Delivering on every promise: How to find the perfect supply chain partner
Your supply chain partner has a crucial role to play in your business’ growth. Trust and brand loyalty – two key components for that growth – are heavily dependent on your ability to meet consumer expectations.
Glenn Lindfield, CEO, Cygnia Logistics, explores the key characteristics to look for in your perfect supply chain partner, and the reward when you get it right.
Five traits of the perfect supply chain partner
1. Experience and capability
Retail – whether it’s e-commerce or omnichannel – is all about growth.
You need to reach new customers and build trusting, long-term relationships with them to grow successfully.
When looking for a new logistics partner, look beyond the short-term. Consider how they can support you in your long-term growth ambitions.
You need to be sure that your supply chain partner can scale quickly as your business grows. This is where experience is key. Ask for examples of previous work where they’ve adapted operations to suit evolving customer needs, or where they’ve demonstrated an ability to scale with their customers.
2. Knowledge and insight
Your customers drive your business forward – delivering delight to them is the ultimate goal. To do that, your logistics partner needs to understand their wants and needs.
Coupling that understanding with data insight will allow your 3PL partner to predict and plan for micro and macro demand peaks. It will also allow them to anticipate changes to your customers’ needs overtime.
3. Technology and trends
It’s also important to consider your potential partner’s ability to keep track of the latest consumer trends and technologies to enhance your customer service at every level.
Is your logistics partner aware of rising demand and technology trends that may influence your business’ operations, such as automation, live streaming, consumer delivery preferences, etc?
You need to stay one step ahead of what your customer is looking for.
4. Alignment with your sales team
If you want to delight your customers, strong relationships between your sales and logistics teams are crucial.
This ensures any sales strategies or promotions are aligned with your supply chain capacity and capabilities. For example, if you’re looking to discount stock, or offer bundle deals, your logistics partner can help you to select the right products based on real-time inventory levels and demand predictions, as well as giving them the preparation time they need to seamlessly deliver to resulting demand surges.
5. Ambition
You want your business to grow – so should your logistics partner.
Strategic direction and insight from your partner improves your supply chain by finding efficiencies that help you better serve consumer expectations and demand peaks.
What happens when you find the perfect supply chain partner?
Simply put: brand loyalty and business growth.
Having a strong relationship with your logistics provider ensures your customers get what they want when they want it. It allows you to deliver peak performance, all year round. The consistency that creates builds trust, promoting brand loyalty and keeping your customers coming back for more.
Want to find out more about how logistics can unite you with your customer to grow your business? Visit: Cygnia Logistics or call 01604 664 300.
