Order Fulfillment

As the holiday season approaches you’re no doubt battening down the hatches for the season that is both the bane and blessing of every business. According to the National Retail Federation, one-fifth of all U.S. retail sales are holiday sales and with a 5 percent increase expected in 2006, it’s sure to be a busy time for any catalog business. It’s in this pre-holiday calm before the storm that planning, creativity and smart investments will help you get the most out of the season. Here are three tips to help multichannel merchants do just that: 1. Cut down on undeliverables. Whether it’s crazed online

Problem: The order entry system for My Grandma’s of New England routinely transposed data from one order to another, causing shipping errors and other assorted problems. Solution: The company implemented a new order entry system. Results: Shipping errors were virtually eliminated. My Grandma’s of New England had an order entry system (OES) that was wildly unstable, often causing data errors that resulted in shipping methods from one order being applied to another order, disappearing entirely or customer greetings placed on an order to end up on the wrong order. So last November, the company implemented Morse Data’s InOrder OES to reduce shipping errors caused by its legacy

Long gone are the days of relying solely on United Parcel Service (UPS) or the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for all your small package ground delivery needs. Nowadays, most mailers are not only turning to a mixture of different carriers, but they’re also better able to negotiate carrier contracts than ever before. Rick Collins and Tim Geiken, both managing directors at transportation and shipping consultancy AFMS Inc., offered during a session at NCOF several negotiation pointers to catalog shippers when working out small parcel shipping contracts with carriers. Among these, -Understand your business better than your carrier does. -Look at your previous contracts and how well

Sometimes little changes can make a big difference in your pick and pack operations. Catalog and shipping industry experts presented such small changes at a rapid-fire “60 in 60” idea session at NCOF held earlier this month in Orlando, Fla. Here are some of the more noteworthy tips delivered by a panel that included FedEx Retail Industry Manager Jose Li, Longaberger Co. Director of Operations and Transportation William Monk, Fortna Inc. Account Manager John Giangrande, VendorNet CEO Sharon Gardner, Container Store Vice President of Logistics and Distribution Amy Carovillano and Taylor Systems Engineering Corp. CEO Mark Taylor: Li: To provide a perk that might be less

You’re flipping through a 500-page catalog for a major player in the janitorial and sanitation (jan/san) supplies market sector when you happen upon a section displaying waste containers. The catalog carries a host of well-known brands — including wastebaskets, can liners and other products made by United Receptacle. What you may not realize is that the other company’s catalog that you’re viewing actually features page layouts, photos and graphic designs produced not by that catalog, but by manufacturer and distributor United Receptacle. In addition to producing its own catalog each year to showcase its full product line, United Receptacle also helps many of

Profile of Success: Randy Brough, supply chaing manager, Lifeway Greatest initial challenge: Making the distribution center (DC) a core competency for the company. “LifeWay’s DCs were treated as a forgotten part of the organization. … It was basically a necessary evil to be dealt with.” For the first few months, Brough, who joined LifeWay in 1994, and his boss even researched the possibility of outsourcing the entire operation. Plan of action: The long-term costs of outsourcing outweighed the benefits, so Brough and the logistics team implemented the following tactics: 1. Built a better management team. Since 1994, the management staff increased from eight

Problem: Multititle cataloger Shindigz/Stumps wanted to reduce overall transportation expenses, while retaining flexibility in its product shipping options offered to customers. Solution: The multichannel merchant put its parcel shipping business up for bid. Results: A switch in carriers enabled Shindigz/Stumps to reduce its overall transportation costs by 27 percent. Brad Grimsley knew he needed to make some changes. The vice president of service and fulfillment at Shindigz/Stumps, a South Whitley, Ind.-based party and prom supplies merchant, says he noticed soon after arriving at the company in 2003 that he had an opportunity to reduce shipping expenses. Meanwhile, the company’s overall order volume

Problem: Seta Corp., a jewelry syndicator and the parent company of Palm Beach Jewelry catalog, continually looks to reduce labor fulfillment costs. Solution: Instituted employee incentive programs, improved automation, realigned scheduling and staffing, and streamlined distribution center operations. Result: Between 1999 and 2004, the cataloger reduced its labor fulfillment costs by 45 percent; at the same time, it increased employees’ average hourly wages. * The following functions are included in Seta’s labor fulfillment costs: receiving; quality control; stock putaway; picking/packing; shipping; engraving; returns processing and putaway; production maintenance; and all hourly and salaried payroll costs, including payroll taxes. If you’re of the

Implementing the following three smart strategies can help you save money on your merchandise shipping. ¥ If you ship books, CDs and/or other small items, use the U.S. Postal Service’s Media Mail program and save up to 50 percent off the mailings’ costs of other carriers, said Mark Taylor, CEO of Taylor Systems Engineering, a consultancy and provider of shipping systems, during the panel discussion”60 Ideas in 60 Minutes: Fufillment” held during the National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment, in Grapevine, Texas, last week. ¥ For orders worth more than $100, never pay the retail insurance rates of the big carriers, said Taylor. Save money by

For many catalog and online retailers, parcel shipment cost is the highest single line item in the fulfillment process. Fortunately there are some simple checks available to determine if your company is spending too much. In conjunction with rate negotiations and invoice auditing, look at the following five areas as tools to control unnecessary parcel costs. 1. Zone Skipping: If you have a small number of distribution centers, relative to the geography they serve, and a medium to large volume of daily shipments, look here for savings. Zone skipping is a practice where shippers consolidate pre-labeled parcel orders, ship past several geographies and deconsolidate the