As a marketer, one may spend a lot of time growing existing markets as well as developing new ones – be it a wider geographic scope, a recently developed profile of customers or even a product variant. However, of what use would it be if the product does not reach the customer? And not only reaching, but also fulfilling other aspects: reach on (before) time; reach in the right quality; and reach in the form specified at the time of purchase – has no physical damage …etc.
There is a great deal and good feel effect when one gets a new order, a new market, and even repurchase. However, the challenge always remains the execution and delivery of the promised product.
Recently, I had a discussion with the channel player who went on to complain how the marketing team seem not to have a clue of the processes and issues that affect delivery of the promised goods and services. He empathizes with them as that team works so hard in the market development processes. However, there is a major flaw in the final stage – delivering to the customers. From a centralized location, this channel player deals with customers across Africa and the Middle East region. Thanks to technology, the team is able to take care of logistics across the region. However, customer preferences and the varied tastes within the region imply the need for continuous customization of products.
For instance, the team in West Africa will place an order of a certain quantity. Another team, say in the Arabian Gulf will also place an order of the same quantity. However, to meet the different customer preferences, the company has tried to customize products, and this is done in the manufacturing plant. Sometimes the warehousing and loading teams may not know the differences, and end up loading just as per the quantities as requested by the regional marketing teams.
And this is where a marketer comes in – to ensure everyone has a clear understanding of the needs in the different markets. These differences could be by SKUs, product variants, packaging (labels, colors) among others.
Can you envisage the cost implications of sending products, say from China to Accra, only to realize you have the right products but wrong packaging / labels …etc.? Do you take them back all the way (additional cost) or do you go ahead and offload them to the local market? If you offload, what are the implications? For instance, what would go to the customer’s mind when he/she see’s the favorite product but label is in Arabic not in English (as usual)?
Fulfilling the Promise
All the effort in the development process faces a real test in ensuring what was promised to the customer is exactly what is delivered. The product or service could either be sourced locally or from other regions. The marketer’s challenge remains the same in form – but only differs by magnitude and process. A locally sourced product may have logistic complications just as one sourced from other regions / markets.
Team effort
As marketers continue developing new opportunities for the business, they need to keep the channel teams on the loop. It is important to understand the challenges that other teams may go through in their day to day executions. Hence, in addition to providing detailed descriptions of your required products, it is important to consider other aspects that may affect the delivery process. These are factors beyond business processes.
Some of the factors to consider:
- Weather: Consider the seasons, from the origin to the destinations. If shipping from monsoon prone areas like India, consider the season and what impact it may have on your deliveries.
The weatherman predicts El Nino will hit the region from October 2015 to early 2016. Will this impact your deliveries? What contingent measures have teams put in place to ensure deliveries continue unhindered? - Customs, inspections & other paper work: Some deliveries may require a lot of paperwork or customs may take longer than expected inspections time. Sometimes what is on paper may different from the actual experience on the ground. For instance, has the East Africa customs union translated to enhanced flow of goods within the region? Maybe on paper states one takes 3 days, but experience shows it takes 5 days – always go by the latter, the actual, and advise the customer accordingly.
- Lag time: In addition to the above factors, a lag may occur and is important to consider this in the delivery process. This is a judgment one takes after consulting other teams. Like in the previous point, go by the actual durations from experience. In paper, it is easy to compute expected duration taking the distance by the expected speed of driving. For instance, the driving distance between Kisumu and Mombasa is 843.06 km. If you drive your truck with an average speed of 60 kilometers /hour, travel time will be 14 hours 05 minutes. However, reality is different as one encounters unwarranted police checks to traffic jams, road works.
- Holidays & weekends: Consider the regional differences of work week, public holidays …etc. Christmas is around the corner, and many consider 25th December as a holiday period. However, if you are shipping products to / from Ethiopia, consider the use of Julian calendar where Christmas falls on 7th January. Not everyone celebrates New Year on 1st January.
