholders so that actions can be taken on or before time.

3. Reduce extra costs

By centralizing the whole value chain from a single panel, you can track your operational costs and know when you are going over the budget. This way not only can you reduce that extra cost but also disburden your customers from delivery costs. Don’t you think?

Moreover, if you have a choice of shipping aggregators/courier partners, will it not become easier for you to leverage the specialties of each based on the region, nature of the order, situations, etc.? Also, you can align your delivery packages with the best-in-class logistics players in the area who are familiar with the area and the surroundings.

4. Transparent operations

The integration of multiple processes, modules, and workflows lets you attain a well-structured organization where the information gets disseminated systematically. Also, the automation in AWB generation can save you time all while letting you monitor the fulfillment process from start to end. This way you can showcase the path of transparency to your customers all while achieving better accuracy in the inventory.

5. Enhance customer experience

Customer experience is not only limited to the ultimate purchase. Right from sending the order tracking details to delivering the order on or before time to supporting their queries throughout the process via phones, emails, etc., there are multiple aspects when it comes to retaining your customers. By integrating your order management with logistics, you can perform end-to-end tracking of shipment status all while offering a top-notch experience.

6. Identify potential order returns

You can set up an elaborative outbound quality check (QC) process amid the order processing process and ship the product only if it passes the QC test. This way you can reduce your order returns dramatically. To execute this, you need your logistics and warehouse management in place by centralizing your operations.

7. Achieve better order fulfillment rates

The main aim of any business is to process the received order as quickly as you can. To automate and streamline the operations, you can outsource e-commerce enablers. With the operational flow being automated, you can perform several tasks including; allocating the warehouse, managing the inventory levels, and monitoring where the product is placed. By simplifying these processes, you can hasten the completion of the delivery process and decrease the order fulfillment time.

The Solution to Overcome Challenges – Consolidated Logistics Management System!

We have already understood the challenges that sellers are witnessing when it comes to managing logistics in the Philippines, but what’s the solution to these problems?

Do you think that integrating with the leading logistics companies alone will solve your problem? But what about the processes associated with it? Can you really fulfill orders faster if your order management processes are not synchronized? Or can you actually perform inward and outward logistics operations if the layout of the warehouse is not clear?

A problem that the sellers across the Philippines have witnessed is the contingency situations and logistics regulations. Moreover, the overall infrastructure is still under development to incorporate complete digitalization and automation of processes. So given all these challenges, can you actually scale your online business in the Philippines? The answer is YES! But one thing that you definitely need to take care of is having a consolidated view of your e-commerce operations. While the integrated logistics management process keeps your operational costs low, it also reduces the dispatch time and keeps the SLAs intact.

7 Ways SaaS is reshaping Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Team Unicommerce — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 11:29:43 +0000

As per research by Research and Markets, the global SaaS-based Supply Chain Management market reached a value of US$ 6.04 billion last year. The findings document that the market is expected to reach US$ 14.49 Billion by 2027, highlighting a CAGR of 16% during 2022-2027. But why is the Supply Chain industry moving toward the adoption of SaaS increasingly?

Criticality of SaaS in Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Before this, let’s first understand what a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based supply chain management (SCM) is? SaaS-based SCM denotes an application that is used for cloud-based data management of multiple operational processes occurring throughout the supply chain. While the application guarantees enhanced order and inventory productivity and eliminate redundant processes, it also works as a system that automates the configurations of operational workflows based on the requirements.

Now the question is, what are the reasons for driving this rapid growth?

After the advancement of technology, everyone is seeking systems built on digitalization and automation principles. Thus, increasing digitalization is one of the reasons for the need for automated and AI-based techniques. Also, multiple innovations, including integration with the Internet of things (IoT), are acting as growth-inspiring factors.

Moreover, affording the newest technology is a costly affair, thus only enterprise-level businesses could afford it. However, SaaS-based technology solutions have made it feasible for all sizes of businesses to afford it by giving next-generation technology solutions at an affordable cost.

Importance of SaaS Platforms in Supply Chain Management for Retail Businesses

1. Innovative tech-driven approach

There are multiple tech solutions around the globe, offering AI-based software for you to access everything from anywhere instantly, from handling returns to accessing inventory snapshots to reviewing monthly order volume and more.

With such innovations, one can give power to their employees (Warehouse Manager, Sales Manager, Returns Manager, Picker, and Packer) to perform and manage all business activities effortlessly from anywhere to drive higher productivity, efficiency, and collaboration.

Another advantage is that you can access your entire backend through a portable device (mobile phone) from anywhere, minimizing disruptions in your absence.

2. Seamless and powerful integrations

The e-commerce integration software enables businesses to connect with other business systems, simplifying their business processes. From accounting to marketplace management to shipping and order fulfillment, there are different types of integrations that you can leverage.

With an efficient integrated system, you can boost productivity and scale to higher profits. Additionally, e-commerce integrations empower your brand to manage customers across multiple sales channels. With superior integrations support, not only does your chore of fulfilling orders on time get solved, but with ERP and POS systems, you can easily make the most of industrial use-cases and scenarios. Not to mention how same-day deliveries have become paramount in today’s age of digital era. With integrations in place, you can collaborate with shipping aggregators and allocate delivery as per the nature and type of your product. Additionally, online marketplace integrations allow you to organize your listings on marketplace famous in your region. You can efficiently manage your day-to-day activities, such as uploading new product details, downloading pending orders, printing invoices, generating labels, printing dispatch manifests, tracking orders and shipments, checking and updating inventory stock, etc.

3. Minimized operational discrepancies with complete automation

With the operations being automated and inventory flow being organized accordingly, you can reduce any errors that can come from processes. The question is, how? Imagine that you had to manually record your inventory inflow and outflow using a spreadsheet earlier. But due to the automation, your inventory count gets automatically updated through a cloud-based system. Would that not be easier for you to manage everything? This will not only reduce the chances of data duplications or any errors, but it will also give you a solid support system.

4. 360-Degree visibility of data due to centralization

SaaS has been enabling businesses to make the most of analytics to make a result-oriented decision, which is only possible if a regular performance analysis is done.

For example: With SaaS solutions providing complete visibility over the operations, you get notifications and alerts regarding where the order has reached and how much time it will take to reach your customers in real-time. Moreover, you can determine the highest-selling channel, highest-selling product, lowest-selling product, and more with extensive reports.

Additionally, actionable insights can be leveraged to enhance the overall performance of your warehouse/warehouses.

5. Cost-effectiveness with simplified processes

After deploying a particular technology in your warehouse, you will be able to define the workflows at each stage of a product. Moreover, virtual warehouse technology can give you the blueprint of your warehouse, due to which you can organize the overall layout, and optimize the space.

Talking about the robust features that some WMS providers offer, such as shelf management, batch management, and cycle count, can also minimize stock degradation while managing each SKU aggressively.

6. Reduce time by unifying the processes

With a unified interface, you get the chance to process the orders in bulk and ensure fast order dispatches with limited stock-picking time in the warehouse. The question is, how? When you have a centralized view of your order and inventory, you know what process to follow next.

This induces the ability to save time, but it also boosts the overall productivity of your operations.

7. Post-purchase experience

The post-purchase experience is as essential as the pre-purchase experience as it plays a crucial role in building a sustainable business. There are several post-purchase factors, such as the convenience of tracking orders, on-time delivery, and ease of customer service. They play a pivotal role in persuading customers while increasing their retention rate.

Additionally, the post-purchase journey begins with locating inventory and processing the order seamlessly. While selling on multiple online platforms, it becomes challenging to ensure optimum inventory utilization and faster processing. So what to do in that case? A well-defined warehouse management system specializing in multichannel order and inventory management can immensely benefit e-commerce and retail businesses. It lowers labor costs, enhances inventory accuracy, and improves operational flexibility while upgrading customer services and accessing real-time data.

A full-stack supply chain management system can empower businesses like yours to maximize productivity and alleviate error. As per Unicommerce’s in-house data and reports, brands have witnessed an SOI surge of 888% and GMV growth of 313%. While the average time to ship orders has reduced by 14%, customer-initiated returns have decreased from 5.2% to 3.1%.

Check out how the leading brands, including Chumbak and Mamaearth, Marico, PlumGoodness, TCNS, and many more, reached success after deploying a SaaS-based Supply Chain Management.

Logistics vs Supply Chain Management: Key Components, Benefits, Comparison

Team Unicommerce — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 08:56:08 +0000

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Definition
Key Components of Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Benefits of Effective Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Comparison: Logistics vs Supply Chain Management
Summary

In today’s globalized world, efficient logistics and supply chain management are crucial for businesses to stay competitive. The success of any organization heavily relies on its ability to deliver products or services to customers in a timely, cost-effective, and sustainable manner. This on-page blog will delve into the intricacies of logistics and supply chain management processes, highlighting their key components and their significance in optimizing operations.

What is Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Logistics encompasses the planning, implementation, and control of the flow of goods, services, and information between the point of origin and the point of consumption. On the other hand, supply chain management refers to the coordination and management of all activities involved in procuring raw materials, transforming them into finished products, and delivering them to customers.

Key Components of Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Procurement: The process of sourcing and acquiring raw materials, components, or finished products from suppliers. Effective procurement ensures the availability of quality inputs at competitive prices.
Inventory Management: Involves optimizing the quantity, location, and timing of inventory to meet customer demand while minimizing carrying costs and stockouts. It requires balancing supply and demand uncertainties.
Warehousing and Storage: Warehouses play a pivotal role in storing and managing inventory. They facilitate order fulfillment, enable consolidation and sorting, and provide value-added services such as packaging and labeling.
Transportation: The movement of goods between various points in the supply chain. Selecting the appropriate transportation mode, route planning, and carrier selection are critical to ensure timely delivery and cost optimization.
Demand Planning and Forecasting: Accurate demand forecasting helps organizations plan their production and inventory levels effectively. It involves analysing historical data, market trends, and customer insights to predict future demand.
Production and Operations Management: This encompasses the planning, scheduling, and control of production processes to ensure the efficient utilization of resources and timely production of goods or services.
Information Technology and Data Analytics: Leveraging technology and data analytics tools allows organizations to enhance visibility, track shipments, optimize routes, and improve overall supply chain performance.

Benefits of Effective Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Cost Reduction: Streamlining processes, optimizing transportation routes, and minimizing inventory levels can lead to significant cost savings.
Enhanced Customer Service: Efficient logistics ensures on-time delivery, accurate order fulfillment, and proactive communication, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Competitive Advantage: Effective supply chain management can be a source of competitive differentiation, enabling organizations to respond quickly to market changes and customer demands.
Sustainability and Environmental Impact: Optimizing logistics processes can lead to reduced carbon emissions, improved fuel efficiency, and minimized environmental impact, contributing to sustainability goals.
Collaboration and Integration: Building strong relationships with suppliers, customers, and partners fosters collaboration and facilitates seamless integration across the supply chain, resulting in improved coordination and efficiency.

Supply Chain Management and Logistics are closely related concepts, but they have distinct focuses within the realm of operations and business management. Let’s explore the differences between the two:

Difference between Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Definition:

Logistics: Logistics refers to the specific activities involved in the movement, storage, and flow of goods or materials from the point of origin to the point of consumption. It focuses primarily on the physical aspects of transportation, warehousing, inventory management, and order fulfillment.
Supply Chain Management: Supply Chain Management (SCM) encompasses the end-to-end coordination and integration of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, production, and distribution of goods or services. It includes planning, execution, control, and monitoring of activities across multiple organizations and stakeholders to deliver value to customers.

Scope:

Logistics: Logistics has a narrower focus and deals with the operational aspects of managing the physical flow of goods, including transportation, warehousing, packaging, and inventory management. It is more concerned with the execution of specific tasks within the supply chain.
Supply Chain Management: SCM has a broader scope and encompasses the entire network of organizations, processes, and activities involved in delivering products or services to end customers. It includes strategic planning, coordination, and collaboration with suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers.

Integration:

Logistics: Logistics focuses on the efficient management of specific activities related to transportation, storage, and inventory. It plays a critical role in supporting the overall supply chain objectives by ensuring timely delivery, minimizing costs, and optimizing resource utilization.
Supply Chain Management: SCM emphasizes the integration and coordination of various functions and processes within and across organizations. It involves aligning the goals, activities, and information flow between different stakeholders to optimize overall supply chain performance.

Timeframe:

Logistics: Logistics operates within a shorter timeframe, typically dealing with day-to-day operations and tactical activities. It focuses on the execution of tasks to ensure smooth flow, accurate inventory management, and timely order fulfillment.
Supply Chain Management: SCM takes a long-term perspective and involves strategic decision-making, such as network design, supplier selection, and demand forecasting. It addresses the entire lifecycle of a product or service, from raw materials sourcing to final customer delivery.

Customer Focus:

Logistics: Logistics contributes to customer satisfaction by ensuring that products are delivered on time and in good condition. It focuses on meeting customer expectations regarding order fulfillment, transportation reliability, and product availability.
Supply Chain Management: SCM places a strong emphasis on understanding customer needs, demand patterns, and market dynamics. It aims to create value for customers by delivering the right products, at the right time, in the right quantities, and at the right cost.

Conclusion:

Logistics and supply chain management are vital components of modern business operations. By strategically managing the flow of goods, services, and information, organizations can achieve cost efficiencies, enhance customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge. The ever-evolving landscape of logistics and supply chain management requires continuous adaptation to technological advancements and industry trends. Embracing innovative practices and leveraging data-driven insights will empower organizations to optimize their logistics processes and navigate the complexities of the global marketplace.

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How Brands Optimize Their Supply Chain to Scale Operations?

Team Unicommerce — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 12:10:33 +0000

‘Supply chain management’ is now on its way to become a buzzword. To provide a unique customer experience is an art. And how do the businesses achieve that? Simple. By optimizing their supply chain operations.

Advanced Supply chain operations involve highly optimized inventory & warehouse management, flexibility, and speed with order fulfillment, customization along with process implementation.

Let’s see how Brands are leveraging the supply chain software to optimize their e-commerce operations.

Unilever

Unilever is a pro in spotting the trends that disrupt the supply chain management operations. Amongst those trends, many are being driven by e-commerce businesses. And these continue to shape the way people shop and interact with brands. It has quickened the pace as technology advances. People look to e-commerce to deliver lifestyle solutions and not just products and services.

Starting from the production line to the warehouse to post box, Unilever’s packaging has evolved into an impactful tool to help meet consumers’ expectations while keeping up with escalating costs. They understand that at the end of the scale, packaging has become leaner, more resourceful, and designed for delivery.

While the packaging is an essential process of the supply chain, businesses should also work towards a future where the delivery process leverage technology to create a truly streamlined experience across all consumer touchpoints.

Supply Chain Management involves multiple processes, and each process is essential to run a smooth eCommerce business. While the packaging may not be on your top priorities in the supply chain process but it definitely can change your game as for Unilever. For instance, when each package is scanned via its barcode, it automatically syncs into your warehouse or inventory management system, and you could have clear visibility of the status of each order.

Amazon

It’s no hidden truth that Amazon is a master of supply chain innovation. Amazon’s range of fulfillment services is so diverse that it is hard to differentiate whether it is a retailer or a third-party logistics provider. It is quite common to hear that vendors co-locate with customers. But Amazon has come up with reversing the practice and is now operating under its vendors’ roof. The process is explained below:

The supplier picks up the products as per the purchase orders from Amazon. Then the pallets are moved into Amazon’s fenced-off Area of the warehouse. And here, the employees of Amazon sorts the orders into outbound orders, packs them, and dispatch them to their customers.

By establishing an innovative concept of vendor-managed inventory, Amazon is leaving its imprints on the eCommerce market.

But how to manage orders coming from all around the world? How to keep count of each of them and have real-time visibility? Simple. When you leverage technology! That is, with the help of a supply chain software, you can see all the items and their status on a single dashboard.

McDonald’s

“Look after the customers and the business will take care of itself”- Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald’s.

The world is aware of Mcdonald’s products and deliveries. But of course, all of it is not possible without a proper system and management. According to McDonald’s, it is creating long-term supply chain success based on a “System” where everyone wins.

Kroc believed that if the restaurant owner/operators and suppliers were successful, success would come to him as well. The logistics function of McDonald′s Family Restaurants is a winner in itself. This approach has been wildly successful, as McDonald’s is now in more than 100 countries, with over 35,000 restaurants serving 68 million people each day.

Obviously, McDonald’s is not anywhere linked to the retail e-commerce industry. But it still manages warehouses and logistic operations. And both are an inseparable part of the supply chain management process.

Zara

With bagging the star of the fast-fashion retail world, Zara has been deemed as a leading supply chain operator for years. It stands out not only amongst its competitors in the retail industry but also in supply chain operations across the e-commerce market.

The majority of Zara’s lines are designed and manufactured in-house. And its warehouses and suppliers are located close to the manufacturing plants. The whole of its supply chain is dedicated to introducing new products quickly without any hassle or delay.

Zara has worked a lot to make its supply chain management a perfect process. They manufacture products at minimal costs and utilize just-in-time logistics. Moreover, they have a quick system for inventory replenishment with small but frequent shipments.

Managing logistics is one of the core functions of supply chain management. If you don’t know where your shipment is, you could bear huge losses. The best way to manage this particular supply chain function is to track the status of all your shipments.

H&M

H&M’s supply chain strategy comprises of a consistent search for promising markets, cost-efficiency in production of goods, and reduction in lead times for their retail inventory. Managing supply chain operations is not a piece of cake when it has 950 stores in 19 countries. We can only wonder how it does manage to successfully stay afloat and ensure adequate stock control for its fleet of stores.

The organization relies heavily on efficient and integrated systems for retail inventory management in the major components of its supply chain. This approach played a massive part in enabling success in its stock control management.

As H&M is a fast-moving retailer, it takes on an innovative direction to determine the consumer interests through both traditional analysis and experimental augmented-reality technologies. Its ability to offer affordably priced apparel is mostly due to its strong supplier relationships and its manufacturing strategies to reduce lead times.

The question that comes up is how to know when to replenish inventory just right on time? What if the inventory gets replenished automatically whenever the stock reaches the reorder point? Yes. With technology, everything is possible, and H&M opted for it.

Nestle

Nestlé, with over 2000 brands and a presence in nearly 200 countries, is now on its way to transforming its supply chain management. They are working on a new all-in-one inventory solution that integrates Nestle’s warehouse stock across Alibaba’s platforms into an analytics-driven, shared inventory.

They are looking forward to seamlessly fuse the online and offline customer journeys and opting for an omnichannel strategy. Starting from June 2017, Nestle took a new approach to enhance consumers’ shopping experiences. Within a short period of 19 days since switching to the solution, the percentage of products offering second-day delivery jumped to more than 70 percent, up from 30 percent.

“Through combining resources across multiple channels, we hope to build a smarter, new supply chain. This will form the foundation of our New Retail efforts and provide a strong boost for our online business,” said Rebecca Wang, vice president and head of e-commerce at Nestle China

There is no doubt that an integrated inventory can change the game of your supply chain process. The point being, change in the warehouse should reflect in the inventory levels in real-time. So, time to automate your inventory!

Nike

Nike’s main focus in its supply chain management strategy is its distribution channels. Nike’s distribution channels are divided into two categories:

Selling products to wholesalers in the US and international markets.
Direct-to-consumer (or D2C) sales include inline and factory retail outlets and e-commerce sales through its website. Nike also distributes its products through e-commerce companies like Amazon.

Nike is also on its way to the omnichannel strategy as Nike’s DTC approach works two ways- the Nike-owned retail stores, which are the brick-and-mortar stores, and its digital platform. The Direct To Consumer sales include sales through company-owned retail outlets and e-commerce sales.

Moving forward, Nike wants to expand its online distribution channel further and expects 30% of its sales to come from online sales by 2023. The world is the witness of how Nike’s focus on digital distribution is paying off. In fiscal 2019, the company’s digital sales increased 35% year-over-year.

When customers are at the center of all touchpoints, the sales jump at a fast pace. But for that, the supply chain management must be so smooth that it ensures a unique experience for all customers.

How Unicommerce Transforms Supply Chain Operations

Streamlining your supply chain operations is the way towards the success of your business. Unicommerce understands the ever-changing eCommerce trends and challenges that come up in supply chain management. That’s why we offer cloud-based marketplace panel solutions to meet the needs of the dynamic eCommerce industry.

You will be able to manage your inventory, orders, warehouse, return orders, shipments, logistics effortlessly. On top of that, you could go in for an omnichannel route, try dropshipping, and integrate your ERP under a single dashboard!

Transform the supply chain operations with Unicommerce and make your e-commerce business grow exponentially!

Read how Businesses are growing with Unicommerce –

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