Deliveries and logistics are essential considerations for a great many businesses, particularly those in the still-booming e-commerce sector. Last-mile deliveries are typically handled by third-party enterprises, though both extremely local and multinational businesses are likely to run their own delivery programme.
But, while it might initially make financial sense to run your own product deliveries, there are also a great many reasons to consider outsourcing instead of insourcing. What can outsourcing deliveries offer your business?
Convenience
One of the more obvious ways in which outsourcing your delivery services would benefit your business relates to sheer convenience. In relegating the management of logistics and fulfilment of order deliveries to a third party, you remove much of the hardship from the final stages of your own fulfilment process. Third-party delivery networks are better suited to meet a variety of needs and free you from the need to investigate new delivery routes.
Convenience goes both ways, though – in that outsourcing, delivery can be just as convenient for your customers as it is for you. Whether the courier you choose offers same-day delivery, enabling customers immediate gratification, or allows customers to more finely customise their delivery options, third-party services are often better poised to offer a more convenient solution to your end consumers. This, naturally, will have a beneficial impact on your business.
Redirection of Effort
The convenience of a third-party logistics partnership also translates to increased ‘capacity’, either personally or within your business. The energy you were spending managing aspects of your delivery system, whether managing staff, organising and ordering delivery materials or even updating logistics databases, can be redirected into other areas of your business.
This refocusing of energy is crucial to agile growth, and outsourcing delivery is an excellent example of how businesses can pivot and shift in response to new needs and challenges. Outsourced logistics enables a deeper focus on growth and efficient use of time – where, in the future, internal logistics may once again make sense past a certain size.
Leaner Operational Framework
But perhaps one of the most impactful ways in which outsourcing delivery services can help a business – at least in the shorter term – relates to costs and cost management. While keeping delivery systems internal might seem the cheaper option, the cost of keeping staff can be difficult both directly and indirectly.
This is particularly the case where sales might fluctuate; third-party delivery partnerships can be moulded to suit immediate needs, with costs a part of that, while salaries are permanent. In times of relative economic hardship, where spending is low, staff cutbacks might be an unfortunate necessity simply to keep the lights on. Outsourcing, while generally more expensive for smaller businesses in more successful times, frees you of this decision and prevents overspending on your workforce.