• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Flexible Online Fulfillment and the ‘Power of Two’ in Canada

Flexible Online Fulfillment and the ‘Power of Two’ in Canada

February 6, 2019
Jeff Ashcroft, SCB Contributor

In Canada, customer demands for more rapid and cost-effective e-commerce delivery are increasing on a daily basis. Online sellers, since the dawn of e-commerce, have successfully serviced Canada from one fulfillment operation. 

Most have fixed national fulfillment operations positioned in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver and are currently rethinking this. However, the days are now numbered for one e-commerce fulfillment operation being a viable customer delivery experience solution for Canada. 

Implementing a “Power of Two” solution in Canada allows online sellers to reach all major urban markets for next-day delivery. Based on a number of recent analyses for clients, these clearly indicate that a Greater Calgary Area and Greater Toronto Area model will provide optimal service, coverage and cost. Not only does the “Power of Two” allow you to improve service delivery levels, it also delivers several additional benefits such as: 

Cost reduction. Online sellers in the U.S. still servicing Canada from U.S. facilities are in a great position to benefit from the “Power of Two”. Not only do you pick up improved service levels, either East or West depending on where you induct into Canada, you also mitigate the risk of being out of business in Canada should any untoward events or labor issues impact border crossings. It is also important to note that any online seller with more than 50,000 e-commerce deliveries per year in Canada still servicing from a U.S. fulfillment center are paying both cost and service penalties for doing so.

Risk mitigation. The “Power of Two” mitigates the risk of having a shutdown, strike or other facility outage which could be fatal in current single site e-commerce fulfillment solutions. With a “Power of Two” solution, your Canadian fulfillment operations will have redundancy built in, ensuring you remain in business should a disaster or other disruption strike one of your operations.

Performance benchmarking. Many online sellers are also currently supporting their e-commerce fulfillment needs with an in-house operation. This is, of course, perfectly acceptable, but the question becomes do you create another in-house operation East or West or look to outsource a second e-commerce site in the East or West as needed. Again, I would assert the “Power of Two” is again at work; by having one in-house site and one outsourced is an effective way to benchmark your business, challenging both your own operations folks and the 3PL to perform at peak levels.

Flexibility and scalability. The ability for in-house or conventional dedicated 3PL operations to be flexible in both volume capabilities and/or locations can be very challenging. Traditional 3PLs charge their clients for depreciation for capital equipment and automation benefits, and they almost always require a minimum of three-year commitments and potential investment buyout clauses, should the agreement not be renewed. Now emerging to serve both e-commerce and stores are uni-channel logistics partners with flexible locations, one-year terms, and no charges for depreciation.

Sustainability. “Power of Two” is the entry level for further distributed logistics models, having the ability to drive sales and further reduce transportation costs. This also reduces carbon emissions from your supply chain.

The Outlook 

The “Power of Two” is real, with rapid results for online and offline sellers in customer delivery service, risk mitigation, flexibility and cost benchmarking. If you are shipping e-commerce from only one location in Canada or the U.S., you are missing out on service and redundancy benefits. 

Jeff Ashcroft is vice president and general manager of MonarchFx Canada.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics Express/Small Shipments Transportation & Distribution All Warehouse Services Order Fulfillment E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Retail Canada North America
KEYWORDS All Warehouse Services Canada E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Express/Small Shipments Logistics North America order fulfillment Retail Transportation & Distribution
  • Related Articles

    Costume Manufacturer Wins Back Customers With Purolator Fulfillment Solution

    E-Commerce Shipments Reach Canada Faster With Streamlined Logistics Strategy

    Taking Amazon Prime Head On, Walmart Offers Two-Day Online Sales Delivery

Jeff Ashcroft, SCB Contributor

Flexible Online Fulfillment and the ‘Power of Two’ in Canada

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Slow Vaccine Rollouts Delay World’s Economic Recovery; Airbus Plant Hit by Outbreak

    Coronavirus
  • Car Industry

    A Year of Poor Planning Led to Carmakers’ Massive Chip Shortage

    Technology
  • U.S. Vaccine Rollout Hindered by Faulty Coordination, Messaging

    WHO Fumes at Western Drugmakers As China Fills Vaccine Void

    Coronavirus
  • Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Watch: Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Coronavirus
  • Third-Party Cybersecurity

    What Vaccine Supply Chains Must Do to Protect Against Cyberattack

    Coronavirus

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing