Logistics: A Supply Chain Checklist for Startups

As the owner of a startup, you know that your work is never done.

You are busy implementing your marketing strategy, creating your brand, building your customer or client base, and sorting out financial and administrative issues. This means that one important area can be forgotten: supply chain and logistics.

A key part of a business, from startups and SMEs to large corporations, it is essential to create an in-depth logistics plan. As such, to ensure that your startup is ready, here is a checklist to help you prepare.

Create a Company Strategy

Before you can start to plan, you need to outline the objectives of your startup. As a startup, you probably have limited funds, so this will limit what you can do in terms of logistics, but it is still important to plan. What is it you want to achieve through your logistics strategy? How fast would you like delivery to be? What kind of services do you want to offer? What will you charge your customers and how much of the price can you afford to absorb?

You should also keep in mind how other unfortunate events may impact your business activities. Being better equipped to handle transactions in the events of supply chain natural disasters, can help your business bounce back faster and with less costs.”

Form Relationships with Suppliers

Having a positive relationship with your suppliers is essential for your startup’s logistics. After all, without the goods from your suppliers, you will not be able to provide your products or services, leaving you unable to fulfil orders. As such, forming strong relationships with suppliers will ensure good communication, helping to streamline the logistics process.

Make Use of Automation

If you want your startup to grow, processing each order by hand and printing individual labels is not an efficient method. Instead, automation could save valuable business hours, helping a startup to flourish. Using a third-party courier and providing them with your customer or client list could save a lot of time. It will also help to avoid addressing errors.

Choose the Right Packaging

When it comes to logistics, packaging should be an essential consideration for several reasons. The first is customer experience (it is important that goods arrive undamaged and as described), the second is company reputation (items that arrive late or broken will not reflect well on company image, something that can be disastrous for a startup), and the third is cost (while packaging should be strong, it also needs to be as lightweight and small as possible to reduce price).

National Versus International

Finally, will your logistics strategy be national or international? If shipping overseas, there are other considerations to think about, including delivery timings, additional insurance, exporting processes and any taxes or tariffs. This is where an international shipping specialist can help, providing expert advice and delivery services.

It is essential that your startup has an efficient logistics process, as this will help your business to compete, build customer base, and grow. Follow the above steps to save your startup time, money, and improve customer experience.