Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
The Importance of Warehouse Management Software
Posted by 
on Monday, January 23, 2012 
at 12:20 PM 
in 
On a daily basis, I have the opportunity to engage with companies of all different shapes and sizes that provide inventory and fulfillment services.
Some of them are fulfilling thousands of orders a day for their company’s sales force; others are providing fulfillment services for their customers. Many of them are packaging and shipping marketing and sales collateral — binders, brochures, books, trade show displays, etc. — while others are fulfilling product orders that were placed by consumers.
But no matter what their situation might be, they nearly all face the same challenges.
Common Challenges in Warehouse Management
Companies that provide the service of managing inventory, a warehouse, and the fulfillment process often face the following questions:
- How accurate are their inventory counts?
- How can they monitor and improve their turnaround times?
- How can they automate their daily tasks?
A company’s ability to answer and accomplish those items is often directly related to the warehouse management software that they choose to use.
Succeeding with Warehouse Management Software
Many companies understand the importance of managing their warehouse inventory correctly, but too often they settle for simplistic programs such as Excel, Access, or Word documents to track their inventory flow.
While there are benefits to using these programs for specific tasks, they fail to add efficiency, consistency, and quality control to the process. This where the importance of using proven warehouse management software comes to light.
Not only can focused, inventory management software make organizing and tracking shipments and product output easier on your employees, but it can also help you generate valuable reports and analytics for your company and for your customers.
Also, by using an online software application, you can often get very close to a real-time inventory count situation, which should absolutely help to reduce unnecessary frustration in regards to backorders.
There are many other benefits that can come from fully utilizing an online, warehouse management software application.
If you are interested in how interlinkONE could help you out in that regard, register for a free demo of our solutions! Or, please click here to read more about our software.
The Supply Chain: A Collaboration of Marketing and Fulfillment
Over the past few years, many service providers in the worlds of print and mail have sought to grow their business by also offering fulfillment services.
While this certainly can prove to be a profitable move, the initial transition may prove to be a bit difficult. Part of that is simply related to logistics — you need space to hold inventory, you need to install shelves, you need to strategically learn where to position materials, etc. However, once a company gets over some of the bumps during the implementation process, they may start riding down a smooth and profitable road.
If you are wondering if your company can also benefit by offering fulfillment services, we have some advice for you.
The Main Secret to Success
In the end, success inside of a fulfillment operation often comes when the lines of communication between it and the marketing/sales departments are open and running smoothly.
Some companies make the mistake of not thinking of fulfillment operations as part of the marketing process. But it absolutely is!
Most of the materials being stored and fulfilled inside of a warehouse are often for marketing activities — for trade shows, for lead follow-up, for presentations, and more. Thus, it is absolutely vital that your supply chain management efforts — which connect marketing with fulfillment — are functioning as well as possible.
Overview of Supply Chain Management
What exactly is supply chain management?
One definition is listed as the “design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally.”
Now, that may seem slightly confusing or overwhelming to a company that is wondering whether they should get into the fulfillment business.
But the good news is that in all actuality, supply chain management can be orderly, efficient, and successful, especially when marketing and warehouse business departments work together effectively.
A few simple steps that can improve communication and work-flow between multiple departments include:
- Implementing software that both groups can monitor easily — this would include visibility into inventory amounts, order status, and more
- Understanding the supply chain from beginning to end so that there is no confusion as to how each step fits into the wholesale/retail puzzle
- Consistent scheduled face-to-face meetings can go a long way toward promoting a spirit of community between departments
Are you looking to improve your Supply Chain?
If you are looking to offer fulfillment services, or to improve your existing Supply Chain Process, I hope that you find the information above helpful.
Of course, if you’d like to discuss this further, I would love to help! Please feel free to contact me.
Three Ways to Incorporate QR Codes into Fulfillment
Yes, there have been plenty of examples where marketers have put QR Codes on their materials simply because they could. But there also have been a great number of applications of QR Codes that truly provided value to a customer or prospect, and in return, to the company as well.
Here are three ways that companies could incorporate QR Codes into their fulfillment process:
QR Codes that Point to How-To Guides and Instructions
Unfortunately for my wife, I am not too handy when it comes to tools and building. This includes putting together tables, desks, chairs, etc. But here’s one thing that I am good at — scanning QR Codes and watching videos on my phone.
Thus, one way that companies could reach the emerging mobile audience (and help people like me) is to place QR Codes on packages and boxes of the material that they sell and ship.
These QR Codes could point to mobile websites and/or videos that provide step-by-step instructions and online videos that demonstrate how their items should be properly assembled.
QR Codes that Lead to Mobile Surveys and Forms
Social networks have made it easier than ever for people to tell the world if they are happy or not-so-happy with a company or product. Companies could seek to acquire that information directly as well by putting a QR Code on their packages that lead to mobile website surveys.
These surveys could seek to ask the most important questions that a customer may want to answer — “Are they satisfied? Do they need help? What could be done better?”.
This feedback could be provided why the company and its products are absolutely fresh in the customer’s mind… right through their mobile phone.
QR Codes that Make it Easy to Order Additional Materials
When someone needs to order a replacement part or to reorder an entire unit, companies would certainly want to make that an easy process.
This could be done by including a QR Code on packaging that leads to a mobile website. The website could either contain a Form that allows a user to request the item or a response from a sales rep; or it could even include an option for placing an order directly from the phone.
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Tags forms, Fulfillment, Inventory, mobile barcodes, Orders, print, QR Codes, reorder, surveys Growing Business with Inventory & Fulfillment Operations
I wanted to say congratulations to the wonderful folks at H & H Graphics Group in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Full disclosure: They use interlinkONE’s software to help manage inventory and fulfill orders for some of their clients.)
They recently received some nice publicity in the Central Penn Business Journal regarding their new warehouse.
Here is the line from the article that absolutely caught my attention: “Although the new facility is smaller in square footage, the business incorporated high-density warehousing, a concept that has increased its capacity by 30 percent, said Mike Williams, director of operations.”
Click here to read the full article >>
interlinkONE Lunch & Learn: Orders/Warehouse
On Wednesday, March 24th, from 2:00pm – 3:00pm Eastern Time, interlinkONE will be hosting a Lunch & Learn webinar for its customers on the subject of Orders/Warehouse.
During this webinar, interlinkONE will demonstrate some of the latest enhancements to its ilinkONE Version 8 Marketing Software. Specifically, we will walk through our Orders and Warehouse modules.
Please join us as we walk through items such as:
- New reports available in the Orders and Warehouse modules
- Ordering Options in Client Rules
- and more…
There is no charge to attend the webinar. interlinkONE customers — simply click here to register.
