During uncertain times, Ecommerce business owners and retailers experience enormous pressure to keep costs down and keep growth at a stable incline. This year, the increase in cost for raw materials and supply shortages as well as an increase in labour costs have made it more difficult for companies to stay competitive.
Despite their best efforts, many online business owners aren’t fully confident in how they can tackle the impact of inflation. This of course makes it even more crucial to plan for rises of inflation and expand your knowledge of how your service providers and suppliers can help you weather the storm.
As inflation and costs rise, here are four key strategies that logistics companies, especially delivery network and fulfilment businesses like Diamond Logistics, can implement to help protect your business.
Provide Extensive Industry Experience and Contingency Planning
When selecting a logistics management provider, it is integral to a new partnership that the business has an established position within the industry and the ability to support the growth of your business. An experienced provider will utilise the insights gained from a crisis in order to build a robust contingency plan and prepare their company and team for future eventuality. Many modern-day logistics companies have also invested heavily in new technologies like cloud-based delivery dashboards and smart inventory systems. We cemented our own position in the industry with the development of our smart fulfilment platform, Despatchlab. With decades of experience, an established logistics company will know the exact type of support Ecommerce and delivery businesses need, even before they know what they are looking for themselves.
Readily Respond to Increased Demand
The UK Ecommerce market has grown by 27%, making the market a significant contributor to the global growth rate of the industry. It is also predicted that this rate will continue to grow over the coming years. It is also important to note that with a turnover of £88.7 billion, the UK is the fourth largest Ecommerce market.
As a result of this growth, Colliers – the leading industrial and logistics property experts, reported that the take-up activity of warehouse space over 100,000 sq ft reached 10.1 million sq ft in Q2 2022, taking it to 21.2 million sq ft over the first half of the year, only 14% below the record-breaking 24.8 million sq ft in H1 2021. They stated that against a challenging economic backdrop, with inflation eroding business margins and real household income, warehouse space continues to remain in high demand.
Our own revenue has increased by over 20% compared with the same period last year. We have several network partners upscaling their warehouse space, moving from sites of 5000 ft.² to between 10,000 to 90,000 ft.²
Provide Flexibility
One of the best ways to protect your business during a period of inflation is to be flexible. When the price of raw materials, services or equipment rises, you will have to amend your business strategy. It is a normal and expected process when economic challenges place pressure on company margins and squeeze household expenditure. The key is to be flexible enough to adapt to the change while maintaining your core objectives. Logistics companies can provide Ecommerce businesses and retailers with an outsource solution for their logistical and warehousing requirements. It will be an eye-opening experience when you realise the savings you can make and the flexibility that you can adapt within your business strategy by avoiding independent warehousing space and offices.
Engaging with an established logistics company can give you the greatest defence for battling inflation. The best way to cope with rising inflation rates is to limit your expenditure. If you take into consideration your rent, business rates, rising utilities bills and cost of staffing it doesn’t make business sense to establish your own warehouse for your brand in such turbulent times.
Real-Time Tracking & Visibility
As the rising fuel costs and staffing shortages contribute to high operating expenses for some in the industry, logistics companies have continued to invest in their own processes to better manage their operating expenses. Many providers have developed real-time tracking as part of their logistics management platforms. This allows them to better manage expenses by monitoring the carrier with real-time vehicle status alerts and aid efficiency by reducing idle times. The real-time tracking system also allows them to monitor the speed and route of the vehicles. This route optimization function eliminates time-consuming manual route planning. These logistical solutions help to save costs by providing dispatchers with the shortest route to a location. It takes into consideration variables such as road closures or diversions, traffic, weather conditions, and more.
How Diamond Logistics Can Help?
We have been an established logistics company with over 30 years of experience; having navigated our business through all stages of the economic cycle including two substantial troughs – the financial crash in 2008 and the most recent global pandemic. We are also expanding our network at an increasing rate with 11 new logistics hubs confirmed to be open within the UK by the end of the year. We have a constant stream of new client on-boardings which we have yet to experience a decline in. We work with clients from a wide range of backgrounds like artisan foods, alcohol brands, electric charges for EV vehicles, deluxe homeware brands and children’s toy specialists. Diamond Logistics can provide flexible office space with hot desking on site but can also provide a fully flexible warehouse space, where you can scale or downsize with the fluctuations of seasonality, demand, or economic challenges.
If you want to future proof your Ecommerce business and fight back against inflation and rising costs, consider Diamond Logistics as your ally. Give our team a call on 0333 567 5888, email us at sales@diamondlogistics.co.uk or complete our contact form below.
