Drop the Beat: More Companies Turn to Drop Shipping

In our up tempo world of changing consumer preferences and increased manufacturing productivity, it has become common place for retailers to carry less stock inventory, freeing up precious space for showroom and not storage.   What this means for consumers is having a larger volume to choose from, and getting their choice of speakers, for example, drop shipped from a distribution center or straight from the manufacturer.  

In the case of online retailers it may mean not having any physical location to house the product or even taking possession of the product at all.  Drop shipping simply means that retailers pass along order and shipping information directly to wholesalers or manufacturer who in turn deliver the product.  There is mutual benefit: retailers can offer more competitive pricing, with less overhead to worry about, consumers get greater choice of products and places to purchase.  Drop shipping marries the benefits of retail shopping with low prices that result from low overhead.  

Of course, drop shipping is no panacea.  Consumers and electronics retailers alike should keep the following in mind as they consider the impact of drop shipping on the  buying experience, including:

Automatic Data Management:   Consumers need to have more details not less when it comes to shipping.  Including information like anticipated ship dates, arrival dates, and tracking numbers are critical to setting customer expectations.  Automated systems that send shipping details with the order during the purchase process are helpful in managing consumer expectations for deliver. 

Item-Specific Fulfillment: When customers order multiple items, they are not asking for multiple shipping dates.  Why penalize your most prolific customers with the biggest shipping hassle? Use a smart technology that coordinates shipments of multiple items. 

Multiple Resource Management: This is a behind-the-scenes necessity to make life easier for retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers.  The issue is coordinating shipping on the front end so consumers are not dealing with separate orders from different facilities where their purchased items are located.  They only want accurate delivery date estimates.  If your products are coming from multiple locations, you want a solution that can make them work as a seamless whole and the answers delivered to the shipping screen of the online retailer’s site for the consumer.