An advanced logistics services company should be able to offer its clients a broad range of ‘value added’ services. But, increasingly, 3PLs are taking on a sales role by helping retailer clients extend their reach in to new international markets, says Mark Elward, managing director of DK Fulfilment
Sales force
As satisfying the expectations of today’s online shopper becomes ever more challenging, retailers are pushing their third party logistics (3PL) service providers to meet increasingly demanding performance targets.
To stay in the game, 3PLs have to be prepared to deliver greater product volumes with more complex order configurations, quicker and more often than ever before – while, at the same time, reconciling the client’s yearning to keep inventories low with a need to fulfil orders at the last minute to match consumer purchasing trends.
As a result, fulfilment companies are expected to offer a range of value added services that go beyond the traditional picking, packing and dispatching functions.
Flexible assembly operations, slick pick-‘n’-pack routines, efficient kitting activities and fast packaging operations are the necessary tools to gaining a competitive edge in a world, where customers expect ‘personalised’ products adapted to their requirements and delivered to exacting time slots.
These are all tasks that a more advanced logistics services company should be able to offer its clients as ‘value added’ services.
But, increasingly, the 3PL is taking on a sales role by helping its retailer clients extend its reach in to new sales territories.
DK Fulfilment (DKF) for instance is opening the doors to the huge online consumer markets of Eastern Europe, China and India for many of its retailer clients simply and cost efficiently.
Thanks to our partnerships with some of the foremost internet marketplaces in those regions, UK sellers can put their products in the ‘shop window’ internationally without the trouble and expense often associated with breaking in to new territories.
We handle everything from order receipt to fulfilment – even ensuring that the appropriate tax or duty regimes are satisfied. Our clients just collect the profits each month!
One of our client companies is a reseller of a range of wines, which are imported from South Africa. We sell the product on to 11 different non-EU countries – each requiring its own set of labelling which we provide and apply and, more significantly, each with its own tax and customs laws to comply with.
One man who, it seems, spends most of his time sitting on a beach, operates the company. DKF takes care of every aspect of the company’s downstream supply chain – from sales to delivery.
So, if you’re an online retailer and you’re not on the beach while you’re reading this, ask yourself why!
www.dkfulfilment.co.uk
ENDS
Editor’s Notes: About DK Fulfilment Ltd
With three modern and secure UK facilities and a European site located in Germany, DK Fulfilment focuses on providing fulfilment, reverse logistics and bonded warehousing services to a range of online businesses. The company is part of the DK Group.
