3PL Marketing
By Splatty • Jun 19th, 2006 • Category: 3PL, Misc Logistics
I just finished reading an excellent article by Michael Stolarczyk from Blogonlog on the need for 3PL’s to differentiate themselves from their competitors. In my sales experience working for a large 3PL, one of the most difficult areas I have run into is how to market and differentiate myself from the competition. Especially since 3PL’s typically offer the same services, offer similar I.T. solutions, claim similar network infrastructure, etc. I would be interested to hear from those who currently utilize a 3PL what contributing factors (over and above price) led to your selection of a certain provider. What was it about that provider that gave them a competitive advantage?
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Differentiation is not always a product of unique services. In todays business world it can be described more in term of values you provide to the customers. Doing a proper market segmentation is the key to this. Designing a service differently for your different customer segtments, who have different needs, can lead to creation of differentiation in the minds of the customers.
So, find out who your different customer groups are and how their need differ from each other, and figure out if there is a way to mould your services to accomodate their needs better than competiors.
That is a good question, how does a 3PL differentiate itself from its competition when they are located in the same vicinity and provide similar services. One way of doing that is to offer incentives to attract new customers on for example warehouse space and services. Not all 3PLs are running at the same capacity. 3PLs will tend to have their highs and lows in terms of warehouse space and services all year round. Also, if the 3PL was to open a brand new facility. Take advantage of these situations and advertise specials on fulfillment services, shipping, storage etc from time to time. We at http://www.SpaceSpecials.com provide a forum to do that.