Why and How the Apparel Industry Needs a 3PL

 
The apparel industry in India is rapidly evolving because of ever-changing customer demands, behavior, and expectations of service and accessibility. Hence, fashion retailers are constantly under pressure to provide an enhanced shopping experience while managing efficient and streamlined logistics operations.
 
After all, the Indian textile industry has a very special place in the world of fashion because of some of its unique, ancient styles and tradition. Be it the internationally famous and acclaimed Pashmina wool, the elegant and intricate embroidery of ‘Chikankari,’ the hand-woven ‘Sambalpuri,’ rich, colorful ‘Kanjeevaram’ from southern India, or the vibrant and beautiful ‘Bandhni’ Indian apparel is admired and coveted worldwide.
 

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So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the $3 trillion Indian apparel market is one of the leading apparel markets globally, set to reach $6.87 trillion by 2025. However, to keep up with the increasing demands within the country and outside of it, fashion retailers often come across various supply chain challenges for efficient order fulfillment.
 

The apparel or fashion industry runs very fast, with trends likely to change every season. Retailers must constantly be on their toes to sell their merchandise and stay ahead of the competition. So, compared to other industries, warehousing and distribution services handle a much higher number of Stock Keeping Units [SKUs] for apparel retailers.
 
In this dynamic domain of cut-throat competition, rapid and accurate order fulfillment is mission-critical for fashion retailers. After all, one wrong or one delayed order has the potential for you losing a customer and what’s worse than that is a negative review that influences hundreds of other buyers. Also, with the raging social media influence, buyers depend greatly on reviews to make their purchase decision.
 
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Apparel fulfillment is not only about shipping accurate products to the buyer. It goes through many stages, such as design and production, including pre-production and post-production. With all the moving parts, you need to ensure that you are doing everything correctly to provide customer satisfaction and make a profitable sale.
 
Let’s take a look at the factors that give a different meaning to efficiency in the case of apparel order fulfillment:

• Apparel Return Management.Return management is a critical part of eCommerce, which is most applicable to the apparel industry as it deals with hyper-personalized products.
• Shorter Product Lifecycle.With fashion trends changing every season and buyer likes and dislikes varying frequently, the apparel industry has a rather short product lifecycle.
• High SKU Counts.Stock Keeping Unit [SKU] is the unique identifier used for products in eCommerce and retail. SKU count is comparatively much higher in apparel than in any other industry.

Hence, you need a responsive and streamlined apparel fulfillment service to meet customer expectations of delivery – accurate, on-time, and fast. You also need highly professional inventory management that keeps you updated on any change in the stock.
 

 
Efficient supply chain management is a highly crucial element of the apparel industry. It is one critical factor that can make or break your apparel retail company. In this dynamic and fast-growing apparel business, competition is very high, with more players joining the industry daily.
 
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Here are some of the most prevalent supply chain challenges that a fashion retailer faces frequently:

• Exceptionally volatile demand and production
• Waste management
• A dearth of business transparency
• Transportation issues
• Issues in managing time effectively
• Raw material procurement
• Lack of demand forecasting efficiency

As we can see, there are many supply chain and logistics challenges in the apparel industry, yet there are also solutions to these challenges. The smartest solution is to hire a Third-Party Logistics [3PL] provider with relevant industry experience and let the experts handle the fulfillment while you focus on your business and customers.
 

 
When growing your textile business, you should always engage a professional 3PL provider experienced in textile and apparel fulfillment. As you know, trends change in the blink of an eye, and even if you do everything right, you are likely to lose if you catch up on the trend later than your competitors.
 
Here’s how 3PL providers take care of supply chain function and help you stay ahead of the competition:

• Responsive and Flexible. Efficient 3PL providers help you be more responsive to the expectations and predictions of upcoming trends. Also, they help you move textiles faster, ironing out all the logistic nitty gritty that helps you effectively cater to your customer trends. Apart from this, apart from catering to the changing demands and trends, you also need to offer a variety of season-specific garments, which would always be in regular demand. 3PLs enable flexible operations with the help of efficient transportation management, professional inventory or warehouse management, and digital technology.
• Scalability. In an ever-changing industry like apparel, the most crucial factor for an efficient supply chain and logistics operations is flexibility and agility to enable you to take on any challenge. Most 3PLs have warehousing and transportation planned for flexibility. 3PLs usually have strategically placed inventory and warehouses and an extensive network of logistics partners that help them in faster order delivery. This kind of strategic, shared facilities let them provides the scalability you require.
• Explore New Markets. 3PLs help you explore new markets to grow your business. After all, Indian textiles are admired and sought-after globally. However, there are multiple formalities in taking your merchandise outside the country. If you hire a 3PL with an extensive worldwide network, then they can make your expansion experience seamless and enjoyable. You will be thrilled and feel the trepidation of venturing out of your known market and achieving new heights.
• Keep Pace With the Industry. As we all know, the apparel/fashion industry constantly moves like a whirlwind, and you always need to keep up the pace to remain profitable. 3PLs ensure that your procurement, stock movement, inventory management, and all processes up to final product delivery run seamlessly so you can focus on keeping pace with customer demand.
• Reverse Logistics. Return is an extremely regular incident in fashion/apparel retail, almost equal to the number of purchases. In this industry, we often encounter the “buy three/return two” phenomenon, with apparel returns getting as high as 40%. 3PL providers enable you to mitigate the associated costs of such returns, without which it could easily eat up your marginal gains.

 
To sum it up, a complete fulfillment service from 3PLs, especially those experienced in the apparel industry, is your solution to run and expand your fashion retail business. So, while hiring a 3PL provider, check carefully for their expertise, experience, the extent of their supply chain network, and technological capability as some of the critical factors to help you grow.
 
Get in touch with us for the right, strategic 3PL partnership.
 

 
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, XPDEL recently launched its expert fulfillment services in India. Our Fulfillment Technology Platform makes it effortless for eCommerce brands to improve their speed to market. Led by industry veterans with more than a decade of experience, we are also steering our path to success in the Indian market.We cater to a diverse clientele with a wide range of customer experience-based fulfillment and logistics solutions empowered by leading, advanced technology to provide data insights for informed decision-making.