This article was originally published by Deliverr, which is now part of the Flexport brand. Its contents were edited to fit the voice and tone of the Flexport brand. With Deliverr’s services (DTC fulfillment, B2B distribution, and Last Mile delivery) now an integral part of Flexport’s end-to-end supply chain and technology capabilities, we’re able to arm merchants with logistics superpowers as a single entity of supply chain experts.

Stop us if any of this sounds familiar.

Every merchant wants inventory to arrive prepared in a certain way, which changes all the time. And you really don’t have the time or operational infrastructure to worry about that with multiple channels. You really can’t afford to keep getting inventory held up with compliance issues, not with every step of your cycle as tight as it is today.

Maybe your goods arrive from the manufacturer in poor condition or get broken in transit, and customers are unhappy. Or maybe you’re paying more in freight charges because your item arrives in a larger box than it needs.

If you already have your packaging, bagging, containers, etc., sorted out, maybe your inventory goes from one place, to another, and then to another to get prepped right. Or you’re just tired of dealing with many vendors for something you shouldn’t have to think about. We agree.

Introducing Flexport’s prep services: hassle-free prep for sales-ready inventory, no matter where it’s going.

With our prep services, you get:

• Compliance expertise for every sales channel
• A wide variety of value-added prep services
• Predictable, transparent pricing

…all under one roof with one logistics partner.

Avoid all those lost cycles from constrained, rejected, or damaged inventory. You can get your products wiped down, packed right, or even folded and prepared any way you need to save costs and make customers happy down the line.

Whatever you need, it can happen in Prep.

Simplify Your Prep Operation to Focus on Scale and Growth

Simplifying logistics and scaling logistics shouldn’t be mutually exclusive goals. We often see that simplification makes scale possible. In short, the less you worry about compliant and competent prep, the more you can expand to additional sales channels, use more kinds of pricing and packaging strategies, and ensure a better customer experience.

We strategically built Flexport’s prep services to save you time…

• No more keeping track of downstream fulfillment compliance regulations
• Get the time back you spend coordinating multiple vendors
• Stop doing prep manually or across different locations

…and money

• Avoid non-compliant inventory fees
• Don’t pay a premium for having to move inventory somewhere else to get prep done
• Get predictable, transparent pricing for a service that’s often complex and opaque

Every step of your logistics infrastructure has the potential to weigh you down or supercharge your growth. For many brands we’ve worked with, going from pricey, complex, and opaque prep operations to the opposite makes sense as part of any effort to get more efficient.

Avoid Costly Lost Cycles From Inventory Issues

Also, poorly prepped goods can cost you in compounding ways. Beyond obvious concerns about non-compliance fees, rejected inventory means your products might sit in one location for extended time, need to be returned to inventory to be re-prepped, or even need to be destroyed.

This means more manufacturing cycles, availability shortages, dealing with constrained inventory, maybe missing seasonal sales opportunities, and other issues.

What’s more, inexpertly prepped inventory could break or arrive damaged, which leaves you with all the issues above plus unhappy customers who will remember your brand for a poor customer experience.

Transform Your Inventory To Meet All Sales Channel Needs

Transform Your Inventory To Meet All Sales Channel Needs
If your prep operation is slowing you down in any way, consider what it might be like to have your prep phase actually make you more competitive. A prep partner with tons of options way beyond bagging and boxing gives you an edge over competitors doing it the old, slow, costly way.

We give our merchants the superpower to get anything done in the prep phase that’s needed. Inventory arriving dirty from the manufacturer? We’ll wipe it down. Items in larger-than-necessary boxes? We’ll fold them to save you fulfillment costs. Need to turn single-SKU boxes of 12 into 3 multi-packs of 4 different SKUs? No problem.

With professional, one-stop prep, you can also accelerate any plans to expand to new channels, or increase volume across channels. We take care of all kinds of SKU labeling, multi-provider fulfillment, and have tons of convenient options in packaging, bagging, floor containers, and more.

Sales-Ready Inventory, No Matter What You Need or Where Your Products Are Headed

With Flexport’s prep services, you reap the benefits of expert prep under one roof, no matter what you need or where the inventory is going.

You’re also getting the convenience and reliability of our vast network, including locations near ports on both U.S. coasts, and you can easily connect to more logistics services (like Trucking or Replenishment) to multiply the benefits if you’d like.