Articles
Customer Service
A Window of Opportunity
Window and door maker Simonton Windows partners with Cardinal Logistics to open the door to new efficiencies
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Jumping Through Hoops: The Importance of Vendor Compliance
Companies execute acrobatic leaps to ensure they satisfy customer shipping specifications. For small businesses, meeting supplier requirements calls for extra agility.
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Delivering the Final Smile
It’s dangerous to take a "hands-off" approach to customer service. That’s the conclusion of a recent CAPS Research report authored by Mei Li, PhD at Lehigh University. Relying only on carriers and service providers to drive the final customer service experience, warns Dr. Li, puts you at risk of having service failures that can trash […]
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Superstar Service: Supply Chain Strategies Win Satisfied Customers
Stellar retail supply chain planning and management seal the deal on the consumer shopping experience.
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Dedicated Refrigerated Fleet Helps Food Distributor Keep Its Cool
THE CUSTOMER: United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), Providence, Rhode Island UNFI is a U.S. independent national distributor of natural, organic, and specialty foods and related products, including nutritional supplements, personal care items, and organic produce. THE PARTNER: Cardinal Logistics, Concord, North Carolina The third-party logistics (3PL) provider serves multiple industries nationwide with dedicated contract carriage, […]
Read MoreSuperior Service, Seven Days a Week
Receiving great logistics service, communications, and pricing is no game for the leading provider of LCD monitors to the global gaming industry.
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Reliable In-Store Deliveries Fit to a Tea
Outsourcing its direct-to-store distribution to Ryder Supply Chain Solutions helped Milo’s Tea Company quench its customers’ thirst for better service.
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Freight Consolidation Drives Auto Supply Chain Efficiency
Automotive component supplier IAC needed better control, visibility, and reporting to help weld its supply chain into a cohesive unit. ProTrans delivered innovation and customized solutions designed to control costs along IAC’s network.
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Does Your 3PL Provide ‘Golden Rule’ Customer Service?
Outsourcing logistics can be hectic and stressful, especially if you deal with a provider more interested in the next shipment than the one en route right now. Imagine a third-party logistics provider (3PL) that does whatever it takes to fix shipping problems, believes there is no such thing as “just a transaction,” and whose drivers […]
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The Last Mile’s Lasting Impact
From traditional heavy goods shipments to the new influx of e-commerce-fueled home deliveries, the last mile plays a crucial role in the supply chain. Get it wrong, and you risk alienating consumers; get it right, and you may just gain a customer for life.
Read MoreManaging a Customer-Driven Supply Chain
When it comes to customer service, shippers want their carriers and 3PLs to provide the complete package.
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Customer Service: Who Needs it?
Last weekend, I finally compiled my holiday shopping list and headed out to brave the crowds. I live within 10 miles of Kmart, Walmart, and Target, but I will never again set foot in one of those. I usually have patience when shopping, but several bad customer service experiences— long checkout lines, unhelpful help, and […]
Read MoreNexus Distribution: A Fresh Sheet of Customer Service
When Boise Paper wanted to consolidate five Northeast region facilities into just one, it turned to Nexus Distribution for customer service excellence built on a sound implementation process.
Read MoreHyundai Merchant Marine (HMM): Plus-Sized Customer Service
Women’s apparel retailer Charming Shoppes praises the red-carpet treatment it gets from logistics partner Hyundai Merchant Marine.
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What We’ve Got Here is Failure to Communicate
Remember that great line from the movie Cool Hand Luke, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate”? That’s what popped into my head as I reviewed the more than 4,700 responses from readers and 3PLs participating in our annual third-party logistics survey. We asked both 3PLs and their customers the same question: What is […]
Read MoreCRM and the Danger of Dirty Data
Time doesn’t stand still. Neither do your customers. Face it. We are a nation on the move, and rapidly growing as well. In 2000, businesses filed 2.6 million change-of-address orders. There are a mind-boggling 140 million deliverable addresses in the United States, and the number is growing by nearly two million annually. If you are […]
Read MoreMaximizing Your CRM System
Two-thirds of all Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives fail, according to a recent study by Gartner Inc. Proper implementation and direction may be one problem. But many businesses overlook the fact that the CRM information they store and manage is inaccurate, outdated, or redundant. Here are 10 tips to help you maximize the effectiveness of […]
Read MoreCRM Plays Crucial, Often Confusing, Role in SCM
The importance of customer relationship management (CRM) within the supply chain is vitally important. This column offers my take on some important integration issues. The customer and the customer’s customer have been a critical part of the supply chain since its inception. The customer is quite clearly what the supply chain is all about. Having […]
Read MoreWhole Order Visibility Supports Front Lines of Customer Satisfaction
In the days of dot.com euphoria, an order was an order, plain and simple. Consumers went to Amazon.com to buy a book, then felt the excitement of clicking on “track your package” to follow each step of the delivery. But B2B order tracking is different. No company uses Amazon.com to place complex equipment orders or […]
Read MoreGet Customer-Centric or Get E-liminated
Ask three people to define e-commerce, and you’ll end up with three disparate answers. The problem is that companies use e-commerce to define varying degrees of involvement in e-business. Some companies think they conduct e-commerce because they have e-mail. Some believe that the mere presence of a web site constitutes an e-commerce approach. The fact […]
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