Personalized, multichannel logistics allows companies to customize fulfillment and delivery

“Flawless” is the word used to describe customer expectations in the new paper, Personalized Multichannel Logistics, by Tompkins International. The paper explores how to reap the benefits of implementing flexible fulfillment and distribution operations.

“Today’s customers have high expectations, and companies need flexible, personalized logistics capabilities in order to meet their needs,” says Thompson Brockmann, author of the paper and Principal, Tompkins International. “Multichannel operations that are personalized will help to minimize labor costs, reduce inventory costs, and integrate an organization’s IT strategy.”

It is no longer about how companies want to deliver the product to the customer, but about how the customer chooses to have the product delivered.

Traditional distribution centers (DCs) and fulfillment centers (FCs) only serve one channel respectively, and a flexible DC, FC, or a combination of both, makes the most sense for meeting today’s customer demands.

“Multichannel logistics presents many complex challenges,” explains Denny McKnight, President of Tompkins International. “But the benefits are enormous. Traditional retail and wholesale DCs and FCs will need to evolve to have an advantage against competitors like Amazon and Walmart. Overall, the goal is to develop an integrated design in which the facilities and material handling equipment are strongly leveraged across all channels – not one or two channels.”

For more information or to download the paper, click here.