How do we respond to customers asking for expedited delivery?
Supply chain teams often mention that they get requests from customers to either expedite delivery of an existing order or supply a fresh order before the next agreed servicing day. Some of these orders are substantial and come from organised retail chains.
The response from supply teams varies quite a bit. Many teams find it difficult to accommodate such out-of-turn requests and often forego a potential order for immediate delivery. A few teams, on the other hand, actively look for ways to meet the customer needs and end up fulfilling them.
A large retailer once told me that suppliers displaying such flexibility end up getting a large chunk of such unplanned orders and get into the ‘preferred supplier list’ as well!
If we want to get into the ‘preferred supplier list’, we must design the supply chain to satisfy such needs. We need to redesign the inventory buffers, improve backend flexibility and have the expedited logistics network in place.
It is worth the effort as it results in accelerated revenue and higher market share in retail chains.