Outsource for the Wholesale Trade Industry

So, how will you prepare your business to weather the challenges ahead? There will be a raft of measures that you’ll need to take with regard to supply chains, inventory, warehousing and transport, and, of course, staffing.

Keeping costs under control will be extremely important, because margins will be tighter. At the same time, you’ll need to ensure that your marketing and customer service are more effective than ever, because you’ll still have stock to move, and you’ll be trying to do that in a slower market.

Outsourcing in the retail industry gives you the opportunity to successfully manage both in a less than ideal set of circumstances.

How? Historically, offshoring gives you access to labor at a much reduced cost. That’s a given. But as technology permeates every facet of industry, it presents opportunities – both to more easily integrate remote teams into day-to-day operations, and also to increase the level of expertise in roles not traditionally part of your core business, but increasingly imperative to your survival.

Why is the wholesale trade industry suited to offshoring?

Fortunately for wholesale trade businesses, it’s an industry that’s particularly well suited to offshoring, because:

• The industry increasingly requires skills in data management, IT support, and omnichannel platform development and maintenance – areas that are particularly well catered for by offshore BPO companies, who are able to draw from an existing, large pool of highly educated, qualified candidates looking for precisely that kind of work. (That’s in addition to traditional business processes like document management, finance, and so on.)
• Most of your processes utilize cloud-based software that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Again, offshore providers (the good ones at least) have the infrastructure set-up, and comprehensive cybersecurity and privacy protections in place, enabling them to safely and efficiently work remotely with your company-specific systems.
• A lot of the work can be done at any time – not just in business hours (although a good provider will give you access to people who can work your hours if you want). In fact, offshoring enhances your ability to provide out-of-hours service, so you can be available for customers when they want you to be, in any timezone.