Delegate the logistics of your e-commerce. Reduce your costs and improve your customer experience.
When you are starting to sell on the Internet, you want to have everything under control. To do so, you decide to manage logistics internally, because it seems to be more profitable.
However, the potential growth of your business will be limited to the internal work capacity, having very little flexibility in terms of the rotation of resources, both human and storage space.
By outsourcing logistics for online shops you will save time and money, avoiding worries derived from unpredictable situations.
Concentrate on selling more on the Internet, we will take care of the rest.
What is logistics for online businesses?
The logistics service for online shops consists of the complete provision of product reception, storage, management and preparation of orders and, finally, home delivery.
It is a crucial part of selling on the Internet, as it completes the process that begins when the user arrives at the eCommerce and culminates with the arrival of the package with the order at its destination.
This entire process takes place without the need for the shop and the warehouse to be physically located in the same place.
Logistics for online shops, also known as e-fulfillment, includes the following processes:
- Receipt of the goods at the logistics facility.
- Storage of goods.
- Order preparation: picking and packing.
- Parcel distribution and shipment tracking.
- Management of returns and reverse logistics.
Table of contents
Reception of goods
This is the first point of our logistics process for online shops. We receive your products in our warehouses, either from your premises or directly from the manufacturer.
If you are an importer, we also take care of transporting the goods and customs clearance, so that the products do not have to pass through your premises.
We take care of everything so that you can focus on selling.
In this goods reception phase, it is essential that the arrival of the goods is properly coordinated, so that the execution times in the unloading and placement tasks in the warehouse spaces can be adjusted as much as possible, thus maximising the efficiency of the service.
In addition to unloading and placing, our team will verify the goods received, checking that the list and the products match. They will also register the products in our internal stock control software and label them so that they are well identified and controlled in their location in the warehouse.
Warehousing
At Grupo Marítima Sureste we are integrated logistics operators, so one of our most common services in logistics for online shops is storage, right after the transport of goods.
By delegating the storage of your products to an external operator you will have a series of benefits that will help you grow and expand your business much faster:
- Transform fixed costs into variable costs. Maintaining your own warehouse and the necessary human resources has fixed costs that are not linked to the volume of sales. By outsourcing warehousing you will pay only according to the goods stored.
- Stock and packaging control. From the moment the goods enter our facilities, a meticulous control is carried out, both of the number of items received and the state of the packaging in case they need to be replaced.
- Management adapted to your products. Our warehouses are adapted to all types of goods, from small bottles to geomembrane reels. We know that each product is different, so we use different methods to work with each customer.
- Increased security. Our facilities are prepared to protect your products against all kinds of possibilities and risks that may occur.
Preparation of orders
This is one of the most important phases in the logistics process for online shops. It is the step that requires the most coordination and work beforehand, both to save costs and improve efficiency, as well as to achieve a higher degree of customer satisfaction.
As soon as the orders registered in the online shop are processed, a series of processes known as picking and packing begins. You will find more information about this process on our specific service page.
Before we go any further, let’s get these two concepts down to earth.
By picking, we refer to the picking or selection of the product in the warehouse and marking its output in the computer system for its subsequent shipment.
Packing, on the other hand, involves the packing, wrapping and packaging of the product, always taking into account the needs required by the item to be wrapped and the type of goods. In e-commerces of high-priced items or focused on beauty products, special attention must be paid to the final presentation of the order, as it will be responsible, in a high proportion, for the customer’s satisfaction.
In order to improve the effectiveness of the packing process in online shop logistics, it is advisable to take the following aspects into consideration:
Additional information
Along with the goods, you can add additional information about the online shop to the packaging of the goods, such as a card, stickers or flyers with discounts for future purchases.
Remember to also include the delivery note, packing list or invoice, as well as instructions on how to arrange a refund or exchange of the product in the event that the customer feels the need to do so. Making things easy helps to improve the shopping experience and helps to improve the trust that users have in your business.
Material used in packaging
When choosing a box or packaging for shipping, it is necessary to consider the type of journey the package will take from the time it leaves the warehouse until it arrives at the customer’s home.
Choosing strong packaging will help to secure and protect the items in the order. In addition, choosing a suitable padding material will help to prevent rubbing and damage to the items caused by movement within the package.
Here you will find a list of padding materials for your ecommerce packages. We recommend that you choose the right material according to the values you want to transmit, without forgetting that its objective is to protect the merchandise. Filling with folded kraft paper is not the same as filling with polystyrene peanuts.
Packaging size
En la distribución de paquetería, una de las variantes que encarece el viaje es In parcel distribution, one of the variants that makes the journey more expensive is the size of the box. Choosing the right packaging size for each order avoids cost overruns in the final stage of e-commerce logistics.
Packaging appearance and other added values
As mentioned before, the appearance of packaging in e-commerce directly affects customer satisfaction, their shopping experience and their assessment of your online shop.
You should always bear in mind the impact that the process of unpacking a box has on people. In addition, using eco-friendly, recycled or reusable materials will also have a positive effect, aligning your values with those of your customer.
Shipping and order tracking
For any customer, knowing the status of their order is really important.
By giving the customer a tracking code, they can track the status of their order in real time from the moment the package is shipped until it arrives at their home address.
Offering this service to your customers is essential to build trust, especially for those first purchases. You can either have your own platform with the ability to display this information in your ecommerce user account, or you can use third-party tools that can establish a connection between the delivery company and the online shop to provide real-time information about the status of the order.
Reverse logistics
This last phase does not always take place with every single order placed in the shop. It only occurs when an article is returned by the end customer.
The reverse logistics process refers to the management of the return of goods from the point of delivery or location of the end customer back to the warehouse. It is important to manage this task as economically and efficiently as possible, without using too many resources.
Offering an inexpensive return, even free of charge, will determine a point in favour of choosing your ecommerce to make the purchase. They will also value other points such as refund methods and customer service when it comes to handling returns.
Delegating all the logistics of your online shop costs much less than you think. Don’t you believe it?
Write to us with your needs and we will provide you with a customised quote.
Importing products for E-commerce
If you do not manufacture the products sold in your online shop, it is likely that you will need to import the products from another country or that you will need to collect the goods from the factory.
For both cases we provide you with the necessary means to manage the import, carry out customs clearance and transport the goods from their origin to our facilities.
We take care of all the logistics so that you can focus on selling.
In order to be able to make an accurate quotation of the whole operation, we would need to know some information regarding the origin of the goods and their typology:
- Origin of the goods: From which country or province do the goods come from?
- Volume of the goods: What quantity of products will you move on a monthly basis and what are their unit dimensions?
- Terms of purchase: What Incoterm have you agreed with the manufacturer or exporter?
- Type of goods: Are your products considered dangerous goods, sanitary material or perishable goods?
The more precise the information you give us, the better we will be able to adjust a quotation. Once you know these details, call us or request a quotation for the logistics service for online shops.
