cosmetic logistics

Successfully managing delivery to critical retail customers is essential to mastering cosmetic logistics.

Excelling at transportation to retailers is a component that all cosmetic manufacturers can master to reduce costs and increase operational efficiency.

It just takes the right strategy to find supply chain synergies that can help brands master their cosmetic logistics functions. By choosing the right logistics partners, organizations can continue to scale their operations to achieve sustainable growth.

Let’s take a look at how the right cosmetic logistics partner can help.

Cosmetic Logistics Partnerships and OTIF Benefits 

Retailers are an important customer segment for many brands. But as the retail industry has evolved throughout the last decade, most have begun to institute strict compliance programs to encourage their suppliers across every department in their stores can deliver to their distribution centers on time.

This reality is no exception for cosmetic manufacturers. Retailers like Walmart expect their vendor partners to achieve a 98% OTIF rate, which can strain supply chains that are not optimized for retail delivery. The penalty for not achieving the threshold set by Walmart’s program is 3% of the cost of goods sold per non-compliant order.

Continually missing compliance standards can add up to significant costs for any brand. Most of the time, the loss is avoidable and can be attributed to poor supply chain performance.

Furthermore, late deliveries can keep a vendor’s product off the shelves. Cosmetic brands that continually fail to meet OTIF standards are at risk of damaging their retail relationships, hurting their growth chances. 

Retailers have used the COVID-19 pandemic to further increase their expectations of brands’ delivery performance. With a variety of sales channels targeted at consumers, retailers are upping the stakes for their vendors.

To continue to be a staple on critical retail customers’ shelves, you must excel at timely transportation. Many brands—irrespective of industry—are finding a dependable way to achieve this is through reliable and retail specialized logistics partnerships. Providers continue to emerge to offer cosmetic logistics solutions to help brands achieve performance goals.

What Can Cosmetic Brands Expect from the Right Logistics Partnership? 

A true logistics partnership can provide numerous value-added benefits to cosmetic shippers. Among those, visibility and transportation monitoring are the most critical. These competencies allow cosmetic manufacturers to isolate trouble spots in their operations and make performance improvements.

A value-added logistics provider typically takes a consultative approach to service and can assist brands in locating areas for improvements and make suggestions that can increase performance, lowering costs in the process. Because of their understanding of complex supply chain functions and specialized industry knowledge, value-added logistics providers can help enterprises better understand how their operation needs to perform to meet customer demand.

Why Work with a Specialized Logistics Provider? 

The days of viewing logistics simply as a cost of doing business are moving toward antiquation. The most forward-thinking cosmetic manufacturers and CPG brands, in general, are looking at their retail-optimized supply chains differently.

No longer are they an expense. Instead, the transportation component of the supply chain has become a dependable source of differentiation for shippers. Vendors that view logistics as an investment, on which they can eventually see a return, stand to fare better. They can expect to improve organizational performance and subsequently their retail relationships, which can be vital in unlocking untapped growth.

As specialists in the industry, logistics providers should offer more than transactional arrangements for your organization.

With extensive industry knowledge and expertise, a logistics provider can make network recommendations that can also cut costs.

A logistics provider equipped with the latest shipping technology can make distribution network suggestions that can reduce overall spend and improve on-time percentages. Improvement opportunities, like consolidation programs or warehouse reconfigurations, can go a long way to substantially reducing transportation costs.

See the Difference a Retail Specialized Logistics Provider Can Make  

The retail delivery specialists at Zipline Logistics can help cosmetic brands of all sizes master their most important customer relationships.

We believe in creating seamless partnerships with our customers. That means making your goals our goals and working to meet them. Big or small, we help our CPG customers of all varieties lock in the right capacity partners to achieve the best possible freight outcomes and uncover new savings potential.

Interested in learning more about what we can do for you?

Reach out to Discuss Partnership Today