Unboxing Logistics

Ecommerce brands want customers to trust them—and they don’t hesitate to explain why their brand is credible. But when does a promise become more than just words on a screen? This week, Eric Thorson joins guest host Jason Eisenberg to talk about the power of third-party shopping guarantees. Here are a few highlights from the show: 

Online shopping can be risky, and consumers sometimes hesitate to purchase from a site they haven’t shopped at before. Jason and Eric discuss four major concerns: 

• Merchant reliability. Will my purchase come as described? 
• Price point. Am I getting the lowest price?
• Package security. Will my order be lost, damaged, or stolen?
• Identity. Will my personal information fall into the wrong hands?

Often, shoppers overcome their concerns and make a purchase, convinced by the promises sellers make. But if their experience falls short of expectations, your reputation might take a hit. As Eric points out, “A negative review is forever … and there's no controlling what people write.”

A shopping guarantee gives consumers a reason to trust brands. It works in two ways. First, it uses trust signaling (often in the form of a floating seal on the website) to increase conversion rates. Second, it gives customers peace of mind that their purchase will be what they expected. Eric explains that “the power of the shopping guarantee is that [it] holds merchants accountable to their terms of service.” If there’s an issue with an order, the shopping guarantee makes things right for the customer.

Shopping guarantees address consumer anxieties with “visual trust signaling, [or] graphical elements that are … prominently displayed.” But of course, businesses never want to confuse users with too many elements on the page—especially if the trust signal includes a third party’s logo. Eric emphasizes the importance of making the brand front and center. “We don't want to take away from the brand, because [that’s] the top priority, right? It's about making that connection with your brand.”

• Connect with Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-thorson-sales-management/ 
• Visit the Norton Shopping Guarantee site: https://norton.buysafe.com/businesses/

On this episode of Unboxing Logistics, Adam McCoy and Lori Boyer sit down to talk 3PLs: what they are, when to start working with one (or more), and how to manage successful partnerships.

As it turns out, choosing the right 3PL is a little like dating. There are lots of options out there, and you don’t want to make the wrong choice. While Adam doesn’t give any dating advice during this episode, he does share plenty of tips for making sure your 3PL partnership doesn’t end in heartbreak.

First things first—what exactly is a 3PL? Adam defines a 3PL as “a partner to the ecommerce business” that focuses on “getting the right product to the right customer on time.” 3PLs handle logistics activities like picking, packing, shipping, kitting, returns, and more. 

So how do you know when to turn your order fulfillment over to a 3PL? According to Adam, there are two common signals that it’s time:

• Growth. As fulfillment becomes more time-consuming, ecommerce businesses must decide whether to outsource it to a 3PL or expand their in-house operations.
• Specialization. Many 3PLs specialize in certain types of shipments, including big and bulky products, hazardous materials, and cold storage for food.

Adam believes that the best time to start managing a 3PL relationship is before you sign a contract. “Ensure that you've set expectations. Your contracts are negotiated in a way where SLAs [service level agreements] are defined. And if you've done that properly, it makes other aspects of managing the relationship down the road easier.”

And while a breakup is never ideal, you shouldn’t stick with a 3PL that isn’t working out. “If you have a 3PL partner that's not meeting those needs and those SLAs … if you can't address that, that's probably a good indication that you should look for an alternative partner.”

Technology helps bridge the gap between you and the 3PL. Adam explains how: “We're working with a customer [who is] using a technology where the merchant and the 3PL are effectively in the exact same instance of the technology. So they can [both] see who's ordering, who's fulfilling what, and it's almost like they're working side by side.”

The takeaway? You can maintain visibility and control even when the 3PL physically stores inventory and ships packages. “The ecommerce business isn't blind to what's happening with the 3PL … [the] technology that strengthens that partnership is key.”

• Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aadammccoy/ 
• Visit eHub’s site: https://ehub.com/ 

When it comes to choosing a carrier, many ecommerce businesses stick with one of the big names: USPS, FedEx, UPS, or DHL. But could there be a better way? In this episode of Unboxing Logistics, Lori sits down with Chris Grey and Ed Burek from SmartKargo to talk about the benefits of exploring alternative shipping options.

Ed explains that between 2021 and 2022, the largest carriers were down 3 to 4% on average in terms of shipping. On the other hand, alternative carriers were up 25%. Why the rising popularity? Ed believes that using alternative carriers along with the “big four” provides a significant strategic advantage.

Chris and Ed recommend SmartKargo’s unique shipping solution, which utilizes empty space in the baggage area of passenger plans. By filling that extra space with packages, businesses can ship packages reliably and affordably. 

With thousands of flights a day, shipments can travel anywhere in the continental United States. As an added bonus, air cargo shipping is sustainable. As Ed puts it, “The plane's going to fly no matter what, so now you're loading it up” and making use of the extra space without creating more carbon emissions.

People who hesitate to try alternative shipping methods think it’s a big risk—and they don’t want to be the first ones to test the waters. 

But Chris advises, “Don't be scared. People are already doing this and seeing advantages. If you're not doing it, you're missing the boat. And someone else is going to recommend it to the CEO or the COO, or your competitor's going to do it and steal your market share.” 

• SmartKargo’s site: https://deliverdirect.com/
• Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grey/ 
• Connect with Ed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edburek/

This week’s guest on Unboxing Logistics is Tom Butt, chief customer success officer at Summit Advisory Team and Elevate. 

In addition to being an expert in the shipping and logistics industry, Tom is an avid home chef. He compares peak season preparations to the cooking term “mise en place,” the process of organizing and arranging ingredients before preparing a meal. If ecommerce businesses practice “mis en place” with their shipping operations leading up to peak season, things will run a lot more smoothly. Listen to this week’s episode to learn how you can prepare your people, processes, and systems for the busiest time of 2023.

If the rest of the year is a jog, peak season is a sprint. Tom describes it as “stress testing your fulfillment and supply chain systems.” People, processes, technology, inventory, sales teams—all of them get pushed to the limit. 

Ecommerce businesses encounter lots of hurdles during the peak season. One of the most common? Carrier capacity. Whichever carrier(s) you work with, Tom recommends “communicating … to make sure that they’re aware of any volume spikes that you have.” If you don’t provide carriers with a reasonably accurate forecast, they might leave you high and dry when your shipping volume increases. 

In addition to keeping lines of communication open, it’s a good idea to consider working with multiple carriers. Tom’s advice is simple: “Diversify where you can.”

People, processes, and systems are the backbone of a solid shipping and logistics operation. While all are critical, people play an especially important role in keeping things running during the busiest time of year. 

Tom and Lori discuss why it’s so critical to have the right people in the right roles and train them properly. You can level up your training process by starting at the top. “Make sure that you're training the trainers first, so you have champions, your supervisors, your managers. … They can evangelize how your operation works, the culture, and how you do things.”

• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombutt/ 
• Visit the Summit Advisory Team Site – https://summitadvisoryteam.com/ 
• Visit the Elevate Site – https://elevate.dev/

In the first-ever episode of Unboxing Logistics, Lori Boyer and James Sutton, chief analytics officer at Elevate / Summit Advisory Team, discuss the role AI plays in the shipping and logistics industry. 

The rise of ChatGPT has catapulted artificial intelligence into the spotlight. But, as James points out, AI has been driving some of the most popular software and services (like Netflix’s recommendation engine and Uber’s driver selection) for years. “But I think ChatGPT is really the first time that AI is becoming more mainstream, and people are seeing real use cases.”

AI has enormous potential for shipping and logistics. James shares the three areas he believes it can have the biggest impact:

• Carrier selection. The best shipping tools “leverage millions or billions of tracking events … to detect a confidence level that a package will get delivered on a required delivery date. [Then they] select the cheapest [carrier option].” This makes it easier to work with multiple carriers and get the most value from them.
• Package tracking. “If you know better where your packages are and you have better data on that, then you can build more solutions to dynamically route-plan based on different capacity constraints.”
• Forecasting. AI can help ensure that the right inventory goes to the right location(s).

James explains that AI won’t help organizations unless they have a solid data infrastructure built out first. “Most non-data professionals don't really tie these new AI models to what's required underneath in order to build insights. … You have to have your data strategy in a good place.”

• Connect with James on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesasutton/ 
• Elevate – https://elevate.dev/ 
• Summit Advisory Team – https://summitadvisoryteam.com/

Stay in the loop with the latest trends in the world of shipping and logistics. Unboxing Logistics launches on July 31, 2023—make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!