Introduce the unique logistics issues of “D2C” and methods for improving efficiency through outsourcing

Recently, there have been more and more operators engaged in D2C business, “wanting to improve the efficiency of logistics related operations and prepare for the increase of orders”, “the number of orders is constantly increasing, and logistics operations are becoming tense”. I hear more and more people say, “I want to improve this

The characteristic of D2C is to plan and manufacture products within the company, and sell them while communicating directly with consumers.

If you operate D2C business, you may have a keen sense of this, but various operations such as product development, manufacturing, EC site construction, marketing, product transportation, customer support, etc. must be completed internally.

Product planning and marketing are particularly important for the D2C brand, but D2C logistics is surprisingly difficult to notice.

Logistics operation involves many processes, and points to pay attention to when building the D2C brand.

D2C’s unique logistics issues

Due to D2C creating its own brand and products, there are some areas that need to be noted in terms of logistics. Here, we introduce two points that D2C merchants should pay attention to when shipping.

Brand image is very important in D2C. We also pay special attention to product packaging.

Due to the need for direct communication with consumers for sales, D2C’s brand image is extremely important. In order for people to choose your product from a wide range of available products, you must tell an attractive story about why you created the product and what kind of worldview you want to create with it.

Therefore, in order to convey the brand image to consumers, it is necessary to pay attention to visible aspects such as the packaging method of the product and the cardboard used upon actual arrival. However, warehouses that efficiently deliver large quantities of packages often cannot meet such packaging requirements, so it is important to find a warehouse that supports the packaging method you want to achieve.

D2C requires each buyer to provide an appropriate response. Logistics warehouses need to handle difficult tasks.

In D2C, communication with consumers is very important, so it is not just about sales and purchases; Communication design is extremely important for how to make people understand your brand and how to keep them going.

For example, we may offer low-priced trials for first time users to let them know how good the product is, or offer special discounts for second time users based on the purchase quantity.

In addition, the service that allows consumers to create and purchase personalized products of their choice is also unique to D2C.

In order to transport products with these complex patterns, it is important to collaborate with warehouses that can respond flexibly and provide products to consumers, rather than shipping all the same products at once.

Although D2C can allow you to create unique products for the company, it also increases the difficulty of logistics, so you need a system that can run efficiently and minimize errors as much as possible.

The key to improving D2C logistics efficiency is system introduction and outsourcing

Not only D2C, but with the increase of logistics operation scale, the required resources also increase.

Therefore, the burden of logistics operations cannot be ignored, especially for D2C enterprises where all operations such as product planning and marketing are carried out internally.

In order to efficiently and error-free manage order information and issue shipping instructions during scale expansion, you should consider introducing systems such as Order Management System (OMS).

Especially in the case of D2C, in order to convey the brand’s worldview, it is necessary to pay special attention to packaging and match the content with the buyer, which requires more manpower and complex operations.

By the way, LOGILESS has a mechanism that can automatically indicate shipment even with complex operations unique to D2C.

For example, you can change the content of a package based on conditions, such as “product catalog containing first order” or “special rewards for customers ordering more than 3 times”, using “macro”. If set, it can be automatically processed.

D2C needs to be in line with the worldview and buyer’s response, so transportation work requires more time than regular EC.

We suggest outsourcing to logistics professionals so that you don’t get overwhelmed by transportation tasks when you should focus on product planning and marketing every day.