A volatile few years has created a tumultuous landscape for shippers on a global scale—particluarly small businesses. Facing logistical challenges can be more difficult for them than it is for large enterprises, and identifying the best shipping solutions requires significant thought and intentionality. Explore the obstacles small businesses are facing and find out what freight providers are doing to help them overcome these.
Understanding small business shipping solutions and challenges
Small businesses have notably different shipping needs than larger enterprises. Budget and time constraints are often much tighter, and even minor disruptions to supply chain or logistics can prove much more difficult to overcome. As a freight forwarder for small businesses, it’s crucial to understand the businesses you partner with and develop a strong relationship with them. This helps to ensure your systems and processes are aligned with their vision and objectives and can combat the unique challenges they face. As a small business owner, finding the right shipping partner is critical to the success and longevity of your company.
Logistics challenges
Small businesses typically don’t have the resources to clear logistics hurdles as easily as larger organisations. Limited budgets and fewer support staff can severely limit how much time and money they can invest into their shipping and logistics technologies, and comparably smaller shipment volumes may further restrict their options.
Tailored small business shipping solutions
The right freight forwarder will help small business owners tackle or even circumvent these issues with personalised solutions. Amazon Freight can offer bespoke solutions to meet a range of different small business needs and priorities. There are a number of ways to ship with Amazon Freight, and we’ll help you find the right one for your needs, goals, and budget.
Identifying the best shipping solutions for a small business
Selecting the best freight forwarder for a small business can be tricky as smaller companies face unique challenges in their daily operations that often require bespoke shipping solutions. There are a number of factors to take into consideration when choosing a shipping provider. No matter what your needs and objectives, the right freight provider will work with you to optimise your supply chain and overcome the difficulties that are distinct to your business.
Costs
One of the primary considerations for most small businesses is budget and costs. Operating against tighter margins means that a freight provider needs to be cost effective without compromising on other factors. Pricing models are typically dependent on the type of freight being shipped, its destination, size, weight, whether it’s LTL or FTL, and other factors.
Shipping destinations and routes
Where you’re shipping to can be a major deciding factor in your search for a freight carrier. Small business owners must determine whether a provider ships to their intended destinations. If so, examine whether they’re using the best routes to get there for your shipping priorities. For example, speed of delivery, care and safety of goods, or even low carbon transportation.
Speed and reliability
Reliability as a small business is the cornerstone of gaining customer trust and building a brand. The right freight provider will enhance a small business’s reliability by delivering shipments safely and on time. Additionally, not every freight provider offers tracking capabilities. If that is a priority for you, ensure your carrier of choice can provide you with parcel monitoring options.
Customer service
Good, reliable customer service is a top priority for many shippers. Working with fewer resources than larger businesses often means that their customer service needs can be more urgent as turnaround time requirements may be faster and margins tighter. Freight forwarders should provide consistently high quality customer service and ensure their small business partners know that they can always be reached in a shipping crisis.
Environmental impact
Sustainability factors are an increasingly significant concern for many small businesses, and a freight provider’s environmental impact may hinder their ability to win over small business owners as clients. Consider a provider’s sustainability efforts, carbon footprint, and environmental objectives to determine whether they align with your business’s values.
Improving freight efficiency with mDesign
Since 2015, Amazon Freight has worked with home decor and home goods label mDesign. Starting as a small online seller, mDesign joined the Amazon Freight network through Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), which enables growing businesses to outsource their order fulfillment. One of mDesign’s greatest challenges has been maintaining inventory levels to meet demands as they’ve scaled up. This task requires optimal speed and efficiency, which is often a struggle for small businesses operating with a small number of support staff, if any at all.
When partnering with other freight providers, mDesign ran into repeated issues such as drivers not showing up on time and appointments not being properly scheduled. For a small business, mistakes and miscommunications like these can be detrimental. However, when they partnered with the Amazon Freight team, we ensured that 100% of their shipments were accepted and had no shipments turned around. Taking advantage of Amazon Freight’s simple booking system allowed the people at mDesign to focus their time and energy on other tasks such as data analysis to further improve their processes.
Today, mDesign are amongst the UK’s top home goods sellers on Amazon and experience 100% year-on-year growth. The speed and seamlessness with which Amazon Freight can improve freight efficiency has allowed mDesign to continue expanding without worrying about freight or logistics troubles.
Amazon Freight’s innovative small business shipping solutions
Small businesses rely on efficient, hassle-free freight forwarding to enable them to grow and succeed. Tighter margins and comparably fewer resources mean hurdles that are easy for large enterprises to clear could spell disaster for smaller companies. To combat these challenges, small businesses need to find the right freight forwarder that can offer tailored solutions that meet their needs and align with their unique business objectives.
At Amazon Freight, our tailored small business shipping solutions empower businesses to scale up and thrive. We’ll give you access to reliability, efficiency, and an extensive network of carriers across the UK and Europe; you’ll also enjoy competitive rates and top quality customer service whenever you need it. Find the right solutions for your business today, create a free shipper account to get started.
