Have you experienced this?

From the office executive to owner/CEO of the company chasing or tracking a courier/package or consignment depending on the timelines and importance of it. 

One word that's often spoken about, knowingly or unknowingly ignored, or taken for granted no valid reason in business context i.e., Logistics.

What is Logistics?

“Logistics is the process of planning and executing the efficient movement and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption”.

Responsibility

We usually think that if we share information related to material movement with our customers then we are done. This is where the failure lies. Genuinely speaking this thought is the real killer of performance. 

We speak about customer delight in many forums and take pride in us as well. But are we creating this kind of delight for our customers in our industry in the logistics area in particular? Most of the time answer is no.

Time wasters

I like this “Line between order and disorder lies in Logistics”. 

In simple words it conveys the importance of LOGISTICS, over and above I don’t think so any add-on is required to stretch the importance of it. The amount of time and energy being wasted in following up on the logistics-related challenges across the entire value chain of the textile and apparel ecosystem is huge. It’s a big value loss and the impact it can create if we address this right. This creates huge savings for the entire industry as it is directly related to the efficiency and performance of individuals.

Till sometime back, the front office desk would handle these kinds of logistics and material movement requirements, and the rest of the people focussed on their deliverables.

In the name of “cost-cutting” in many places, those people have been removed and the individuals are forced to follow themselves. This is one set of changes and the other change is that the front desk exists but they simply act as a “postman” on confirming whether it is delivered or not, received or not. Not adding any value to it other than conveying the information that is available in the tracking or the updates they received while speaking to customer care. 

I would say this is such a poor way of handling the communication related to logistics. I hope you agree with me on this. It requires a different thought and mindset to revisit and re-strategize suiting to the modern world.

Strategic time

IPL is around the corner this year with many changes in players with different franchisees and the addition of two more teams. Look at successful sports formats like IPL is doing its best to create a delight to their consumers. 

When I think about IPL I remember about the CEAT -strategic time out. The play which lasts for a few hours requires strategic time to create success to it. This is the inspiration for me to write an article.

So when the important aspect of business success lies with the success of Logistics then how pivotal it is to frame a strategy for it from time to time to keep up the customer expectations fulfilled. My meaning of the above is while setting up we all focus on the same however over the period revamp is something organizations forget. Whoever does it from time to time enjoys the fruit of it. Else the same can become cumbersome over time & disrupts the entire working of the supply chain. 

Considering the modern-day challenges and how customers/consumers disconnect from their existing source happens in no time whenever there is a miss-match in service in terms of logistics and quality which most of the time not realized by businesses. They sit and analyze various data points with reports related to customer engagements and retaining not realizing the real challenge & their success lies in logistics.

Hope we got it right, and let’s see how we can make this lot more meaningful to our customers. While I thought about it immediate point which was striking in my mind was “CEAT”.

CEAT

What is CEAT? 

Since I mentioned IPL before, am talking about CEAT- STRATEGIC TIME here. The only difference is the meaning of CEAT changes slightly here. Now let’s see what the exact meaning is

Care, Excitement, Arouse, Technology

Hope the above is simple and very easy to understand and apply as well. Irrespective of time and era we need to be at par in creating delight to our customers on these 4 elements, that is where the success lies in logistics.

Care

We all know this, needless to explain in depth. So we can simply consider CARE as below. 

“Serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk”.

Excitement

Again a simple word with great meaning to it. Below is something your logistics solution should provide to their customers always.

“A feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness”.

Arouse

Basically, the feel-good factor to customers, in a nutshell  

“Evoke (a feeling, emotion, or response)”

Technology 

Word does not require much clarity, however for the sake of everyone. 

“The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in the logistics department. The below statement is the real representation of the importance of using technology for Logistics.

Today’s leading real-world retailer, Wal-Mart, uses tech software to power its logistics and distribution capabilities, which it has used to crush its competition.” ~ Marc Andreessen.

I Believe the above is simple and conveys the importance of having a CEAT –STRATEGY for logistics. If you think here I am talking about logistics happening between the apparel retailer and the end consumer, then your understanding is wrong. Here we are talking about the crop-to-shop – Logistics and how important it is to be managed well and upgraded well from time to time based on real-time challenges and market movement and environment.

To conclude

Customer delight is the biggest asset and essence for any successful business, to taste the same regularly and continuously in a long run having a right and time to time strategy on logistics is the pivotal point for sure. 

One thing I want to convey and give it a deeper thought to all of you while winding up is to be it for internal or external customers or stakeholders of any business in the textile and apparel ecosystem as per me to ownership lies on the team of the service providers who handles the immediate level for their customers. So the success is for those who understand the “Line between order and disorder lies in Logistics”.

Hope you like this article, I feel this is a different viewpoint on LOGISTICS than so for what you have seen and read, I believe you enjoyed it. Do share your views and thoughts on this, please. If you like this I would request you to share with others as well as it’s a common topic which is useful for any industry to whom it matters as per you.

RELATED TOPICS:#Apparel,Ramesh Gunasekaran