How Having Strong International Partnerships Can Help Scale Your Business — a DCL Logistics Partner Spotlight with Go Direct
Canadian 3PL Go Direct provides companies best-in-class experiences for their customers via ecommerce, retail, marketing, and kitting channels. Go Direct is a close partner of DCL Logistics’ and we work together to leverage each other’s expertise in order to facilitate fulfillment options for our clients on either side of the Canada/US border.
We asked President of Go Direct, Kellie Lefavie a bit about how she views partnership in the logistics industry. Kellie discussed how the DCL and Go Direct partnership provides a useful channel to help companies scale with international distribution. She says, “The partnership has allowed us to rely on this trusting relationship, which sounds trivial but I think very refreshing in this industry. We share best practices, experiences, and industry knowledge and information that can be useful for both of us and ultimately beneficial for our clients.”
The Importance of Partnerships in the Current State of the Industry
The reliance on a 3PL who can get the tasks done for the cheapest rate is no longer what will differentiate your brand in the marketplace. Now companies need to be able to rely on industry partners who can help them scale and move as much product through different non-traditional channels as possible.
“I think the reality is, traditional retail has changed,” Kellie says. “Commerce is evolving and I think some emerging trends should be on company’s minds. When I started in logistics, ‘omnichannel’ meant building your message and spraying it everywhere. Now it means building an opportunity for consumers to engage with your brand when and where they want to. This is all on their time now, not on your time. Amazon has really changed consumer’s expectations.” Reliable industry partnerships are a key that can unlock success for brands in this new on-demand world.
“I think that by building strong partnerships we are better able to facilitate competitive solutions for brands and manufactures. By leveraging the infrastructure with good solid vetted partners like DCL, we’ve set up success for our clients. We are able to mitigate costs and create time efficiencies and better brand experiences for our clients’ customers. There are significant benefits to having a strong network of partners that are experts within their field and hold the same value system that we have sold to our clients.”
Regional Expertise Gives Companies Continuity and Customer Satisfaction
With strong partnerships you get economies of scale. It becomes more efficient to facilitate a similar execution of your program across a multi-location distribution network. The benefits that get directly passed to clients include: regional expertise, operational scalability, and excellence through performance via shared industry knowledge—plus clients can enjoy continuity which builds customer loyalty.
Kellie explains, “One benefit I think that companies get from a 3PL with regional expertise is knowing how weather and physical elements might impact your distribution. Canada has a very distinct landscape and population distribution, and Go Direct works with several different carriers across the country. We know where they are most efficient, both for cost and timing. So we actually rate-shop on a real-time basis though a network of partners we have.”
It doesn’t stop at transportation costs, and knowing the landscape. Kellie says, “The other piece is that you have an expert who can help minimize taxation and duties for both the customer and the client. From a legislation and taxation perspective you can get a more reliable and accurate read on what’s needed.”
Ultimately, by working with a 3PL to help manage your international distribution, you can achieve continuity which equals brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Having a centralized regional approach means you have many players executing the same program around the world, but tailored for the specifics that each region needs. Kellie says, “Because DCL and Go Direct work so well together, our clients get the benefit of a seamless knowledge transfer of all the KPIs and metrics. Go Direct will know how to act in the exact same manner and follow the exact same processes and procedures enabling for continuity. Whether a customer lives in Las Vegas, Nevada or Timmins, Ontario, the quality of the brand experience they receive is exactly the same. It’s a way for brands to be able to ensure that the guardrails that they’ve set up for their brand have a similar look and feel and experience for their consumers.”
International Partnerships Provide a Complete Fulfillment Solution
By forming an alliance with a 3PL who holds similar values, both DCL and Go Direct can simultaneously leverage each other’s logistical competencies—not weaknesses. This creates a more robust and complete solution for all companies who fulfill with either 3PL.
If you are a company looking to expand your distribution into Canada, the steps to working with Go Direct are simple, especially if your fulfillment and logistics are already managed by DCL, due to our long-standing industry partnership. Kellie explains, “Your DCL account manager will be able to facilitate a seamless integration on your behalf. My team at Go Direct will collaborate with the DCL team to create a solution that emulates what you are doing in the US, and we’ll execute it. We can set it up so that Go Direct is a sort of invisible Canadian entity for DCL clients who want to distribute into Canada. That client will still be fully managed by DCL, but Go Direct facilitates the Canadian fulfillment and logistics piece on their behalf. From the client perspective there’s almost no difference: they will still only have one account manager at DCL to work with, and they will only be invoiced by DCL. Ultimately Go Direct becomes another extension, or another warehouse.”
DCL and Go Direct have a shared value in quality—the actual work that gets done is paramount—and the ultimate goal for both 3PLs is to give the best experience to companies bringing products to market.
“I see a huge benefit in having two partners that are invested in working together is that there is an accountability factor,” Kellie says. “We are both invested in the integration and technology that helps the information flow very quickly and accurately back and forth. By working through DCL and enabling the execution here in Canada there is simplicity there for the client, it will save them time and money, plus they have a familiar and trusted relationship with DCL and a scalable solution with Go Direct. I think it would be fair to say for both sides, because we have this founded, genuine relationship between our two organizations, that our shared ultimate goal is the success of our clients.”
About Go Direct
Go Direct’s primary goal is to enable the flow of their client’s products into the marketplace and ultimately into the hands of their consumers—across B2B and direct-to-consumer channels, through kitting and marketing and customized projects. The company is structured around the needs of our clients. Kellie says, “We offer very similar and complementary services to DCL, and share a common set of values and viewpoints on how we operate. Both organizations believe in a forward-thinking, client-first approach that is driven by industry knowledge and leadership, while maintaining focus on quality culture and sustainability.”
Whether providing fulfillment for their own Canadian clients, or helping manage DCL clients distributing into Canada, Go Direct excels at quality logistics and fulfillment. Kellie says, “I like to say we are the seamless cog in the wheel that enables the movement of the product. We strive to ensure that nobody knows that we are the middle piece that puts the products into the hands of consumers. I believe it should be a true brand experience from start to finish, and we play an important role to make that happen for our clients.”
Tags: International Shipping Articles, What is a 3PL?
