{"id":6241,"date":"2016-05-19T06:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkapps.elasticbeanstalk.com\/blog\/?p=6241"},"modified":"2016-05-18T13:34:18","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T20:34:18","slug":"sp-express-ecommerce-fulfillment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/post-launch\/sp-express-ecommerce-fulfillment\/","title":{"rendered":"SP Express Helps Startups and SMBs Streamline E-Commerce Fulfillment"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s certainly not the most glamorous part of\u00a0starting a startup, but distribution logistics are a big deal for customer satisfaction and fulfillment flow. Here’s how SP Express<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is helping e-commerce startups and SMBs.<\/em><\/p>\n

So you made a product that people\u00a0will love. But how are you going to ensure that they get it?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly not the most glamorous part of starting a startup<\/span><\/a>, but distribution logistics are a big deal for customer satisfaction and fulfillment flow.<\/p>\n

Basically, you need to know how you\u2019re going to get your fancy new product out to the masses without having to hire a whole new department\u00a0or rent a warehouse space. That\u2019s where SP Express<\/a> comes in.<\/p>\n

We talked to the company\u2019s Director of Marketing and Agency Services,\u00a0Brian Crowder<\/a>, about how supply chain technology is catching up with the times and driving a change in how (and when) we send and receive e-commerce products. <\/b><\/p>\n

\"Fulfillment:<\/a><\/p>\n

At a big company like Amazon, there\u2019s a massive system that’s always evolving. Soon we may even get our packages delivered by drones while we\u2019re stuck in rush hour traffic.<\/p>\n

It might sound farfetched, but it\u2019s a future that Crowder is preparing for and working toward at SP Express.<\/p>\n

“In the past 5 years, e-commerce has seen such advances in technology that it\u2019s possible now for almost anyone to play.”<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

For SP Express, most of the inquiries come from startups with 2,000-3,000 orders per month via various channels. SP Express can house those companies’ goods in one or many of its\u00a0six warehouses, strategically placed in New Jersey, Virginia, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and the Netherlands.<\/span><\/p>\n

When an order comes in for a company\u2019s items, the order is approved or not approved.<\/span><\/p>\n

If approved, it goes to a facility to be picked up; it prints out; then it\u2019s either guaranteed to be fulfilled that day or it’s held for later.<\/p>\n

This cycle is already made transparent to the customer, but SPE’s\u00a0ultimate goal is for that transparency to go both ways with better dashboards and more user-navigated fulfillment.<\/p>\n

\"Fulfillment:<\/a><\/p>\n

Lead with tech. Support with people.<\/span><\/h2>\n

While the boom in automated technology has helped SP Express create APIs<\/a> for big systems and write their own software, their success can be attributed to both their systems and the people who run them.<\/p>\n

“We have a very specific role to play in the value chain. It’s a physical service that we’re providing so that requires infrastructure. It requires people. And those people really need good data. They need good information all the time. <\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

“So, the number-one thing that we’ve built on our own is this core location service where we capture the orders coming in from multiple channels for our customers.\u201d<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

SPE’s\u00a0customers have completely guided the way for growth.<\/p>\n

Crowder explained, \u201cTo keep up with order volume, we\u2019ve employed smart hardware<\/a>, like networked scan guns and inventory-dedicated tablets in our warehouse environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

With more clients and more space acquired, they\u2019ve made their system increasingly smarter to manage inventory across multiple locations.<\/p>\n

\"Fulfillment:<\/a><\/p>\n

On the human side of things, Crowder said it\u2019s important to hold hands and offer flexibility.<\/p>\n

“We have an entire division called\u00a0ChannelCode<\/a>\u00a0that’s dedicated to building and selling stores for e-commerce,” he said.\u00a0“Because fulfillment is so big, there’s always room for more eyeballs on an order\u00a0<\/span>\u2014\u00a0more human interaction.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It may seem strange to think that, even though the reality of drone deliveries is growing ever closer, human interaction will still be an invaluable component\u00a0of e-commerce fulfillment. But that\u2019s what Crowder predicts.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s all about following the story of a customer’s\u00a0purchase and predicting their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Automatic, transactional e-mails are] cheap, and the data that you get out of your automation is great. But imagine if you had a person on the other end … to truly follow up to make sure your experience was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the void that SPE is filling, with 120 seats in their customer care center<\/a> managing purchases from end-to-end, all on behalf of other companies.<\/p>\n

\"Fulfillment:<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for e-commerce fulfillment?<\/span><\/h2>\n

On SPE\u2019s more immediate to-do list is creating smarter customer-facing dashboards and deeper API integrations<\/a>. But down the line, they\u2019d like to give users more control over the fulfillment cycle.<\/p>\n

What they want to do is give you the ability to change the dropoff location of your order at the last minute by triangulating three locations: where you are, where your item is, and where you\u2019re going.<\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s say you\u2019re leaving on\u00a0a trip from LA to Mexico in two days. You buy a new swimsuit and schedule it to\u00a0arrive at\u00a0your hotel the day you get to Mexico. But then your flight gets delayed a day.<\/p>\n

What SP Express wants to do is give you the ability to control the final destination of your shipment until the very last possible moment. So you could change the address to your house in LA and the fulfillment cycle won\u2019t skip a beat.<\/p>\n

Crowder calls this the\u00a0“Holy Grail of order fulfillment.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Fulfillment:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The technology-first part of the development world right now is doing great things with order flow management.“<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s important to take away from SPE\u2019s efforts and small businesses’ evolution into the world of fulfillment is that the rules are changing and companies are willing to scale with you.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>F<\/span>or SP Express, a great customer isn\u2019t really determined by their number of orders, so much as the amount of value we\u2019re able to provide them,\u201d said Crowder.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ultimate goal for tech-first fulfillment cycles is to create fewer\u00a0touchpoints. For SP Express and other fulfillment services, that requires continually evolving integrations and using technology to leverage mobility and human interaction.<\/p>\n

SP Express hopes that, by providing more integrated services, the world of e-commerce can rely on fewer\u00a0touchpoints to\u00a0save time and money, thereby\u00a0evolving the future of distribution for big and small business alike.<\/p>\n

Images via Visual Hunt<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s certainly not the most glamorous part of starting a startup, but distribution logistics are a big deal for customer satisfaction and fulfillment flow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":6249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[91,94,220,97,493,494,551,179,552,553,128,495],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSP Express Helps Startups With E-Commerce Fulfillment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s certainly not the most glamorous part of\u00a0starting a startup, but distribution logistics are a big deal for customer satisfaction and fulfillment flow.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/post-launch\/sp-express-ecommerce-fulfillment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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