Marketing Logistics

Marketing Logistics is about analysing each step of the production and distribution process so as to ensure that the right product/service is delivered to the right place in the quickest, most efficient and most cost effective way possible. This page is largely irrelevant to you if you are simply bringing together information on a website which you hope will be seen by as many people as possible and you don't need to be concerned particularly with who or where they are. Anything more complex than that, though, and getting your logistics right becomes crucial, most particularly where production, warehousing, shipping, distribution and delivery of physical goods are concerned.

To many people it seems like a good idea to extend the reach of their offline business by creating an internet presence. Food retailers often try to create a virtual supermarket in the hope of bringing in new customers, tempting existing customers to buy more or to stay with them for the more convenient service. These ventures can work but they often fail and when they do, it's usually because of logistics. Extra people may have to be taken on to watch the site, make up the orders, carry them out in vans to the customers - often farther than is economically viable. If they're very busy, the customer has to wait too long and is annoyed.

You can easily see how the offline aspects of an online business can become a logistical nightmare. If you live in Europe you may have to wait several weeks for your book from Amazon.com - unless you know about Amazon.co.uk - and you pay for the shipping so the saving you make on high street prices is hardly worth the annoyance of waiting unless saving a dollar or two really means a lot to you. I don't know about you but when I hear of a new book I really want to read I always want it now.

Many people are like that. So to maximise your sales you must ensure that - unless you can deliver your service directly over the web - delay in getting the goods to the customer is minimised. This may mean transportation, distribution, storage arrangements in a wide variety of locations, maybe using retail outlets.

It was noted some time ago that about 50% of the rigs on American roads were driving around empty. This was simply because typically a truck is hired to bring a cargo somewhere, it does so, and drives back empty, ready for the next job. So some smart person created a website to bring together a vast network of companies who use trucks to transport goods in the US. Now, if Company X has a load to transport from New York to Chicago while company Y has an empty truck coming back to Chicago, they get together instead of having a full truck following an empty one all the way down the freeway. It's simple, it's sensible, it's logistics.