Tired of Branded Merchandise Fulfilment Disasters? Here's How to Avoid Them

With over 25 years of experience, we like to think of ourselves as experts when it comes to production, storage, packing and shipping of branded merchandise. We’ve learnt from our own experiences, as well as the experience of others, that things are never guaranteed to go smoothly in the world of fulfilment. Although often these things are out of anyone’s control, such as the Covid pandemic or natural disasters, there are lots of things that you and your fulfilment partner should be doing to make sure that depot delays and delivery disasters are very unlikely to befall your merchandise orders.

We’re going to share some common problems faced in the world of branded merchandise fulfilment and most importantly, how they can be avoided.

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Shipping Delays

Late deliveries can frustrate customers and damage your brand's reputation. Whilst shipping between states in the US or countries in the UK is reasonably simple, international shipping requires lots of knowledge and paperwork and not knowing the policies and procedures can cause long, unwanted delays. Whilst there are times when these things are outside of your control, there are things you can do minimize risk.

Make Sure You Have The Correct Paperwork

Any merchandise being shipped outside the country will require paperwork. The paperwork needed will vary from region to region. For example, if you’re shipping into or out of any EU country and you're not a member of the EU, you will require an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number). This is a unique identification number for businesses and individuals that import, export, or transit goods through the European Union (EU). You would also need a commercial invoice and to know the commodity codes for the goods for your customs declaration documents. Your merchandise distributor, if they have international experience, should be able to organize all of the necessary paperwork for you, saving you lots of headaches!

Work With Trusted Shipping Partners

Shipping partners will vary in terms of price, speed and reputation. It’s important that the fulfilment company you work with use reputable shipping partners with all the necessary accreditations and certifications. Whilst no shipping company will be totally green, some will have better records for sustainable practices than others.

In terms of reliability, which will be very important in avoiding shipping disasters and delays, you should be able to search for reviews online. You can also ask for their track record for on-time deliveries and damage-free package handling. You will also want to ensure the shipping partner meets all the necessary regulatory requirements for your shipping destinations.

Make Sure Tax & Duties Charges Are Paid In Advance

When shipping internationally, Import Taxes and Duties will always apply and the costs vary from country to country. We always recommend that goods are sent DDP (Delivery Duty Paid) to avoid unnecessary customs delays. We are able to pay the duties in advance and invoice the client for this at a later date. If a clients wants their goods sent DDU (Delivery Duty unpaid), it would be the recipients responsibility to pay for the import tax/duties incurred. Even when goods are sent with the duties paid, there is always a risk that Customs pull packages for further inspection. This is out of anybody's control and usually, customs inspections last a day or two before the goods are released.

Use Local Storage/Warehousing

Another way to avoid untimely delays and be more sustainable, is you have your merchandise bulk delivered and then stored locally. This should mean that each individual draw down and delivery travels a shorter distance, takes less time and usually, incurs less cost. This is likely to only be available if your merchandise distributor or fulfilment partner has global office and warehouse locations. In some cases, products can even be printed and/or produced more local to the area of distribution, which is again, a much more sustainable option and could be quicker.

Make Sure You Have Enough Stock

If you have a merchandise web store, make sure you are on top of your stock levels. Most good merchandise distributors will offer a live stock service with your web store. If you don’t have a web store, make sure you are initially ordering enough products and that the right amount of this stock is warehoused where needed. There is nothing worse than having clients order an item to later find out it’s out of stock. Plus, not only is it more cost effective to order, produce, ship and warehouse a single bulk order of merchandise, it can allow for much quicker delivery times than single print runs.

Damaged Products

Receiving damaged merchandise can be a major disappointment for customers and lead to returns and refunds. It can also be difficult to find someone to take accountability.

Which brings us on to our first point…

Find A Full Service Merchandise Partner

If your distributor has had nothing to do with the pick-up, storage or delivery of your goods, you may find that they will argue that any damage to products happened in transit and they are not liable. Equally, you may find delivery partners claim that the boxes weren’t damaged in transit and any issues inside happened prior to pick-up and delivery. The best idea, find a merchandise partner that will take care of everything and will be fully accountable if anything is of sub-par quality or damaged in transit. Looking at review sites may be helpful when searching for the right partner.

Use Strong, Quality Packaging

It sounds simple, but make sure everything is packaged well. It is difficult in an age when eco consciousness and sustainability commitments mean we don’t want to use excess packaging. However, you can find good, strong packaging produced in more responsible ways and often these better quality boxes can be re-used. Also, sustainable filler that is recycled/compostable/biodegradable, can be used for better and safer packaging. You get peace of mind without having to use single-use plastic packaging options.

Work With Trusted Local Delivery Partners

As with the previous mentioned, ‘trusted shipping partners’, make sure your fulfilment provider or merchandise distributor uses a local delivery service that is trusted and offers a good customer service such as tracking numbers, evidenced deliveries and a fast responding help desk.

Incorrect Orders

Shipping the wrong items or quantities can lead to customer dissatisfaction and additional costs. If your merchandise is first to be kept in storage, these issues may not even come to light until later on in the fulfilment process when items start to be picked, packed and shipped to your clients and staff. Here are some more top tips on how to avoid order issues.

Have Good Email Communication

It’s so important to have a good relationship with your merchandise distributor throughout the whole production process. You should be made aware of lead times, be offered a product sample and get a print proof showing you what your branding will look like (which you sign off). This will all lead to less hiccups moving forward. You want to know that when those items of merchandise finally do land on your desk, they look and feel exactly as you intended them to be.

Make Sure Order Confirmation/Receipts Are Sent

When orders are placed for merchandise, whether it be by customers on your online merchandise store or via phone directly to your distributor, you should always make sure they send confirmation of that order. This should be checked to ensure that the product is correct, the quantity is correct, the delivery place and date are correct etc. If there ever is a problem, there is nothing more frustrating for both sides than knowing that this error was clear from the order receipt and wasn’t checked by anyone.

Have A Local Customer Service Rep

This somewhat goes back to what we were talking about earlier with ‘having your merchandise stored locally’. Another benefit of having merchandise stored in a closer region can be customer service reps that operate on the same time zone as you or your customers and a rep that fluently speaks the same language, eliminating a common communication barrier with international fulfilment. Clear and easy communication is key in all areas of the merchandise purchasing and delivery process to ensure everything runs smoothly.

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We hope you found our top tips helpful and that your next national or international branded merchandise project will run like a well-oiled machine with no fulfilment hiccups!

If you’d like to talk to Arcadia about a branded merchandise order or a web store and fulfilment project, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team on sales@arcadiams.com or via the contact page.

Get more information on Arcadia's fulfilment services