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Ready-to-assemble furniture e-commerce logistics
What is the role of logistics for e-commerce businesses? Discover the challenges and the opportunities to grow your ready-to-assemble furniture business.
In the on-line sales industry, logistics constitute a great opportunity for ambitious e-commerce businesses that are eager to grow rapidly.
As also reported by the Italian Trade Agency: “The value of e-commerce alone in relation to total retail purchases has doubled in the last 5 years, reaching an average incidence of 15%. In countries with greater on-line sales penetration, such as the UK, its value exceeds 20%”
The significant growth and the rise in on-line sales have made logistics management increasingly critical, with the need to ensure faster and better deliveries to the consumer.
If you are an entrepreneur of a furniture e-commerce business, you know how important a rapid and effective logistics process is.
Your focus is on making sure your customers are happy and your products reach their destination intact and swiftly. But this is not always easy, especially when it comes to transporting kit furniture.
In this Article we explain the main challenges faced by furniture logistics and provide some tips on how to overcome these challenges to improve service and grow your on-line kit furniture business.
Logistics: the challenge of e-commerce
Managing an e-commerce business can be a real challenge.
If you’re already in this business, you are fully aware of the main challenges a successful on-line store has to tackle.
Searching for products to sell, managing orders and logistics, optimising on-line sales processes, curating the brand image and marketing and positioning activities. These are all fundamental aspects to take care of your e-commerce business, create a reputation and improve efficiency.
However, logistics is one of the biggest challenges e-commerce businesses face, because faster and more efficient delivery times are required to exceed customer expectations.
What are the logistics activities of an e-commerce business?
Logistics is not just about shipping and stock availability, but also about organising, managing and optimising processes.
Efficient logistics planning must take into account both strategic and operational factors such as delivery lead times, shipment tracking, returns management and customer satisfaction.
We can summarise the main logistics activities for a profitable e-commerce business in these key areas:
- Stock planning, so products are always available
- Order management, including the production of documents, especially in the case of exports
- Warehouse and order management for fast, optimised and controlled product handling
- The relationship with the carrier or shipping agent
- Solid packaging that is suitable for transport, effectively to protect the product and its integrity
- Order tracking to keep the customer up-to-date with the progress of their shipments
- Management of tax and customs aspects (in case of exports)
- The management of any returns that entails a very efficient customer care service, to support the customer at all times
All these stages of the logistics process require constant attention and careful planning, especially when the products to be transported and delivered are delicate and large, such as Ready-to-assemble furniture.
Ready-to-assemble furniture e-commerce logistics
The on-line furniture industry is growing at an impressive pace.
According to a study by “Statistica”, on-line furniture and interior design sales in Italy exceeded €2.7 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.8% over the last five years. And by 2028, on-line purchases and sales in the same industry are expected to grow on average by 57% per year.
With increasing demand and a faster pace of on-line shopping, ensuring an efficient logistics service has become one of the key factors for e-commerce business success, providing a real competitive edge.
For a furniture e-commerce business, logistics can be a particularly complex challenge and its main criticalities are related to the handling, packaging and shipping of articles.
Ready-to-assemble furniture can consist of multiple boxes and requires careful handling, as each item must be prepared for shipment, packaged and transported safely to avoid damage during transport and tracking and loss issues.
Last but not least, a great diversity of products need to be stored and managed in a specific way, depending on their category.
How to improve the furniture e-commerce logistics
To tackle these challenges, furniture e-commerce businesses need to rely on highly specialised logistics services capable of handling fast and efficient warehousing, order preparation, shipping, and delivery.
With outsourced logistics, you will be able to offer your customers fast, secure and reliable delivery while keeping costs low and maximising customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction is a valuable element that not only concerns the product itself but also the quality and speed of the shipping service.
In fact, according to an article by “Flexe Institute”: “62% of shoppers state that delivery speeds affect their purchasing decisions; 85% of on-line shoppers look elsewhere when delivery times are too long.”
These figures further confirm the importance of meeting consumer expectations, both with products and with fast and efficient logistics services.
A good level of customer satisfaction will help the customer to evaluate their purchase in a positive way, leaving reviews, stars and/or scores on your website that often enhance the value of the product, but also and above all the related logistics service.
For the end consumer, it is very important to receive the order intact and quickly: hence the need to offer a quality logistics service.
The benefits of outsourced logistics
Yes, the logistics of kit furniture poses a significant challenge, but managing it correctly can make a difference to deliver a positive purchasing experience and work on building customer loyalty.
As we pointed out, packaging, transporting and delivering ready-to-assemble furniture can be a not entirely simple undertaking.
In this sense, outsourcing logistics services can be a great way to streamline operations and improve the quality of service offered to customers.
Entrepreneurs who choose to outsource logistics have two main reasons to do so: significantly lower warehouse costs and managing e-commerce flows externally and flexibly.
The use of a specialised logistics service enables fast and accurate shipments, which allow customers to reduce waiting times and improve their purchasing experience.
The experience of external professionals will make your job easier:
you will be able to focus more on marketing, product promotion, and customer service, while the logistics are handled by experts who take care of appropriate packaging and shipping details.
This also reduces the risk of damage during transportation, avoiding costly returns and, consequently, increasing customer satisfaction.
How Web Furniture logistics services can help you
We are well aware of the demands of modern life and the opportunities that logistics provide in on-line sales, which is why we have supplemented our historic production of ready-to-assemble furniture with a customised and highly flexible logistics service.
This means that the needs of our partner-customer lie at the centre of our shipping methods, with the aim of supplying high-quality products, with a transparent, reliable and fast service.
The shipping phase is always very delicate but there is another aspect that comes first which deserves due attention: namely, packaging.
To protect kit components best, functional packaging must be strong, sturdy and well-engineered.
This will help to reduce breakage and damage in the handling and transport of goods.
Another key aspect for an e-commerce business is prompt product availability.
We know that to be able to sell on-line efficiently, you need to have a large supply of goods ready to ship to the end customer.
For this reason, within our catalogue, 80% of products are always in stock and therefore immediately available. Thanks to a file that is updated daily, you will be able to check the availability of articles and relevant quantities.
In the event that supplies are not ready, you will be able to see the upcoming production dates and availability.
What are the shipping solutions for kit furniture?
Using the most efficient and competitive delivery networks, we can ship our furniture in various logistical ways.
One shipping method is cross-docking, namely the pallet delivery of pre-labelled mixed articles. With the end-customer delivery data, the product to be delivered goes through a logistics platform or sorting warehouse of your choice.
We can take care of shipping the order directly to the end customer’s home, helping you to develop and speed up the sales potential of your e-commerce business, without further investment.
This is what is referred to as dropshipping, a business model that allows you to sell products on-line without physically owning them or having a warehouse. In this case, the seller works with the suppliers who will take care of all the packaging and shipping of the product to the end customer.
Dropshipping can be partial or total:
- In total dropshipping, we label the products individually with the delivery details of the end customer and arrange for our carriers to pick up within 48 hours of the order, which is then delivered directly to your customer.
- In partial dropshipping, we always apply product-specific labels, with their delivery details, and always follow your directions and those of the chosen carrier. We prepare for collection by the designated carriers, within 48 hours of the order, which is then delivered directly to your customer.
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How we can grow together
Delegating such an important part of your business, such as logistics, to a dropshipping supplier must be a far from simple decision.
Where to find dropshipping suppliers? How to start a dropshipping business? How to choose the right supplier?
We understand that you may have multiple concerns. Starting to work with a supplier and outsourcing your logistics can often be a leap into the unknown, accompanied by feelings of much uncertainty and indecisiveness.
If we were in your shoes, we would feel exactly the same way and probably have the same doubts.
That is why we place a great deal of importance in the initial onboarding stage. We focus on listening to your needs and looking for the best solution for you and your business, supporting you consistently.
If you are starting an e-commerce business or are thinking about new kit furniture suppliers, please follow us and stay updated on all our latest news.
If you’d like to get to know us better, you can always contact us and find out how we can help you grow your business.
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