Do Your Clients Want Same-day Shipping?

With the giant retailers like Amazon and eBay tripping over each other to offer same-day shipping options, it’s obvious that shoppers not only want one-click buying, they also want their products to arrive NOW.

But if you’re a manufacturer or wholesaler shipping to business, do your business clients really want and expect their goods to ship by expedited courier the same day they make the purchase?

The answer may lie in the type of industry or sector you ship to.

Business Clients and Same-Day Shipping

If you’re in the business of supplying raw materials for manufacture, such as chemicals or metals, agricultural inputs, or lumber, sheer logistics is on your side. Refining companies also tend to maintain large inventories, so same-day shipping is unlikely to matter as much as cost and reliability.

When shipping to the technology, service and financial sectors – whether you’re sending office supplies, furniture or software – timely turnaround is expected, but again, companies in this sector tend not to require immediate delivery in order to facilitate sales.

On the other hand, if you’re shipping food items to a restaurant or grocery store, drugs to a hospital, or toys to a retail store at Christmas, your clients absolutely will desire and appreciate same-day delivery.

Are you Ready for Same-Day Shipping?

The injunction to under-promise and over-deliver is never truer than when it comes to shipping. If you promise same-day shipping and then can’t provide it, you’re setting yourself up for angry customers, a damaged reputation, and added expenses. So how can you tell if you’re ready to implement same-day shipping? Consider the following list of questions, courtesy of APS Fulfillment:

• Do you have the space and tools? You need enough space for your stock, plus software to track inventory, and sufficient packing materials.
• Do you have a network of reliable suppliers to help prevent stock shortages?
• Do you have the (permanent, temporary and/or contract) staff in place to cover seasonal surges in business?
• Do you have the time? The demands of same-day fulfillment and shipping may over-tax you and your staff.

Build Credibility with Same-Day Shipping

Offering same-day shipping to your business clients can be a great way to gain market share and out-perform the competition. But even if you don’t have the tools in place to do the job yourself, you can partner with a fulfillment and shipping company that can guarantee your orders will ship same-day. Just be sure to find out what exactly the cut-off time is for orders to be placed – in any time zone, says a recent post on fulfillmentcompanies.net.

You also need to make sure they can handle heavy seasonal business and keep your clients informed about things like weekend deliveries, partial shipments, international shipping times, and the like.

If you’re looking for a credible solution to your same-day shipping problem, Power Link Expedite has services to make your company more successful. When you need it there today, contact us toll-free at 1-888-847-5515.