Many businesses find that shipping can be complicated even before they expand past a single fulfillment location. By integrating the right tools and partnerships, you can create efficient processes that ship products from the closest warehouse to a customer, cutting down on distance-related fees and redundancies.
More than anything, finding a supplier that can cover multiple locations saves you money and enables you to charge accurate shipping rates.
Understand a Supplier’s Responsibilities
The first thing to know is one key difference; all manufacturers supply products, but not all suppliers make theirs. To seek out a supplier is to cast a wider net that can include anyone who can provide inventory, including wholesalers, distributors, and franchise networks.
Before you start looking, it’s a good idea to figure out exactly what kind of supplier you need. Depending on your business model, this choice can vary considerably, but having a concrete answer to this question helps you use the right words when you look.
Examples include manufacturers who produce the product design you provide, suppliers (who may also produce products), wholesalers, or distributors that deliver existing products, and dropshippers who supply existing products to fulfill orders for an existing business.
Research and Reach Out
The supplier you choose influences your product’s cost and shipping quality, which makes it critical to shop around until you find the right one. You can conduct a simple Google search, but the best leads usually come from your own network. Be sure to ask your professional contacts and reach out to other professionals to get their opinions and recommendations.
Once you identify potential suppliers, reach out and gather at least three quotes to compare to each other. Beyond pricing, though, you’ll want to ask about their lead times, shipping costs, minimum quantities, cost per unit, setup fees, and ability to handle custom orders. Feel free to ask any questions that might affect your working relationship.
Negotiate and Place Your Order
Until you’ve signed a contract, there’s still room to negotiate on items like the minimum order quantity (MOQ) or the terms of payment. If you decide to take this approach, help yourself set realistic expectations by considering the perspective of the supplier and aiming for a win-win scenario where everyone profits. The goal, after all, is to foster a long-term relationship.
Once you’re both happy with the terms, get ready to kickstart your production! Your customers will now benefit from faster shipping times thanks to your wider coverage.
Sourcing suppliers and shippers is often one of the biggest costs of starting or expanding a business, which makes finding a partner that works well with you that much more important. Don’t be discouraged if you find yourself hitting a few roadblocks as you go; finding the right partner always takes a little more patience, so don’t hesitate to spend more time now to prevent problems later. Spending time now to find a supplier that can cover multiple locations will pay off in the long run because of the many benefits it offers to each business location.