Otreva

Why D2C Brands Should Consider Using a 3PL?

Ashley Pinto — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 21:08:41 +0000

As a D2C brand, the customer experience is one of the biggest factors for growth and part of that customer experience is the fulfillment process. Today, bigger companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target have set the standard of two-day or even same-day delivery setting the consumer expectation of faster delivery more aggressively than we’ve ever seen before in the eCommerce space. This makes it challenging for D2C brands to compete in delivering this same expectation at scale. That’s when outsourcing your warehousing and fulfillment operations to 3PL companies can help.

Owning your own warehouse can be costly and challenging to manage operations while also trying to focus on growing a brand. Many brands are finding it valuable to outsource their warehousing services to a trusted 3PL company. With the benefits of using a 3PL company, it’s clear why brands choose to outsource.

Benefits of Using a 3PL

Industry Expertise

Working with 3PL providers gives brands more access to a team of industry experts who know the best practices for managing inventory and fulfillment operations. D2C brands typically are the experts in product development and marketing but when it comes to logistics, it can be smarter and more cost-effective to outsource this part of your business to a 3PL who has the experience to handle your warehousing and fulfillment operations more sufficiently.

Resource Network

A big advantage of outsourcing to a 3PL is having access to a broad resource network. Gaining access to a 3PL’s resource network allows you to cut down on costs and increase efficiency. 3PLs often develop partnerships with carriers and other parties within the supply chain where they can pass discounts along to their clients due to volume. Your business will surely benefit from these resources that would likely be unavailable to you if you were to manage your operations solely in-house.

Advanced Technology

Technology is constantly evolving making it costly to develop and maintain in-house. Partnering with a top 3PL usually gives brands access to their latest software and technology to gain visibility into your inventory and fulfillment operations while also being able to measure KPIs. This eliminates the need to purchase the most current technology if you were to handle it in-house.

Flexibility and Scalability

Partnering with a 3PL can also benefit your business giving your brand more flexibility and the ability to scale warehousing space, labor, and transportation based on your inventory needs. Whether you have peak seasons or even looking to grow into new regions, working with a 3PL will provide the support and flexibility you need to scale into new markets upon demand.

Improvement is Continuous

This can often be an overlooked benefit for utilizing a 3PL, but it is certainly an important one. 3PLs are constantly improving their facilities, technology, and relationships with other partners within their resource network. This is something that would be difficult to do when managing your operations in-house simply because your focus isn’t going to be solely on improving this part of your business where a 3PL, it’s what they do. They’re going to be continuously advancing and finding more ways to be efficient so they can retain your business and gain new clients along the way.

Improves Quality and Customer Services

Utilizing a 3PL gives back more time and capital for your brand to focus on the quality of your product and services including customer service. Eliminating the distractions with your warehousing and fulfillment operations, leaving that up to your 3PL will help your brand provide a more consistent and positive experience for your customers.

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ChannelApe’s Shopify Inventory Management

otreva — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 14:04:25 +0000

ChannelApe has been able to provide brands like Allbirds, Monster Audio and Pharmacare with enterprise grade solutions for inventory management. When running a high growth, high volume direct to consumer brand, problems arise with managing inventory between 3PLs and warehouses and sales channels. Then comes the issue of fulfilling faster than ever so that customers receive their items in just a few days. Amazon’s pressure of prime items within 2 days makes it more important than ever for brands to manage their direct to consumer operations.

With a direct focus on being a Shopify Inventory Management solution, ChannelApe’s Inventory Management Feature Set Includes:

Product Catalog Listing Creator (for Amazon, BigCommerce, eBay, Shopify, Walmart, ShareASale)
Auto Import Products
Multi-Channel Inventory Tracking
Multi-Channel Price Control
Product / Variant Tags
Rules Engine / Selective Stock Push
Bundles and Kits
3PL / WMS Support

The quick inventory checklist for brands is:

Do all your sales channels flow directly to your warehouse for fulfillment?
Do all your fulfillments immediately update the customer when they are created?
Do you have KPIs to monitor the time between order creation and fulfillment creation?
Can you manage your inventory levels by percentage across various sales channels?
Do you run consistent reports for inventory to understand missed opportunities?

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Signallamp Health and Chronic Care Management

otreva — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 22:22:56 +0000

Recently we had the pleasure to work with Signallamp Health on developing their new website. Signallamp Health was founded on the clear understanding that human interaction is essential to improving the management of chronic health conditions. While they leverage world-class technology to empower their nurses with relevant and real-time data, the heart of their approach is rooted in time-tested, evidence-based care management and behavioral economics. Signallamp health needed a website to explain their business model to a broad audience of medical practices and chronic care patients. Otreva used illustrations, graphics and custom javascript to achieve this. The message is clear… “Chronic care management is hard, Signallamp Health will make it easier for you.”

The website is mobile friendly which means it can be viewed on any device whether it be an old smartphone or a large iMac desktop. We used WordPress as the content management system so Signallamp Health can dynamically change content whenever they like.

Overall, Signallamp Health’s goal with this project was to build a user friendly website that informed their target audience of what they do and how they can help. This proved to be a challenge but in the end it was illustrations that we felt engaged the audience and helped deliver the over all message that Signallamp Health can help you, your practice and patients with Chronic Care Management.

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Frame Crafters – Our Latest E-Commerce Website

otreva — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 21:03:18 +0000

Frame Crafters was built by experienced professionals in the eye care industry who have had yet to explore the world of e-commerce. Otreva was happy to assist in every aspect of building Frame Crafters from the ground up. We provided e-commerce consulting, web design and development, inventory creation and user experience design. Otreva built many custom features like specific images for product variants, the prescription form, custom templates, and the order process based on the users shopping cart.

We built Frame Crafters using our favorite e-commerce platform Shopify. Shopify is perfect for an e-commerce solution but more often than not we get special requests from clients for custom design, development and setup. It is our experience and expertise in these areas that have earned us a spot as Shopify Experts. Through this we continue to build great end products for our clients and ultimately our clients’ customers.

Some features we designed and developed for Frame Crafters are:

Custom Orders
Customer Prescription Form
Color Varieties
Frame On Face Images
Custom Templates
PD Measuring Tool

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2020’s Ultimate 150 DropShipping Suppliers {Free Directory}

otreva — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 20:03:33 +0000

Are you considering starting a drop shipping business?

Looking for drop shipping companies & products? Trying to understand what is the meaning of dropshipping?

Whether you have a product category in mind or are just browsing the categories, here’s the ultimate list of 150 of the best dropshippers from around the globe. You’ll find some dropship companies with no membership fees!

If you are looking for a good shopping cart platform for drop shipping suppliers check out:

Shopify

As an alternative to all of these individual dropshipping suppliers, check out some services that can help combine many for you:

Never worry about shipping, packaging, or holding inventory. You’ll have more time to focus on marketing and building your business because you won’t be shipping or packaging orders.
Check out Oberlo >>

Automatically upload products, sync inventory & route orders with dropship suppliers to virtually any online store, marketplace or ecommerce platform.
Check out InventorySource >>

Dropshipping Services

Since this is so long (brace yourself), I’ve broken down all the wholesalers into categories for ease of navigation:

Adult
Bicycles
Children
Collectibles
Computer
Drones
Electronics
General Supplies
Green Products
Guns & Ammo
Health & Beauty
Home Security
Hunting & Fishing
Jewelry
Lingerie
Marine Products
Men’s Apparel
Music
Nutritional Supplements
Outdoor Gear
Pet Supplies
Smartphone Accessories
Sporting Goods
Tools/Hardware
Video Games
Wedding
Women’s Apparel
Bonus: International Suppliers
Bonus 2: Dropship Services

Interested in selling on a new marketplace? Apply to Walmart.com

So without further ado, let’s start listing!

(Note: Some drop shipping companies are listed multiple times because they sell items in multiple categories.)

Adult

Looking to sell some pleasure toys? Check out these suppliers. (Note: I’m only starting with adult because it’s the first alphabetically. You’ll have to forgive me!)

Pink Cherry Wholesale

Honey’s Place

Bicycles

Phew, glad that’s out of the way! Now here’s a bicycle supplier (sorry, there’s only one we work with so far. If you know of other quality suppliers, let us know so we can team up with them!)

Quality Bicycle Products

Children & Baby

Moms absolutely love to spoil their babies. Children & Baby products can be particularly lucrative if done right. If you want to try selling these suckers on Amazon or your Shopify site, try these 4 suppliers.

Collectibles

Anything you might consider to be a “collectible” is probably sold by one of these suppliers. They also do a lot of customizable work, so you can find cool wedding gifts and other cool party gifts.

International Wholesale

Computer

Computer parts and accessories can be great for your drop shipping business, especially if you get a good drop shipping company with sales reps that really know their stuff.

Drones

Here are the two biggest drop shipping wholesalers for your high flying electronic friends.

Wynit

D&H Distributing

Electronics

Electronics are a tough market, as you can tell by the many wholesalers ready to supply your drop shipping business with products. That said, it’s not impossible — give it a shot if you think it’s for you!

Essendant (United Stationers)

General Supplies

General supplies are another difficult market, but since this is the ultimate list of drop shipping companies I’d be amiss if I didn’t include them.

Automatically upload products, sync inventory & route orders with drop shipping companies to virtually any online store, marketplace or ecommerce platform.
Check out InventorySource >>

Green Products

Did you know that sustainable packing (and products) get more sales? If you want to start selling “green” products on Amazon, check out these wholesalers.

Nearly Natural

Arett Sales

Honest Green (UNFI)

Guns & Ammo

Whether you’re a supporter of the second amendment or not, there is a pretty huge market out there you can sell guns and ammo to.

Health & Beauty

Who doesn’t want to be healthy and beautiful? (Err… handsome? Guys?) Try these wholesalers for your drop shipping business.

Pure Source

Brybelly

Esutras

Bangalla Distribution

Home Security Products

Before you can be beautiful (handsome?) you have to be safe. Home security products fare pretty well as products for drop shippers.

Housewares

People are always stocking up on stuff for around the house. Sorry, I don’t have much to say about these… it’s houseware…

WynitInterested in selling on a new marketplace? Apply to Walmart.com

Hunting & Fishing

Similar to those second amendment enthusiasts, there are a ton of hunters and fisherman in the world (many of them are one and the same). These wholesalers have proven themselves.

Jewelry

Ladies (and some guys?) love their jewelry. This is a crowded market, but it’s so huge that you can probably still be successful in it if you find your niche.

Watch Wholesalers

Richard Cannon Jewelry

Opal Haus

Bella Vi

Creation Watches

Lingerie

Oh come on, I already talked about adult products. This is nowhere near as embarrassing.

Axami

Matterhorn

Your New Style

Pink Cherry Wholesale

Gorteks Lingerie

Honey’s Place

Marine Products

For the underwater enthusiast.

Seawide

CWR Electronics

Automatically upload products, sync inventory & route orders with dropship suppliers to virtually any online store, marketplace or ecommerce platform.
Check out InventorySource >>

Men’s Apparel

Guys love their clothes (they just don’t admit it as much as women do).

Music

Another category with only one supplier — leave us your suggestions!

Carolina Distribution

Nutritional Supplements

Health enthusiasts and people looking for a magic pill are always in high supply, ready to pay for the latest and greatest on the market.

Outdoor Gear

I have to admit, I could shop for outdoor gear for hours. I’m certainly not alone — there is money to be made here, with a lot of hidden niches to be fulfilled.

Pet Supplies

People treat their pets like their children (sometimes better). My girlfriend and I are no exceptions. We’re considering spending $80 to get a GPS tracker for our cat in case he gets outdoors… and she has at least 5 costumes for him in the closet… not to mention the mountain of toys he never uses. I could keep going, but I think you get the idea!

Bradley Caldwell, Inc

Smartphone Accessories

If people treat their pets like their kids, they treat their phones like their cars. They love to bling them out with every case known to man, bluetooth speakers, headphones, charging cables. There’s definitely money to be made.

Sporting Goods

If sporting goods are more your style, these drop shipping companies have everything you need.

DropForYou.com

Gun Accessory Supply

Internet Fulfillment Services

Tools/Hardware

My grandpa has every tool I could ever imagine… except a damn drill gun. Can you believe that? Need a weed wacker? You got it. Heat gun? Done. Impact gun? Absolutely. Basic drill gun? Nope.

My point is, people love buying tools. I’ll bet he’s going to go buy a drill gun now that I pointed it out. Tons of people are buying tools off Amazon every day, why not share in the profits?

DropForYou.com

L&G Tools

Orgill

General International

Dropship Direct

Video Games

Where my gamers at? This is a tough market, but it’s a possibility.

Albany Distributing

Megagoods

Wedding

What only happens twice and costs four times as much the first time as it does the second time? Weddings. Just kidding! But seriously, people spend a pretty penny on the big day.

Mariell Online

Women’s Apparel

Clothes shopping, anyone? If you’re ready to tackle this massive market, try working with these wholesalers to get the most out of your drop shipping business.

Looking to Ship Internationally? Try These Drop Shippers.

If you want to ship across the world, these particular drop shipping companies can help you out:

Services

These are services that have products in more than one category:

Wholesale 2B
Inventory Source
Doba
AliExpress
Dropship Direct
National Dropshippers

Automatically upload products, sync inventory & route orders with dropship suppliers to virtually any online store, marketplace or ecommerce platform.
Check out InventorySource >>

Once you pick a supplier, now what?

Step 1: Catalog + Inventory Management

Once you find a good dropshipping service, the next problem becomes maintaining inventory levels. Inventory is the lifeblood of building a successful dropshipping store because the worst thing you can do is cancel an order on a customer once they place an order on your store. Once you cancel an order on a customer, you can be sure they won’t be back to order again. You told them the item was in stock, they went through the checkout process and now you are telling them they won’t get it? There are services to help with Shopify inventory management or BigCommerce Inventory Management to ensure you always have inventory levels that are in sync with your supplier. If you end up using something like Shopify, you may want to consider integrating Shopify + Amazon together.

Is it possible my supplier has bad stock information?

Yes! And while you don’t want to hear this it is probably more common than you think. One way to combat this is using a inventory management software that can support reducing the levels given by your supplier by say 20%. If the supplier has 10 of an item in stock and you list all 10 on your store, you are at risk of the supplier selling 2 to someone else and now if someone on your store wants to buy all 10, you can only fulfill 8. You can even start as low as 50% and scale up. It is also smart to consider NOT listing any items with less than 5 in stock for this exact reason. If you do, know that your risk of overselling and cancellations will increase significantly. Remember, you can’t afford to cancel a single order. Your customer will NOT forgive you and start buying from your competitor.Interested in selling on a new marketplace? Apply to Walmart.com

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Planning Time in JIRA

otreva — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:30:56 +0000

I find myself wondering how other people manage planning their project timelines. I’m currently using JIRA to “plan time” so that everyone is on the same page about what work is coming up. I know that there are many different systems used to track and allocate time for designers and developers but I find that JIRA is working really well for a few reasons.

The first reason is that this works for our team because we manage all of our epics, user stories, and tasks in JIRA, so it is easy for a designer or developer to manage their workloads based on planned time in Tempo. Tempo is the plugin for JIRA that allows time logging. We use Tempo to log our time on projects anyway, so why use a different system?

The second reason that I find it helpful to use JIRA for planning time is that you can plan the epics based on all of the time allocated to a project. We currently have a few different types of projects. We’ve learned that the estimated points don’t necessarily equate to a set number of hours per point on a given type of project. Although we may be working on 2 website development projects with a similar number of estimated points, one may be 20 hours and another may be 80 hours. I can plan the epic for the first project at 20 hours (2 ½ days) and for the second project at 80 hours (10 days) using the same tool.

So what tools do you use to manage your projects?

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7 Best Uses of Mobile Cards in Web Design

otreva — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 14:50:55 +0000

Cards are used in many different ways on websites. Mostly these cards provide bite sized information for a customer or user to view without reading a lot of text. Many cards incorporate images relating to the information for each card. In most instances, a user can click on the card to see more information about a particular product, service or in some cases an app.

365PSD

Dribbble

Google Now

Google Play

Redbull Music Academy

vevo

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10 Best Pricing Pages

otreva — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 18:39:55 +0000

These are some of the best pricing pages out there. You always want your customer to know what’s included with your product or service and these sites lay that out on their pricing pages.

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10 Best Designed Contact Forms That Are Sure To Convert

otreva — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 15:44:07 +0000

Here are my 10 favorite contact forms. Contact forms are such an important part of a website, that is many times overlooked when designing the layout. Contact forms should be engaging and give a customer a compelling reason to contact you.

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10 Best Designed Shopify Sites That Grab Attention

otreva — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 16:26:50 +0000

After looking through multiple Shopify sites I’ve found some really great sites that I’d like to share. Of course, images are tremendously important on any website, but especially an ecommerce site that sells products.

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