Outsourced services
Reducing The Risk In Using Third Party Logistics
As we work with clients looking for a third party logistics option to meet their needs, a few recommendations come to mind. One of the greatest fears in giving your fulfillment function to someone else is the unknown factors of how your customers will be treated and what your cost will be for their services. [...]
Low Hanging Fruit: Is Your 3rd Party Overflow Call Center Cost Effective?
I spent this morning talking with a good friend who is the COO of a midsized business to business multichannel company. I wanted to get his take on what data and analysis they use at an executive level to make decisions and to develop strategies. He made a point that is something we believe very [...]
Escalate Retail Delivers Landed Cost Capabilities
In a recent press release, Escalate Retail has landed a beta site for its newest release. And it’s the direction the application has taken that will really allow multi channel businesses to reach peak efficiency and profitability. Here is an excerpt and one of the most important pieces of the press release:
San Diego – July [...]
One option for going direct to your customers
In this economy, everyone is looking for some kind of advantage – a way to build their brand image, how to increase product margins, reduce warehouse and logistics expenses – all while sticking to their core competencies. This can be especially difficult for consumer product goods companies and manufacturers. Often times they sell through vendor [...]
Measuring Your Employee’s Performance
The following is from a recently received email sent to Curt Barry…
Dear Curt -
We met briefly at the NCOF conference in Vegas, and I wanted to reach out to you regarding performance errors. I was hoping you could provide me with some insight into how other 3 PL fulfillment companies manage employee errors. Currently, we [...]
Ways to Save Money
The following is a brief email that we received from one of our eNewsletter readers, in response to an article we wrote about saving money in your company…
Curt:
Just received your electronic May newsletter and wanted to send you some ways we are saving money.
Cut utility usage
Drop non productive associates
Reduce fulfillment goals from 92% to 85%
Keep [...]
Managing Customer Call Center Costs in an Uncertain Economy
Today’s call center mantra is, “Do more with what you have.” In this uncertain economy there is even more pressure to perform miracles by increasing productivity while lowering costs, yet still continuing to provide expected customer service levels. In our consulting engagements with direct call centers and through our F. Curtis Barry & Company Best [...]
How to Select the Right Front- and Back-End Systems for 3rd Party Fulfillment
More and more companies today are outsourcing fulfillment to avoid making investments in that non-core area, or in the technology necessary for it. We’ve also seen hundreds of start-up e-commerce companies that simply don’t want to be in the fulfillment business. All of these companies are turning to third-party fulfillment (3PF) providers like you. With [...]
Outsourcing to Save Call Center Costs
Having managed a call center, I have always been a proponent of in-house call centers, but times are tough and they are changing. Every company today is looking for ways to save money without hurting sales and customer service. As the pressure on businesses to dramatically reduce costs intensifies, you need to look at domestic [...]
Sales Without Inventory
Sales without inventory—now there’s an oxymoron. Many of us who cut our teeth in the retail and catalog trade know that you have to own inventory to make sales. In fact, for many businesses it’s the largest balance sheet asset.
In the late 1990s, dot.com companies with their “virtual inventory” concept tried to change all that. [...]
