WooCommerce is an open-source, WordPress based online marketplace that allows you to get a headstart on your online selling business. With your account, you can get customizable themes and a wide array of features that help you present the best of your products to the world.
While WooCommerce is easily customizable, and open-source, you are probably seeking to expand to other platforms. Or maybe, you already have them under your belt. The problem at hand now is how to harmonize and integrate all these. There are your loyal customers who visit your WooCommerce store regularly, but precisely the point why you got all those accounts in other platforms is to tap an audience that you previously have not reached.
Businesses who are planning to upscale and to stabilize and streamline their processes are often faced with the problem of interconnecting and integrating their selling platform accounts. It is truly a tedious task to export data into a spreadsheet and then reupload them to another platform. And that is just for one time, you have to do it periodically in order to ensure that all your data are synced across all platforms.
A logistics engine provider just has the perfect solution. With a logistics engine, you will get both a game changing software to do the syncing and harmonization for you, plus you get integrating storing, packing, shipping and tracking options to make sure all orders with all your platforms are taken care of. In this article, we will discuss the basics of availing the services of a logistics engine, what benefits it could provide you, how it revolutionizes the whole end-to-end fulfillment processes, how much it costs (and how it gives you value for your money), and how to get started.
The undeniable benefit of streamlining and optimization
Streamlined and optimized omni-channel solutions in relation to retail, especially in the e-commerce world, are constantly shaping the whole landscape of online selling. Having all your data on inventory, orders, shipments and overall insights and analytics gives you more power to see the whole picture. This lets you determine your store’s needs in a more complete and grounded manner. Say goodbye to just gut-feel and say hello to a more educated, and carefully thought-out strategy on what to do next to make your business more established.
Of course, in a competitive world such as e-commerce, those who have the capacity to quickly adapt to changes will undoubtedly get the edge. With an omni-channel integration solution such as what logistics engine Locad offers, you get to integrate and connect all your online selling platforms into one unified sales channel management hub called the Control Tower.
With the help of the seamless assistance of the logistics engine from your order management and control platforms, to the physical storing, picking and packing, shipping and tracking of orders, you can expect to be unburdened by the issues you face in terms of technical and technological disruptions that happen on a daily basis in end-to-end fulfillment.
With the speed and accuracy that partnering with a logistics engine provider gives you, you can also expect exponential positive reviews and satisfactory experiences among your most loyal customers. Delivering quickly, and accurately, reduces costs and opens up your time for other important matters you should take on. It also reduces cancellations that are more often seen when fulfillment takes a lot longer than what the regular customer expects. All in all, a streamlined and more optimized end-to-end fulfillment process, that can be achieved with a logistics partner, will increase sales significantly, contributing to the overall growth of your online selling. venture.
STORE. PACK. SHIP. TRACK.
Locad’s services are holistic. This simply means that when you sign up and partner with them, they will assist you in improving your fulfillment processes in every step of the way. We discuss in detail the ways a logistics engine partner can help you change the way you store, pack, ship and track your product deliveries.
STORE
Logistics engine providers like Locad have set up a vast network of warehouses in major countries of e-commerce importance, and across the globe. This network gives you the advantage of the opportunity to initialize the process of shipping internationally without having to go through the difficult work of studying the rules and regulations that you have to engage with in each different country that you want to do business with. When you avail of the services of a logistics engine, you just start off by sending your products and you don’t need to worry about a single thing by yourself thereafter. You are going to work with a horde of professionals in end-to-end fulfillment who will ensure that your deliveries arrive on time and in the best condition possible.
There is also this thing called flexible fulfillment which gives you flexible options for warehousing – that means, you will only pay for the inventory you are currently using. And also, you don’t have to worry about your stock sitting in a warehouse for a long time without being sold. The Control Tower lets you deploy your best-selling products in the nearest hub to the customers who ordered them so the products can reach them faster. That way, there is a steady and smooth flow of product orders, and they are turned into sales at the soonest possible time.
PACK
Professionals who can handle a huge volume of product orders and fulfillments are a point of pride for logistics engine partners and they make these logistics companies stand above the rest. With their help, you do not need to worry about sorting and packing the orders. What you just have to make sure is that your products are delivered, and consistently in stock in the major points where they are bought the most.
From the moment they go live onto the warehouse hubs, they also will go live and be reflected into your inventory tab. The Control Tower will do the automated processes of matching orders with your items smoothly and the professionals will do the picking and packing to get your orders shipped quickly. Locad also has carrier integration, which they developed with partners in third-party logistics (3PL). The system will choose the most appropriate carrier depending on the information you have put and general availability considerations. Locad partners with the most reliable logistics partners around the world such as DHL and Lalamove to help your products reach your customers swiftly and safely.
SHIP
With the seamless process from warehouse to shipping that the logistics engine provides, you can reduce the overall fulfillment time of your orders, allowing your customers to receive their orders up to 50% faster on overage. Hooking up with a logistics engine is also particularly helpful for businesses who seek to expand to newer regions as they will have an automatically set up network of warehouses across the globe. They also would not have to worry about permits and paperwork needed to ship internationally as the logistics engine provider will do these jobs for them.
With customer information being handled in a centralized database, the system can automate deliveries and will choose the best 3PL provider that will provide you with the most efficient routes be it in-country or cross-border for the fastest and the most affordable shipping options. You can also optimize shipping expenses because the unified hub will provide you with a complete overview of additional taxes that you have to settle per location. Once these are quickly taken care of, your shipping processes can be accelerated and you’re on your way to international expansion.
TRACK
The Control Tower gives you full control and monitoring throughout the whole process of end-to-end fulfillment. With it, you will see not only the orders you have on your WooCommerce store and all the selling platforms where you might have an account. In fact, in the Orders Tab, you will see a neatly organized interface where all your orders are counted in total, plus tabs which let you see and monitor all the orders, when they were placed, which item was ordered, from what location they are scheduled to be delivered to, and which of the warehouse locations they will come from.
Aside from real-time reports for you to correctly and promptly respond to customer inquiries about delivery progress, the Control Tower also provides you with much-needed insights to identify problem areas and put in place the necessary solutions for faster and more appropriate troubleshooting measures. The Control Tower does not only provide you with data, but comprehensive information to help you decide on what to do to move forward, and take leaps in your business journey.
Plans and pricing for your logistics engine
Whatever your starting budget is, logistics engine providers have the plan packages for you. If you are just testing the waters, or you are starting out with just a few stocks with your online store, you can subscribe to a logistics engine plan with just AUD500 or PHP10,000 per month. Or if you’re planning to take that daring leap forward, you can sign up for a Professional Plan for AUD3,000 or PHP25,000 per month. For rates in different currencies and other details about subscriptions plans for Locad services, check them out here.
Locad currently offers three plans for you to choose from, but it is rather best to carefully assess what your needs are, and connect with a service agent from the logistics engine provider to give you a proper quotation.
With the Startup Plan, priced at AUD500 per month, you get free inbounding/receiving, 30-day free storage on all inbounds, affordable storage rates at base price, low-cost fulfillment rates at base price and a robust ticketing system for customer support.
The mid-range Flexi Plan, priced at AUD1,000 per month, provides the same features but with additional discounts at 7% less on storage rates, and 8% less on fulfillment rates.
While the Professional Plan, which you can get AUD3,000 a month, ramps up these discounts to 12% for storage rates and 10% for fulfillment rates. Aside from all these, you get to have direct contact to your very own dedicated account manager to help you strategize and troubleshoot.
Get your engines ready!
There are many success stories that were told about brands making the most out of their allocated budget for availing the services of a logistics engine provider. Some small brands, who have started out with outsourcing their fulfillment completely to a logistics provider have found making their mark in the market something of the sort of smooth sailing.
Other well-known brands who have experienced difficulty and have found it costly to develop and improve their in-house fulfillment processes have found it equally gratifying to leave it to logistics engine professionals. Both the brands and their customers have been extremely happy as a result of this decision as sales go in faster, because customers are far more satisfied than ever before with the efficiency, speed and accuracy of deliveries. Check out some of the stories here.
So if you have decided that you want to avail of the services of a logistics engine of Locad, we recommend you to sit down and think through where your problems lie, and make a list of them. Afterwards, we encourage you to go to the website of a trusted logistics engine partner and sign up so a service agent can talk to you, and help you design the perfect plan that can suit your business needs at the moment.
Or maybe, you can also maybe share your plans to make your business bigger, or more diverse? This information can surely help your agent to study the situation and recommend more appropriate solutions. Once you have come to an agreement and signed a contract between you and your partner, that’s the go signal to have your products picked up, wait for them to go live in the system and you will just have to wait, see and get your mind blown by the way things change. We know you can do more with a logistics engine partner, but we just can’t wait for.
