For many small e-commerce businesses, managing a smooth supply chain operation can prove to be difficult. This leaves small businesses vulnerable to unavoidable global supply chain issues like the COVID-19 pandemic. While it might appear that only larger companies may be affected, these supply chain disruptions also impact smaller businesses.
With situations of raw material and product shortages, manufacturing and shipping delays, and overall increased costs, most small businesses will not have the infrastructure that larger companies can fall back on.
In this article, we’ll go over some improvements small businesses can utilize to help protect their operations from supply chain issues.
Product Sourcing
Most supply chains begin with sourcing, which means researching and selecting suppliers that will provide your business with the goods and supplies it needs to operate. This can include finished goods to raw materials.
A supply chain disruption may result in supplier delays and product shortages. Because smaller businesses have fewer supplier relations, they’re more susceptible to an immediate pause in operations – when on the other hand, larger competitors have more assets to rely on.
With no materials and potentially no products to sell, small businesses will see their cash flow interrupted which has led to many of them closing down during the pandemic. It’s important to find the right supplier to partner with and be sure they can continue production under any hiccups or interruptions.
Outsourcing Logistics
Outsourcing your logistics operations can help you solve challenges like a lack of resources, as it lets you leave the backend complexities to the experts. In addition to fulfillment and delivery, there are many logistics processes that can be outsourced including customs clearance, import and export documentation, shipment consolidation, storage, and product packaging.
Warehouse management and inventory management processes are generally outsourced to a third-party logistics company like Simple Global. We offer advanced technology and a WMS (Warehouse Management System) to provide you with shipment tracking and customer demand forecasting, which play a vital role in streamlining your supply chain.
How Simple Global Assists With Supply Chain Operations
At Simple Global, we integrate your online store with our WMS which allows for order integration, item integration, customized solutions, and much more. Find out more here!
We also have an automated pick, pack, and ship workflow – allowing for seamless and efficient operations while you focus solely on your frontend operations such as branding and marketing.
Our all-in-one WMS portal dashboard allows for real-time viewing of orders and fulfillment processing, with the ability to import or export any data you choose. With full transparency, you’ll have the knowledge and awareness of all your fulfillment operations at your fingertips – and from anywhere.
We will continuously innovate and improve our operational efficiencies. Simple Global’s business concept is to optimize technology that can support growth and change effectively to meet the changing dynamics in the market and enhance the quality of our services and solutions.
