We've seen the days of staying after school to clean the erasers disappear, but technology has yet to replace printed textbooks. While e-books have changed both the marketplace for hard copies as well as delivery methods, most readers still prefer to turn pages manually and forego the need for batteries.
Paper is Still Going Strong
While almost three-quarters of Americans read books, 67 percent have read paper copies within the past year, while only 26 percent have perused an e-book and 18 percent have availed themselves of audio books. Only 7 percent of us stick exclusively to digital formats, while 39 percent solely read print and 29 percent use more than one platform.In some ways, these figures are dependent on demographics. Slightly more women than men read either print or e-books. Readership of e-books and books in general decreases as the age of readers increases.
Readership through all methods increases as educational attainment rises. Those in suburbia are more likely than their urban or rural neighbors to have their noses in a book or their eyes on a text-filled screen.While the digital market, in general, has been growing, we have found that some segments, such as school districts, have been slow to adopt the paperless formats. For grades K through 12, educators are still exploring the effectiveness of new platforms. They have yet to establish the advantages of digital offerings over traditional textbooks.
New Production Models
As a printer, we have discovered that while the demand for paper books is increasing, methods of production are evolving. Rather than turning out large numbers of books to await sale, increased investment in technologies such as inkjet and digital imaging allows publishers to make shorter runs. Through the use of advanced techniques, we can meet the expectations of our customers for fast turnarounds.
A Better Bottom Line
As consumers demand more books in both printed and digital forms, authors are looking for companies responsive to their production and fulfillment needs. That's where we come in. If the royalties traditional publishing companies are willing to pay for the right to produce and distribute your books are too low, and you have an established following, Acutrack may be your perfect partner.
Contact us today to discover how we can work together to bring you the profits you deserve.
In this era of e-commerce, we find that businesses are changing their models for creating sales. Traditionally, pallets of goods have been shipped from warehouses to retailers equipped to sell to individual consumers. This standard is increasingly no longer the case.
Why sell directly to consumers?
While business-to-business sales entail more simplicity, they also create more risk. The loss of a single customer can have a catastrophic effect on the bottom line. Companies can minimize losses by selling small numbers of items to a broad customer base.
We also observe that while businesses often base procurement on slow-to-change approved supplier lists, consumers make selections based on cost, rather than loyalty to a particular brand. When introducing a product at an attractive price, it is easier to convince an individual than a corporate purchasing department to buy it.
Shipping products directly to their users reduces transportation time. While pallets of merchandise sold to business may pass from warehouse to warehouse, before being individually packaged and reaching their final recipients, direct shipping requires only one trip.
We see a trend toward personalization taking hold. When businesses ship smaller quantities of products, items can be aimed at individual preferences, leading to higher customer satisfaction and increasing opportunities for further sales.
We have also found that bundling purchases can promote repeat purchases of freshly discovered items.
Accessing direct sales opportunities
The success of direct-to-customer fulfillment is reflected in the exceptional growth of e-commerce. In 2016, it increased by a market-altering 45 percent. Online sales are estimated to be worth $372 billion.
We offer services that allow sellers of any size to compete in the online marketplace. Acutrack manages orders from receipt to consumer's hands. We provide complete tracking of both purchased products and inventory.
Our location-keyed storage system lets us readily scan and ship each item. We have full bundling capabilities to handle orders of multiple products and assure prompt delivery. Priority orders trigger automatic alerts to speed purchases on their way.
Make the forward leap
Acutrack is at the leading edge of direct-to-customer fulfillment, and we have a proven record of success. Whether it is shipping one item or bundling, we take the stress out of satisfying your need for rapid and effective consumer satisfaction.
Contact us now to discover how we can bring your business to the next level
Are you thinking about starting an e-commerce business? Or you have been selling products for a while? Whatever it’s, you’ve probably thought about warehousing, shipping and B2C fulfillment.
Obviously, making sales is an exciting part. But what happens after an order is placed? Somehow the products need to be end up in your customer’s hands. There are three ways this can happen:
- You sell product from a drop-shipper that will fulfill orders for you.
- You fulfill your orders on own, either solely or with your team.
- You work with a third party logistics company that will handle your warehousing and fulfillment.
There are obvious benefits of packing and shipping your own orders – it’s affordable and flexible. For these reasons, businesses that are just starting out or businesses with unique packaging requirements, often consider handling their own logistics.
Regardless of the age or industry, any business that struggles with cash flow will handle things in-house better. Sometimes you have more time to spend rather than money. Again if your business is growing quickly and have the cash on hand for outsourcing, you may invest in professional third party warehousing and direct to consumer fulfillment services.
There are huge arrays of logistics companies available that will help you store your products and handle packing as well as shipping your orders. Working with logistics companies can be intimidating, if you’ve not done it beforehand.
The Benefits of Using Direct to Consumer Fulfillment Services
The obvious benefit of using B2C fulfillment is that you don’t need to do it yourself. But the advantages really go deeper than the reality. Outsourcing fulfillment and warehousing can offer a meaningful on your business growth and development. Here are some of them discussed below:
Get rid of long term leasing
Many fulfillment services provide flexible pricing. This means, when you grow or go through slow periods, they will be able to adapt to your requirements and adjust costs accordingly. Companies don’t need to lock into long term fixed warehouse leases. Instead, the customers only pay month to month for the amount of space they occupy which saves them money especially when the inventory levels fall during non-peak seasons.
There is no need of employees
When you fulfill and ship orders yourself, you’ll likely need to hire employees as you scale. Managing employees take enough time. If your business is in flux, you may be careful of promising someone a job. Instead, you can outsource the work to a logistics company and let them be responsible handle all of your needs. Even, you don’t have to manage warehouse staff and personnel as the professional company can manage all of the labor required for receiving, inventory management, and order processing and shipping.
Your company will be more effective
Chances are, you didn’t start a business because you’re really good at packing boxes. There are other necessary aspects and skills you bring to the table that are really hard to outsource. When you allow someone handle your logistical details, you can focus on the things that will offer a great impact on your business bottom line. Using a professional B2C fulfillment service provider, you will have enough time to devote to other important business functions. For ecommerce businesses, this valuable time can be spent on product sourcing, sales, or online marketing activities instead of back end logistics.
You will save money
Though doing it yourself is almost free in the long run, hiring a reputable company can save you money as you grow. If they’re operating at a larger scale than you, it will help your business get benefited from their efficiencies and leverage their buying ability on shipping and packaging costs. Outsourcing will be likely saving most companies money either through less warehousing costs, employee costs or lower shipping charges receive because logistics companies leverage their combined shipping volume to get lower overall rates.
The Right Time to Hiring Professional Product Fulfillment Company
Most companies are intended to starting out fulfilling their orders on own and some eventually add a third party solution as they scale. The main problem is that, it’s really difficult to understand when to make the switch. However, businesses of all sizes can get benefited from warehousing and fulfillment services. There are huge arrays of companies to choose from – some of them specialize in smaller or larger scale operations. Here are clear signs that it’s time to start outsourcing B2C fulfillment services:
The uneven sales
If the number of orders your process fluctuates year round, probably it doesn’t make sense for you to commit to operating and staffing your own warehouse. A reliable direct to consumer fulfillment company will be capable of adapting to your requirements.
Busy schedule
If you’re busy dealing with order fulfillment that you don’t have enough time to focus on growth, it might be the right time to start outsourcing. As a business owner, you should be able to dedicate time to sales and marketing if you really want to be around for the long term.
The shortage of infrastructure
If your business is growing quickly, you may outgrow your existing infrastructure before you can adapt. This can add a lot of stress and impact on the growth of your business. When you outsource to a business that specializes in logistics, they will be well-equipped to adapt to the changes effortlessly. Particularly, ecommerce companies may find themselves at the tipping point if they have uneven sales levels throughout the year, the marketing and sales are being impacted by a lack of time to grow the business appropriately or they can’t support their growth with the current infrastructure internally. Moreover, third party B2C fulfillment and warehouse is right for you. Therefore, you should start calling round and discussing with direct to consumer fulfillment companies available right there to make a perfect selection.
Final consideration –
Acutrack is a trustworthy technology-driven fulfillment specialist, helping in publishing any product required for your business like books, CDs, DVDs, USBs, marketing collaterals, etc. As one stop logistics extension for your business, Acutrack can help you with direct to consumer fulfillment. For immediate help with B2C fulfillment, please contact us as soon as possible!
Today, nearly every organization spends thousands of dollars with Google AdWords or Facebook marketing to get inbound traffic. Facebook inbound marketing has taken off. The reason is simple. Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users and it is one of the most scalable marketing platforms. We all know that a successful Facebook campaign requires a Facebook ad page which takes you to the landing page. A landing page is just a simple focused web page where the goal of the marketing is to convert that prospect into a lead by making them sign up. We all know that any visitor to your landing page has a limited attention span; a visitor decides within seconds whether to sign up or leave.
Companies spend hundred thousands of dollars in creating the Facebook Ad and paying for these click charges. However, they don’t succeed if you don’t make the visitor sign up. In order to encourage sign up, some organization will give a free PDF report or short training video. However, these digital giveaways are not so attractive.
Acutrack recommends giving away a physical product. If you offer something of value instead of a PDF document, your chances of converting the lead increases when you give a physical product. The average landing page converts at 2.35%, but the top decile of pages are converting at over 11% according to a WordStream study. That means a landing page with a good conversion is making 5x more money than the average.
A physical product is tangible and has a high perceived value - you can hold, feel and see it. The concept of giving something to get something is timeless. However, it gains new relevance when applied to your landing pages. Acutrack can help integrate with your landing page and automate the fulfillment.
All companies have some sort of customer rewards programs. Customer rewards programs are a way of rewarding your repeat customers and encouraging them to stay loyal. Most sales and marketing departments spend a huge amount of time and money to reward their customers. This can be very challenging and time-consuming since you don’t know the likes of your customers.
Acutrack proposes a modified approach - create a rewards program where the customer can choose the reward that is most appropriate for them. First, offer your customer points based on the amount they spend, similar to an airline rewards program. We all tend to buy a little extra sometimes in order to reach our rewards goals!
Then, set up an “online rewards program” web store where your clients can use those rewards points and order items of their choice. These stores are easy to develop. Your organization can decide the nature of rewards such as simple Starbuck cards, corporate hoodies or any giveaway items. Acutrack can help fulfill these items by integrating with your store.
An online store allows your customer to choose the items of their preference. This will also help them see other rewards items of higher value from the online store and the sales goal they would have to reach in order to earn those rewards.
