There are two ways to get ahead in the e-commerce race; first, you can increase your income with many innovative marketing techniques. But no less important is the secondary capacity to economize your business process. Lowering the costs of production for services is a huge part of successful business management and long-term financial benefits.
Ecommerce entrepreneurs have found budget-friendly ways to reduce the costs of their supply chain management, even if the initial expenses seem unmovable. Despite the fact that these costs can seem rigid and unbending, they can be greatly reduced with a little creativity and an innovative mind.
Following are a few choice ideas to apply to your situation, if you feel your supply chain expenses are getting out of hand.
- Multiple Vendors
Working with multiple vendors is one way the ecommerce aficionados use to lower their supply chain costs. Even for those that are offering the same product, shopping around from multiple vendors will allow you to find better deals on stock items, improve your buying power and make your ecommerce option more attractive to your customers.
- Streamline Inventory Management
The cost of inventory your business faces is far more than just the price of each item. In addition to internal inventory costs, there are also quality and supply factors you will have to address. Keeping your inventory from waste, miscalculations and redundancy will mean keeping an effective inventory management system in effect.
Done properly this can greatly economize your process as well as provide insights that can increase your profits as well.
- Prepare to Negotiate Prices
When working with a vendor on an especially large order or if you are negotiating regular shipments or deliveries, take the opportunity to inquire about special prices. Most companies will be more than happy to offer special pricing for the preferred custom of a special client—even if they haven’t openly publicized this offer.
In Closing — Finding your ideal vendors and maintaining an efficient inventory management system are two sides of the same proverbial coin; you will need to both to properly lower your supply chain costs. A fine-tuned inventory system supported by choice vendors will increase your professional reputation to your customer pools and will also lower what it costs you to do so, effectively widening your profit margins.
While this is an especially effective method for ecommerce, it is also largely dependent on the inventory management software you are utilizing and your capacity to use it effectively.
