How to reduce Logistics Costs in Consumer Distribution

Globalization is something that’s taken over the world, which has allowed consumers to get products from different places all around. While consumers do benefit from this, it’s a nightmare for shipping and distribution retailers, and if you’re looking to figure out how to get to more people, for SMBs, it can be a bit of a logistical nightmare in terms of financial reasons.

So how can you do better with this? What’s the best way for you to get the most out of this? Well, read on to find out a little bit more, and what you can do to figure out the logistics of the distribution of different items.

First and foremost, you should consider joining forces with different shippers. This might seem weird, especially if they’re competitors, but this will cut costs.  You’ll want to do this especially if you have a lower freight volume, which means that you’re spending more on shipments, especially if they’re less than a truckload.

You should collaborate with the different firms that are moving to load to the same consumers. This will help with lowering transit costs, and reduce the freight load. You should know the loads of the weight, and from there, figure out which one you want to use.

Next, integrate the system data.  This is a good thing to do, since it’ll help to allocate the inventory against the current orders, and while not an easy task and can get hard to figure out, integrating this critical for the decisions in the business. Combining this data with your knowledge of the company and the customers will help to make decisions that you make the utmost property.

You should also try to cross-dock the freight. This is effective, and it’s essentially the process of unloading the goods that are there from the inbound delivery vehicles, while directly loading them to the outbound vehicles. If your company lacks this, you should consider getting a partner that knows the resources to put a cross-docking strategy in place, helping to reduce the freight costs.

You should also have a packaging unit in the distribution center. Most retailers don’t want to sell products in the same types of configurations that they want to have in which they leave your factory. They will ship the products from the distribution center to packaging firms, and from there, back to this. The process will in turn increase the freight costs, and you might lose the visibility of the product during packaging.

You can eliminate this by ensuring that the packaging is from the distribution center itself, allowing you to save money on freight and prevent damage of shipping boxes and of course inventory loss.

You should make sure to monitor chargebacks. If you have similar resources to focus this, you may end up accepting this.  This is something that happens with logistics companies that have too many manufacturers, and they don’t’ police the shipments. You can do 3PL input in order to help you access the data as needed in order to ensure the accuracy of the charge, in order to support the penalty challenges too.

You should finally increase the volume of orders. This is good to help you get more, and you can figure out where you need to improve, and it allows for more visibility, transparency, and you can cut down on the costs and increase the levels of the customer services.

The logistics don’t have to burn a hole in your pocket and sing this will help you reinforce this by a large degree, allowing you to have the right strategies in place.

The top Packaging Trends to Know

Packaging trends are all over the place, but there are a few that stand out from the crowd. In this post, we’ll highlight the top packaging trends that you should know, why they matter, and some of the aspects of them.

First, reduce, reuse, recycle. This is something that should be a given.  Plastic packaging has problems, and it is something that the industry is trying to figure out.  There is no legitimate answer, and for the most part, people are just trying to figure out the best way to provide the recyclability of these products, and to improve on this. There are a lot of new ideas however, coming out of these conversations, in order to improve he rate of recycling, the increasing of the post-consumer resins, and there are also recycling infrastructure changes.

There are cities nowadays that are creating educational programs so that communities can learn about what is and wont’ be recycled, and for the most part, if you star to focus on these recycling trends and green packaging, it will really help the business, and in turn benefits customers.

Then there is ecommerce, and we can’t ignore this anymore, especially since this is one of the best was to improve on revenue. But, if you’re an online business, or looking to add online sales to your business, you need to make sure that your package arrives to the consumer without any problems.  This is a good way for you to improve your business, and you should make sure that you take care in making sure that you give the proper packaging guidelines to everything.

For example, for liquid packaging, you need a 3 foot drop test, and you want to put this on a surface without leaking or breaks. The drop tests are done on every single side, and if you do have this in place, you’ll be much happier with all of this.

There is also the aspect of too much packaging through, and you should try to find the right balance between making sure that the packages aren’t overly packaged, and also making sure that things don’t break. You can test this, and you can always do your research to make sure that you get the right packaging guidelines in place before anything else.

Then, there is packaging with PCR materials.  This is a good way to make sure that you have this, since it does have a nice look to it, and it makes it strong.  However, it sometimes has a gels or resin that flakes off, so it’s hard for a container to match the brand colors wit this. Some of the PCR color companies however have started to me t this challenge, and from there created the G-series, which is where you get a colored solution that overcomes this.  This is of course, ongoing, and of course, it’s working to give you a package that works with the goals of the company, without compromising the aesthetics or the performance of a package.

Finally, you’ve got packaging supply partners. This makes it easier for a lot of people to figure out what they can do, so you’re not having to pay as high of a cost. When choosing partners, you want to make sure that you’re working with someone who has the experience, and who has really innovated their sieves.  You want to see if they can do prototyping, have a higher percentage in R&D, allows for the investment of equipment, especially automaton, and of course, making sure that they are successful. So, when you think you’re ready to get into this, be on the lookout for the proper packaging services.  This is a part of the trends most don’t talk about, but it’s vital to businesses.

Packaging Theft Solutions Which Work

Many e-commerce companies have revolutionized the way consumers are able to shop, and pretty much anything can be bought and delivered to you. But, there is one drawback that nobody is talking about, and that’s when your packages get stolen.

A lot of people run into this issue, and many people have experiences with this.  What are the best ways to prevent this though? Well, read on to find out.

Almost half of packages are stolen, which means that this can be something that can happen in a lot of cases, and most people spend about 200 a month on online orders.

With one single package containing up to hundreds of dollars of goods, many of these  “porch pirates” will see that box as an opportunity to steal it, and more than a third has been a victim, and of that, almost half have had to experience this at least twice.

Many people usually contact the seller immediately after, while only about 13% call the police.  Only about a tenth of them are caught, but most victims get a refund on this.

So, what’s the best way to prevent this? Well, you can install doorbell cameras for starters, since this will allow for people to monitor their home while they aren’t home. The price can be a lot, and this is something that might work.  Some people may also use a smart lock kit, which allows for the delivery personnel to leave the package in your home, but that’s a rarity, since most people don’t want to have the personnel in their home. But, most places aren’t doing enough to prevent this.

This is something that has become a growing problem, and while the thought of someone coming to your home to deliver packages may not sit well, but it’s gaining much more traction, since most people actually like that.

Most people have some type of worry about buying things online, due to the potential of it being stolen, and about 40% of people avoid getting expensive items online altogether, and most people do it if they’re willing to spend less to get it delivered.

Doorbell cameras are the best option, since they offer a peace of mind.

A lot of respondents have noticed that at least one of their orders was delivered during their holidays, with nearly half saying they were worried about their packages being stolen, and a lot of them avoid the expensive items. However most of the time, respondents won’t let potential thieves ruin the holiday spirit, and most shoppers will keep shopping in this way.  They do want to take precautions to avoid package theft, such as staying home when things are delivered, shopping at stores, in-store pickup, or even a signature for delivery, or having a friend or relative there to make sure people don’t’ steal it.

With all of this in mind, no matter what you choose, this is, unfortunately, something that we have to consider, especially if we’re going into a time when people do this.  This is much more common than you’d think, and using security features might be best to avoid the package theft for the holiday shopping season, and beyond that.  of course, whatever you choose, you’ll get a lot of better peace of mind if you have it like this, and you’ll feel much better if it’s set up like this too.

Snack Packaging Trends to Consider

We love to snack, and most of the time, we are also doing it because we are busy, and of course, we want something that is convenient too, and we don’t want to waste time eating. That’s why many times, when we eat snacks, we want to get something that fits the different trends that we have. Some of us are considering different types of aspects, but the convenience of snacks does include portion size, an easy way to consume them, and of course cultural resonance.

The portion size has a different meaning for your products, and for retailers out there.  This is a way for you to help resonate with others, and you could actually shrink this to make it more portable, but also good for sharing. Those stand up pouches of different sizes are good too.

There are also multiple sing-serve products that you can give, and this is great for those who want one singular snack such as if they’re about to leave the house.

There are many products which are starting to follow these trends, and there are many packaging options that are there.

You should also consider ones that offer a chance for impulse buys. Those flip & fill caps for examples are great because you can put the snack in the lid, eat some different aspects of it, and from there, close it. This is good for potion control, and ease of use.

Ut, what about the cultural resonance? Well, that involves many different aspects, such as the flavor profiles, the selection of ingredients, using some “green” ideals, on-pack and other marketing messages, and the like. The variables of this are definitely something that is based on many different reports. But, there are different reports that come up as of late, including the green and sustainable packaging which is part of the price of doing business in this day and age, and this is something that you should consider. Sometimes, natural isn’t’ going anywhere, and you should consider different factors when choosing different purchase decisions for your products.

However, one of the best ways to go about doing this, is to figure out whether your product is palatable or not. If it is, then you’re going to be fine.

There are a lot of different ways to measure this too though. For example, if you decide to make it so that you have convenient, green-leaning packaging for your foods, but also having a yummy flavor, you’re hit on both of these points, which will in turn, help you get some more customers.

The best way to figure out whether or not you’re going to do well with a certain type of product, or even for those different types of product packaging that works. You can figure out the best demographic for this, and what will inevitably work for you as a person.

The world of packaging and snack cake trends is always changing, and there is a lot that you can do in order to truly get the most out of this.  With that in mind, it’s ideal to ensure that you take the time to make it so that you’re able to, with each time you do choose different snack trends, to figure out which packaging will fit these, and how you can, with this as well, get the most out of this that you can, no matter what you choose to do with it.