A few years ago, marketers focused on the four Ps that considered product, price, promotion and place to grow a business. However, in the last few years, customers have changed their behaviour and are actively looking for value in the products and services they are consuming. Therefore, simply focusing on the 4Ps is no longer efficient. Focusing on the four Rs is essential for gaining a competitive advantage. The four Rs deal with reliability, responsiveness, resilience and relationships. The 4 Rs also play an important role in the logistic sector. To promote the proper growth of the logistic sector, it is essential to keep in mind the 4Rs while formulating strategies. Let us look at how the 4Rs can be implemented in the logistics sector.
1. Reliability
The Logistics sector can ensure reliability by focusing on the process design and control. While focusing on the process, it is important to ensure efficient supply chain management. It is no secret that any logistic company’s supply chain management is highly fragmented, creating issues from time to time. YunExpress, a prominent logistics company, has managed to create efficient supply chain management to ensure faster delivery of the shipments to its customers. The same is true for China Post, which ensures not only faster shipment but also delivery of packages in a safe manner.
Another way of increasing the reliability of a logistic sector is by simplifying the entire process and letting go of the unnecessary steps. With this step, performance variability can be eliminated and thus, increases the reliability of the supply chain management.
2. Responsiveness
Responsiveness indicates the ability to manage the customers’ demand in a short interval of time. With the advancement of technology, customers are expecting quick responses to their queries. If you want to have a competitive advantage in your logistic business, it is essential to work towards responsiveness.
Responsiveness in the logistic sector can easily be heightened with technological adoption. For instance, a simple chatbot on the website can increase the company’s responsiveness. Also, many logistics companies support FAQs to answer customers’ queries quickly. If a customer wants to track their shipment and enquire about the same, you can simply go ahead and give them a link to track the shipment via the chatbot.
3. Resilience
The importance of resilience was realized not only in the logistic sector but in all the other sectors during the pandemic. The companies which were not resilient were eventually forced to shut down due to unseen circumstances. Therefore, preparing for all kinds of disruptions is of utmost importance. Resilience in the logistic sector can be built by managing the supply chain risk. However, for the same, it is important to identify the risk first and then to work towards the mitigation.
The idea of creating resilience in the logistic service is to give it the power to absorb any kind of a shock to ensure minimum disruption. It is important to identify all the potential risks a logistic company can feel and keep an action plan ready to fight it.
4. Relationships
The relationship between a company and a customer, along with the company and other stakeholders of the same sector, is important. If you are an e-commerce company, it is recommended to go for strategic sourcing with a reliable logistic company. Similarly, if you only deal with shipping as a logistic company, you must have strategic sourcing with a packaging company.
While selecting the right partner for strategic sourcing, it is essential to work with a partner that guarantees quality, innovation, cheap cost and timely delivery. However, many times, things do not work as planned. During such scenarios, it is important to solve the issue by maintaining a cordial relationship with the customers and the different stakeholders.
It is to create a balance between the 4Rs and 4Ps to increase the efficiency and growth of the logistic sector. However, not everything can be achieved at once. It is essential to have an action plan that focuses on one thing at a time. Only when a step-by-step guide is followed will it be possible to give a new direction to the logistic sector without an overwhelming feeling. Further, to ensure a new way of functioning in the logistic sector, all the logistic players must come together to create that change.
