Executive summary
Starting a logistics company can be a bit tricky if you are new to the logistics domain and doesn’t know the trends of the industry. Logistics is a kind of business that serves as the unit which stores and delivers the products of other businesses; as in, a mediator. The scope of logistics is quite broad and it is not just limited within the boundaries of a region. It can be within a country based or can be involved in international exports as well. Either way, logistics have become an integral part of every venture. The wideness and complexity of it requires a comprehensive understanding of this niche. Therefore, our logistic experts at OGS Capital are here for you to chalk out a feasible idea for starting your own logistic company. The logistics business plans are made for helping new entrepreneurs to start their own company. Operating a logistic company will require them to coordinate with distributors, manufacturers, freight dealers, transporters and your end users. This niche just does not rely on B2B approach; it also involves B2C aspect as well.
It is undoubtedly going to be an expensive and time-consuming investment for you. Therefore, our OGS capital logistics specialists will take care of that fact for you. They will be crafting an economically efficient and revenue oriented idea for helping you build your own company, so your resource can be fully utilized. Securing an investment would also be an important step when starting your own logistic company. This is where a competent idea would play its role. Taking an investor into your confidence and making them see the worth of your company would surely not going to be easy for you. Hence, our business plan experts at OGS Capital will assist you in securing funding for the needs of your company in the start. They will also suggest you several ways to connect with potential investors through different networking events which will build your credibility as an entrepreneur. In addition to this, you will also be assisted in gaining equipment related to this niche and dealing with legal requirements of your company. Being in a logistic industry would require you to deal with legal authorities and regulatory frameworks within as well as outside of the country, hence, a comprehensive guidance about the legal aspects would be at your disposal by our experts. Starting from the very basics, this comprehensive guideline includes the strategies for how to market your logistic company when you are just getting started. The kind of marketing strategies you should be pursuing for your company, the strategies of your competitors and the way to advertise it are included in detail. In addition to this, our experts at OGS Capital has sketched an extensive industry analysis that can help you understand the clear picture of the domain in which your company has to operate.
What is a logistic business?
Logistics is about delivering the services or products from where they are being made to the point where they are used. It is done to facilitate the end users and customers. Every company has to make use of logistical process whether it is a restaurant, café, IT company or garments. Every industry/company has to deliver goods to the end users at every point. Logistics business can be of many types; warehousing, third party, courier services, cargo and air cargo services. All of these comes under the umbrella of supply chain management or logistic company – they can be explained as following:
Warehousing:
Warehousing is an integral component of logistics business plans. It provides support to logistics by storing, protecting and delivering goods from a company to another company and to the customers, along with keeping a strict check on quality as well. Warehouses are considered to be an important growth driver in the whole logistic industry. The role of warehouses has expanded exceptionally in the recent decade. They are not just places for storing things; in fact, they are also actively playing their part in packaging, labelling, bar coding etc.
Every company has its own customized rules and policies for having a standardized warehouse. The aspects which must be covered in order to have a well-maintained warehouse include safety measures, security measures, pest control (to prevent stock from going into waste), regular cleaning, reporting etc. Warehouses can be of many types, including commercial, transit, bonded, governmental, open, fabricated etc. depending upon the type of usage a logistic business requires. There are also other factors that must be considered before opening a warehouse, as in locality, condition of the site, availability of land, access to man power, floor condition etc.
Courier services:
A courier company comprise of delivering important letters or documents with efficiency and speed. This service is quite different than the ordinary mail services in terms of fast delivery, personalization, customization and keeping track of your mail.
Cargo and air cargo services:
A cargo company exists to deliver materials, goods or different tangible articles locally and internationally. Things can include anything. If they are delivered using air vehicle, they are known as air cargo services. The other mediums that are used to deliver things include ship, truck or train etc.
Third party logistics:
Third party logistic is basically outsourcing your logistic services to an outside company. Many ventures tend to outsource their services, and the logistic business is also no exception to this. The company, to which the outsourcing is done, takes care of the entire supply chain process. Third party logistics businesses are used to enhance the customer service along with efficiency of a business.
Inventory management
Inventory management is an important part of logistic business. Any goods or stocks that are kept under supervision in a company is called as inventory. Logisticians have to keep a check on the amount of inventory that goes out of the warehouse along with the demand of new inventory as per requirement of the business.
Cross docking
Cross docking in logistic business is about shifting the materials of an incoming transport to another transport without having to store anything in the warehouse. The goods and products can also be delivered directly to the customers or to the company from a supplier or a manufacturing unit. Once the outbound transport is loaded with the goods or products, it is free to reach its destination. Cross docking is considered an integral part of any organization’s supply chain process as it helps save the transport cost. It also helps in dividing the burden of huge load into smaller pieces so the delivery process can be made convenient.
Overview of logistics industry:
Logistic industry has always been quite dynamic. From selecting the reliable drivers to work with, to building a trusted bond with the industries and customers, it’s quite challenging. Over the time, it has moved from a simple and narrowed transport service or storekeeping to a broader service that just not only deliver the product but also ensure quality at each level of the process. OGS capital would help you evaluate all prospects of logistic industry before you can start your logistic business plan. The complex network of freight, cargo, and various transport services as in, shipping, courier, air freight etc. shapes a framework of logistic business. They exist to overcome physical distance between a supplier and an end user.
A market with the value of $4 Trillion globally is full of opportunities for the emerging entrepreneurs as the transport sector is growing exceptionally on a global scale. In the coming years, the network of logistic business niche will expand to emerging economies i.e. China, India, and other Asian countries. And with the incorporation of technology, they will be more efficient. Quality is one among many factors that gives the logistic industry a competitive advantage; hence, a logistic business is always focused on improving the efficiency throughout the process keeping in view the needs of the customers.
Global trends of logistic industry
Globally, the progress of logistic business and relies heavily on the export between different countries. Trade between Asia, Europe, North America foster the growth of logistic business. The biggest challenge, however, is to meet the requirements of the customers with high customization. Providing a certain product or service at a certain time, with different requirements and instructions is a hassle. This is where the requirement of a flexible distribution process comes in, so that the challenging requirements can be dealt easily. For a logistic business to grow, it is highly important that it adapts to rapidly changing global trends.
Information technology is being utilized in the global complex supply chain processes for the ease of end consumers. The risk of delaying is being catered by ensuring the availability of alternative distribution plans. The logistic industry is leaning towards utilizing multi-channel strategies, which has made the competition even more intense. People owning the logistic business will have to make sure they keep innovating in their ways of providing services. In addition to this, the nature of a supplier-customer relationship is changing significantly. Globalization has transformed it into more cooperative and interactive thereby removing any communication barrier that could exist among them.
Starting a logistic business plan
The first rule of starting a logistic business plan is to keep it as simple as you can. The simpler are your logistics business plans, the more it would be easier to deliver quality oriented services to the customers. The steps which should be involved in the process should be the ones which add real benefit to the customers. Modern logistic is quite technology oriented and utilizing such practices could make the model a lot simpler. Adding more steps to your logistic plans would make it too complicated for both manufacturers and the end users. Make the process as minimalistic as you can. Our team at OGS Capital, would make sure to provide you with a complete picture of essentials of logistics before you could execute your logistic business, so you can generate maximum revenue by utilizing considerate financial resources. From improving the comprehensive transport of your logistic business to the point of ensuring your resources can be recycled, our experts will be there to devise effective strategies.
Essential components of logistics business plans
Logistic industry deals in providing value based services to the customers by ensuring customer satisfaction, flexibility in operations and a reactive approach to the customer’s problems. The needs of the customers are anticipated before the process begins and changes are made in in the distribution process according to the desires of the customers. This equilibrium is quite harder to achieve and requires a lot of effort throughout the process. Starting logistics business plan requires evaluating the potential stakeholders that would be involved in the process. Our team at OGS Capital would assist you in drafting all the possible partner companies, partners, participants and even your competitors so you can be able to create a precise guide to follow. The main responsibility of a logistician is to reduce the time between the manufacturing of the product till that product is delivered to the end user.
Tools and strategies for Marketing:
Beginning to market your logistic plan would require getting to know your target audience first. A logistic business would comprise of audiences from manufacturers, distributers, transporters, supply chain builders and your end users. We will be categorizing each segment and prioritizing the marketing strategies according to these segments. We would make sure that the marketing guide includes a holistic approach i.e. targeting different audience altogether. The main focus of the marketing strategy would be to provide satisfactory service to the customers, which will help build an organic growth of the venture. For a logistic business to grow, the organic strategy would be quite mandatory. If the customers are satisfied with the services at the end of the day, it would help build a good image of your logistic business thereby making permanent customers.
Advertising and publicity aspect
Our strategy experts at OGS Capital will help you build a strong advertising and publicity model for your logistic business. Gone are the days when advertising was just limited to products related startups. Having a solid publicity strategy is equally important for a logistic company as well. There are going to be many competitors with whom your venture has to deal with throughout the execution, so advertising will help you stand out as building a good image. The effective medium for advertisement of your venture could be anything, depending upon how effectively you design it. Be it digital, print or TV, the advertisement must deliver the message of the company to the desired audience.
Content and social media marketing
Digital is to any venture is what oxygen is to living in this era. If your venture lacks an online presence, it would be difficult for it to reach out to a wider number of people who have an online presence and who can prove to be your potential customers for it. Having an effective content in the marketing guide is equally important for a logistics business as well. Both aspects of the logistics business i.e. B2B and B2C can be catered with maintaining a responsive online presence. Several brand awareness campaigns can be built online to help you in delivering the message of your venture. The content is also very crucial to the presence of your logistics business online. It has to be crisp, clear and concise in order to help audiences understand your company’s message effectively. Content can prove to be a good source of adding a significant value to your venture. Creating a blog, social media pages, newsletters are all the aspects that come under the umbrella of content marketing of a company. If these mediums are producing easier to read and enriching content, it would become easier for your logistics business plan to reach out to the masses in a smart way.
Gaining leads and sales is the ultimate goal of online marketing platform of any venture. If the message will be clear and conveys what customers want to hear, it can drive remarkable results for your logistics business plan. Having an active online presence of your company is the key to it. The responsiveness of your company has to be timely and very apt. The concerns and the questions of your online audiences must be catered at the right time.
Branding
While there are several factors which are considered in branding, the logistic business on the other hand, has to be very selective about their branding strategies. Some logistic business just delivers stuff and nothing more than that, which is now a very traditional approach. If you want to be your customer’s first choice, you have to appear something more as just the entity. It could not be only about delivering things by your company. Branding becomes even more selective when it comes to B2B marketing. You have to create a “feel good” kind of factor that enables the other to trust your service and make your company a first choice.
Measuring results
Building your own logistics business plan comprises of various complex procedures that sometimes, its common and very simple aspects are ignored. This causes different ventures to ignore the simplest things on which they can build the good image. To propel your logistics business to a whole new level, you have to monitor the results of your company after the execution of strategies. This could go a long way in helping you identify the loopholes and fixing it along as the startup progresses.
It is not very simple to market your logistics business if you are just getting started. There are many factors that are instilled in building an effective marketing guide for your company in order to reach out to your end users, as logistics business plan is not just about delivering stuff anymore. Our strategists at OGS Capital would help you with all the aforementioned aspects of building a sustainable marketing guide for your logistics business.
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