You have a newly created business that is growing day by day with an increasing number of customers and, thus, revenue. However, there comes a time when obstacles regarding your business outweigh your capacity and expertise to solve them.
While it may seem like a waste for a new and upcoming company to outsource its distribution branch to a third party, it may become too burdensome to try and solve new challenges on your own, requiring outside expertise and logistical support.
The best option to solve such a dilemma is to make an authorized distribution partnership. With an expert distribution partner, small businesses can more easily prove their product viability, keeping their customers happy and satisfied with their purchases. In addition, boosting sales and revenue while reducing excess costs helps free up more time and assets in order to focus on other areas, such as entering new markets or growing your reach.
Finding a reliable fulfillment partner adept at helping your business along its growth journey can take time and effort. However, no matter how small, logistical intricacies can snowball into inescapable problems, and the time and effort put into it are worth the investment.
Although the time to branch out may be different for every business, here are some telltale signs that it might be time for you to consider an authorized distribution partnership.
International shipping
International shipping becomes a must when your company achieves a certain amount of success and considerable growth. However, shipping internationally can become a burden without the right plan and expertise. For instance, tariffs, customs, import duties, restrictions, and regulatory requirements can cause lesser established businesses money and time problems.
This is where an authorized distribution partnership comes in. A distribution partner is more informed and accustomed to working in and around these costly and time-consuming complications. An alliance formed with a distributor through such a partnership has the means to carry a small or developing business to a higher level, helping them with strategies to become more equipped and knowledgeable of all of the complexities of distribution processes to secure international success.
Therefore, if your long-term plan is not to avoid the most major global markets, it is time to make an authorized distribution partnership.
Delayed Shipping & Insufficient Service
Another problem that arises as your business grows is having to cater to the increasing number of customers. Since every customer desires an equally efficient service, not being able to provide excellent customer service and shipping times to each and every one of them will inevitably be followed by copious amounts of complaints.
The online marketplace has become incredibly competitive in the last few years, and if you cannot satisfy a customer, they still have innumerous options to prefer over their former place of transaction. If you don’t believe your business has what it takes to outperform the competition, whether regarding shipping times or general customer service, an authorized distribution partnership is vital.
Providing affordable and efficient shipping, a distribution partner will help you attain fast and reliable shipping in order for you to preserve brand loyalty, accumulate repeat sales, increase conversions, and lower cart abandonment rates while also helping you offer customers the utmost service.
Better supply chain logistics
Being on your own as a small business makes way for minor errors, which have the ability to bring your supply chain to a halt regardless of the errors’ size. And not being able to distribute products to your customers can have highly detrimental effects on the success of your business.
An automated and technologically advanced distribution partner helps prevent human errors, increasing the speed and efficiency of your shipping operation. Therefore, getting into an authorized distribution partnership aids all those small mistakes that can potentially hinder your business, thereby honing your supply chain through extensive technology and knowledge.
Distributors employ various strategies to optimize a given supply chain, speeding up order fulfillment and reducing shipping costs. For that reason, eliminating small and seemingly insignificant mistakes is worth both the time and investment.
A couple of things to consider
Begin your authorized distribution partnership journey by contacting authorized distributors.
What you would want to find out about them is the following:
- Minimum order requirements
- Wholesale unit prices
- Supplied region
By finding out this information, either through contacting them by phone or email, you can ensure whether they are the best match for your needs. Furthermore, when you search, you can search for distributors within your niche rather than general ones. You can try product names, model numbers, and/or brand names.
In addition, the more potential distributors you find, the better you’ll be able to compare them with one another. To do this, you can opt for networking opportunities. For instance, experienced small businesses within the same industry will be the best source of information about authorized distributors. So invest time in networking in order to build the trust and connections that will eventually help you find the most suitable distributor for your business. Join small business networking groups to build your professional contacts and participate in online forums, a great source of free information and help from others with experience in your industry.
Conclusion
As a small business, you have many reasons to want to work with an authorized distributor, and finding the right one to make an authorized distribution partnership with can take time and effort. However, the benefits surely outweigh the disadvantages, and investing in one can benefit your business in the long run. So make sure to take a good look at the approved tips above and make your own informed decision as to when and how you will approach going about not only maintaining but increasing your company’s success.
