Thursday, September 6, 2018

Cross-docking Might Just Be What Your Halloween Makeup Store Needs To Thrive

By Daniel Wood


It's an understatement to say that today's cosmetics market landscape is a challenging one. In an era where consumers are more informed than ever, a retailer's survival their ability to fulfill orders accurately and on time. If that sounds like a tall order for your still-growing Utah Halloween makeup online store, maybe it's time you adopted cross-docking as a logistics management strategy.

Think your business is too simple for you to start throwing around terms like 'cross-docking?' It's actually less complicated than you think. Specifically, it involves the use of inbound inventory to fulfill existing customer orders. A typical cross-dock facility is designed to allow unloading, screening, and sorting of incoming shipments under the same terminal. They're then dispatched to their relevant destinations via pre-selected means.

Much like every other concept known to man, cross-docking is far from being a universal answer for all supply chain problems. No prizes for guessing that careful planning and effort are mandatory for its successful implementation. Nevertheless, the technique has proved a handy tool for online businesses. So it's only natural that you'll want to take a look at its potential benefits:

Improved Order Turnarounds: As a model that links inbound and outbound logistics, cross-docking will definitely improve your turnarounds. It's worth pointing out that this doesn't make the warehouse redundant, but rather reduce the time goods spend within. Back to the main point though -- adopting the approach means orders will be fulfilled quicker, particularly if paired with the automation of your support processes.

Free up Room: The lower the amount of inventory needing long-term storage, the less space it will take up in the warehouse. This may very well be that opportunity you've long been seeking to free up room for expansion. It could also be a prospect to lower the square footage you rent. Ultimately, it's all up to you to decide what will best suit your business's bottom line.

Less Risky: Ever felt like the cost of damaged and lost inventory could be weighing you down? You'll be glad to know that cross-docking lowers the amount of handling required to process shipments, and is therefore less vulnerable to such risks. The likelihood of being overstocked also shrinks considerably as well.

Cost Effective: With cross-docking, shipments headed to a similar destination can be transported together. This leads to better utilization of the available carrying capacity, thereby optimizing costs in the long term. The carbon footprint of each unit product also shrinks.

Added Worth For Your Customers: No prizes for guessing that your customers will appreciate the expedited order fulfillment. But how about using a fraction of the cost savings to offset the shipping expense on their part? Seldom will you ever get a better opportunity to enrich your customers' shopping experience.

The biggest concern for any product-dependent business is to match existing demand with supply capacity. Additionally, this is an era where cost-efficiency can be the difference between your success and failure. Cross docking could very well be your ticket out of this catch-22 situation. Of course, proper planning will be key during its implementation.




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