Overnight Shipping: How does it increase revenue?

27 July 2021

Overnight shipping is crucial to help businesses stand out. In today’s fast-fashion retail environment various links in the pre-production process need to collaborate in order to meet retail deadlines.

Due to the current development and approval process of samples, and sourcing and testing of material, apparel manufacturers are required to send items with high urgency. This makes overnight shipping an essential component in maintaining an efficient supply chain.

What is Overnight Shipping?

Overnight shipping, also referred as express courier shipments, guarantee that retailers receive urgent shipments the next business day. When selecting a logistics provider, a variety factors need to be considered. This is especially important when selecting the best logistics provider for overnight shipping.

Pricing, shipment weight, shipment size, cut-off times, routing, and collection points, are important elements to assess for apparel manufacturers and fast fashion retailers.

Pricing: Overnight shipping pricing is based on the direct costs affiliated with the transport. Retailers should consider both their budget and customer needs when calculating shipping costs.

Shipment weight: The weight of the shipment, including the weight of the content, containers, cartons, or boxes, is expressed in kilograms.

Size of the shipment: The shipment size refers to the dimension of the package. Retailers should take cm as the basic unit of measurement, and measure the width, height, and length of the package.

Shipment cut-off times: Shipment cut-off times represent the latest time cargo may be delivered to a schedule truck or flight for loading. Later cut-off times provide more flexibility for retailers and manufacturers and are therefore often preferred.

Routing: The shipment routing is a key element in overnight shipping as retailers often prefer direct flights over transit flights for urgent deliveries. However, despite being slower, at times transit flights still provide retailers with feasible overnight delivery options.

Maximising supply chain efficiency

Manufacturers and retailers are spread out across the globe, leading to differences in time zones. These differences could interfere with the pre-production process in the absence of overnight shipping. Consequently, both parties are negatively affected by a supply chain process that is slowed down.

Throughout the pre-production process, manufacturers transport garments to retailers on numerous occasions, starting from displaying their fabrics. The process continues to the production of samples, which are made according to the requirements indicated by the retailers.

In case samples are not approved straight away or if retailers recommend further improvements. Manufacturers have to make corrections and resend the samples to meet the retailer’s requirements. Overnight shipping heavily contributes to speeding up this supply chain process. It ensures that retailers receive the right samples well before their retail deadlines.

Express courier solutions ensure retailers receive the final version of samples within the shortest possible time. This efficiency leads to optimised production planning for material sourcing, costing, manufacturing capacity, testing procedures, and line planning. Conversely, not making use of overnight shipping has a negative impact on the afore mentioned processes.

Click here to view 6 ways of maximising efficiency for your supply chain!

Building trust between manufacturers and retailers

An imperative matter which is often overlooked is the trust that is being built between manufactures and retailers through overnight shipping. Working as partners, they are complementary to each other. As overnight shipping is one of the quickest delivery options available, manufacturers offer the best possible service to retailers, and vice versa.

Through a trust-based relationship, manufacturers and retailers work together to increase revenue. Naturally, this long-term brand synergy is ideal for both businesses.

Click here to learn why trust in partnerships is important for manufacturers and retailers or click here to view our courier services!