In regards to expected congestion at Ports, Depots, and warehouses, during the coming Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive period and also the heavy congestion before and after the peak season, the Association of Malaysian Hauliers wishes to inform all our values customers that hauliers will not be responsible for any claim charges for demurrage , storage , removal , detention, SSR and any other charges incurred between 18th April – 22nd May 2022.
Above message from PERSATUAN HAULIER MALAYSIA.
BEIJING: China’s mounting COVID-19 restrictions are creating further disruptions to global supply chains for consumer electronics, car parts and other goods.
A growing number of Chinese cities are requiring truck drivers to take daily COVID PCR tests before allowing them to cross municipal borders or are quarantining drivers deemed to be at risk of infection. The measures have limited how quickly drivers can move components among factories and goods from plants to ports.
Shanghai and other major Chinese cities have imposed lengthy, stringent lockdowns to try to control COVID outbreaks. Previous interruptions in the supply of goods from Chinese factories to buyers around the world mainly involved the temporary closure of shipping ports.
“The problem is not ships; it’s that there’s no cargo coming because there are no trucks,” said Jarrod Ward, the chief East Asia business development officer in the Shanghai office of Yusen Logistics, a large Japanese supply chain management company.
Now, there is an acute shortage of truck drivers in Shanghai and in nearby cities like Kunshan, a center of electronics production. Many electronics components manufacturers are shutting down in Kunshan.
“The key electronics suppliers to Apple, to Tesla, they’re all based there,” said Julie Gerdeman, CEO of Everstream, a supply chain risk management affiliate of DHL that is based in San Marcos, California.
Many factories have tried to stay open by having workers stay on site instead of going home. Employees have been sleeping on mats on the floor for as long as four weeks in some cities in northeastern China.
But as lockdowns stretch on in cities like Shanghai, Changchun and Shenyang, factories are starting to run out of materials to assemble. Some are sending their workers home until further notice.
Retailers and manufacturers in the West have tried to adapt to previous supply chain difficulties in China by switching from ships to airfreight, but airfreight rates have more than doubled from last year.
For companies, any additional disruptions to the global supply chain would come at a particularly fraught moment, on top of rising prices for raw materials and shipping, along with extended delivery times and worker shortages.
Let’s face it, you’re not looking to be a fulfillment expert, you’re trying to run a business! By outsourcing your storage, packing, and shipping to an experienced and reputable fulfillment center, you gain the experience of their employees as well as their software and equipment. They know the business like the back of their hand and are in the trenches every day, sometimes around the clock. By partnering with a fulfillment services provider, your fulfillment process can become seamless.
It’s expected that there will be more than 2 billion global digital buyers in 2020. With a global population of around 7.7 billion people, that’s nearly 25% of the world’s population shopping online!
So, as you can see, it pays, quite literally, to go global. With a fulfillment center that has an international network and understands the rules and regulations of other countries, you can take orders from all over the world and take your business to the next level.
This is an easy one! Many startup eCommerce companies are working out of their basements, attics, garages—just about anywhere they can store products and supplies. Often, these “work spaces” become an unorganized mess of bubble wrap, boxes, and other packing supplies. With a fulfillment center, you can unload all these duties off to your service provider so you can focus on more important aspects of your business—like keeping your customers happy.
You know what they say: it’s easier to keep a customer than find a new one. Research estimates that companies could be losing as much as $62 billion each year due to poor customer service. And today, with so many competing products on the market, customer service is often one way that small businesses differentiate themselves.
Many fulfillment centers offer 24/7 support through email or phone, allowing for easy returns, exchanges, and refunds. Not only that, fulfillment centers are better able to provide same-day delivery options or guaranteed delivery dates. All of this works to improve the customer experience.
Many small business owners are also jugglers! They’re crafting products, sourcing suppliers, building marketing campaigns, taking customer calls, and much more.
Why take on packing and shipping too? By outsourcing to a fulfillment center, you can narrow your focus to the most important activity—growing your business!
Small eCommerce startups may be able to manage their own order fulfillment for a while, and many do. But as they grow in size and gain more traffic to their site, it can become overwhelming for business owners, who become unable to fulfill orders quickly enough, resulting in disappointment for customers (or worse, a loss of customers).
By outsourcing fulfillment, you’ll be better equipped to handle an increase or perhaps even a massive seasonal influx of orders.
Many fulfillment centers have a network of national and global facilities, resulting in bulk delivery discounts that can benefit your business. In addition, UPS and FedEx base their shipping rates primarily by zone. So, if you house products within more than one fulfillment center, there are fewer zones to cross to get your products to your customers, resulting in savings. This can allow you to pass the savings on to customers or even offer free shipping, which more than 50% of U.S. consumers say influences their online purchase decisions.
A good fulfillment center (wink, wink) thinks outside the box—and inside the box! For most eCommerce sellers, the first time a customer will experience their product is when it arrives at their door; and these days, a battered brown box wrapped in duct tape isn’t going to cut it.
Customized packaging options let you create your own custom shipping boxes, coupons, and inserts, upgrading your packaging to make it fresh and exciting every time someone makes a purchase; often, this can be based on demographics, spending behaviors, birthdays or anniversaries, and more. This helps build loyalty and turns customers into brand advocates.
It’s not cheap to rent space, maintain quality control, hire employees, buy packing supplies, and perform your own shipping—all while keeping the lights on! By outsourcing fulfillment, you can eliminate these overhead costs and begin sharing space and resources with hundreds or even thousands of other sellers.
By taking advantage of economies of scale, you get the best possible prices and terms! In addition, with a fulfillment center, you generally pay one flat fee, and then only for services you used, such as when an order is picked, packed, and shipped.
Technology offers many benefits for eCommerce retailers, from monitoring inventory to tracking shipments, payment processing to customer data security. Of course, acquiring these systems requires a big financial investment—and there’s a learning curve! Many fulfillment centers, however, already have this state-of-the-art software, so eCommerce retailers gain access to the most cutting-edge software available, for very little.
source from :https://www.thefulfillmentlab.com/blog/why-ecommerce-use-fulfillment-centers