All businesses have one goal in common regardless of industry: growth. For the supply chain and transportation sectors, the key to sustainable growth is improving and maintaining customer satisfaction. Therefore, customer-centric supply chains are becoming the norm across all industries today. According to Material Handling & Logistics, “More than 83% confirm customer experience is a company-wide goal, with nearly 56% reporting customer experience measurement is key to operational decisions. Also, 67% say gaining greater customer experience control is crucial or very important to delivery.” This strongly demonstrated the growing focus and dominating urgency surrounding customer-focused setups and services within supply chain orchestration platforms. Supply chain leaders need to know a few things about how this occurs.
Customer-Centric Supply Chains Result in Added Word-of-Mouth Benefits
When customers are at the forefront of all decisions made, it has a powerful effect on overall performance and success. Customer-centric supply chains are often more robust and more resilient to changes in the local market trends, largely thanks to the built-in word-of-mouth. When customers like their services, they are more likely to make recommendations to their professional network, friends, and family. For many new customers, a personal recommendation is ten times more meaningful than an online review. Keeping customer interest and needs front and center is key to improving how regularly current customers recommend a business to others.
Strong Customer Focus Contributes to Fewer Errors in Fulfillment
Another way that supply chain managers and shipping management teams can improve performance, reduce errors, and cut expenses is by maintaining a strong customer focus from start to finish. When the customer’s needs are the goal and focus, there is less chance for things to go wrong. Likewise, a customer-centric supply chain setup will mean mistakes are more likely to be caught early and addressed professionally. Businesses take care of those that mean the most to them and their bottom line, and when that focus is on the customer, it means fulfillment goes more smoothly and is often much faster and more streamlined as a result. Customer-centric supply chains work to align with customer needs and demands, which helps ensure fewer errors along the way by putting customers first.
Customer-Driven Supply Chains Empower Customers With Real-Time Status Updates
Customers today know what they want and will not choose businesses and corporations that can’t deliver on those basic wants and needs—fast, affordable, reliable shipping. When operating a customer-centric supply chain system, companies keep their customers in control and demonstrate that they understand the importance of real-time tracking and shipping updates. People are much more willing to continue to do business with a company that provides accurate tracking information and real-time status updates. Even when problems arise, people are still likely to continue working with the company if kept in the loop rather than being held in the dark about what was going on. In other words, transparency and honesty breed trust. Customer-centric supply chains ensure customer satisfaction every step of the way, especially by using the shipping and tracking features.
Automation Further Enhances Experiences to Reduce Work and Help Keep Prices Low
The final aspect of customer-centric supply chains that must be addressed is the need for automated features and services. From order placing and ticket creation to shipping manifests and delivery updates, every step of the process can benefit from automation. It helps streamline efforts, reduces wasted time and resources, reduces the chances for errors, and helps keep overall costs low so that the savings can be passed on to the end customer. Automation also reduces workloads and frees up employees, drivers, warehouse workers, managers, and other team members to focus on more critical tasks. All this helps lower prices, increases ROI, and ensures customers receive the best shipping services at the best possible cost every time.
Build a Customer-Centric Strategy With a Unified Supply Chain Tech Stack
The best-laid plans for supply chain efficiency can fall by the wayside when companies spend too much time managing operations. In modern supply chain management, the best way to approach anything is to understand its nuances and let automation tackle the redundancies. That’s the value of proper exception management. It’s the cornerstone of customer-centric supply chains as it combines seamlessly with collaborative resources to fuel growth and enables optimum performance. Connect with Turvo online to learn more about how your company can be part of the solution.
