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Operating with efficiency is important to businesses. This includes shipping efficiency since businesses are the biggest shipper. In fact, business-to-business shipping makes up nearly half of all shipments UPS and FedEx ship. One of the most difficult aspects to managing shipping to improve shipping efficiency and spending is managing inbound shipments, shipments that come into the business. This is especially true for businesses who utilize suppliers. There are several challenges that businesses face when it comes to inbound shipping.
When suppliers ship to businesses, the businesses often do not have much control over how a supplier ships or if they are shipping in compliance. Suppliers are not obligated to use business shipping carrier accounts. Many businesses have their own accounts with FedEx, UPS, DHL or other shipping carriers that provides them discounted shipping rates. If businesses do provide their carrier account numbers, they have an increased risk of fraudulent use of the carrier account numbers. This means they may see shipping charges that are not theirs and have to dispute those charges with the shipping carrier.
So how can businesses make their shipping more efficient and control inbound shipping? eShipGlobal has a business shipping solution, eShipEnterprise, that helps business control and manage their outbound shipping. It is a web-based solution that integrates with financial, ERP or 3rd party legacy systems and allows businesses to look at past orders and receive reports on shipping analytics. They will also be able to compare carrier rates, saving them more money.
eShipEnterprise is a customizable solution that has several great add-on packages, including an Inbound Add-on Package. The Inbound Add-on lets businesses limit suppliers ability to ship based on restrictions they put in place. The solution also has compliance procedures to enable shipping compliance. Since the solution deals with the carrier account numbers and not the suppliers, the risk for fraudulent use of the accounts are significantly lowered.
The Inbound module allows for real time collaboration between suppliers, buyers and carriers. It also collects supplier shipping data, which in combination with the Supply Chain Analysis Add-on Service, will provide insights on how much you are spending in shipping costs, what shipping carriers are being used the most, carrier performance and provides useful insights that could help lower shipping costs.
It is important for businesses to operate efficiently and to save money where they can. Using the eShipEnterprise solution with the Inbound Add-on Package will help businesses manage and control both outbound and inbound shipping which can help them save time and money. Managing and growing a business is hard enough, which is why services that help improve efficiency are practically required.
By Ashleigh Cue
