{"id":12444,"date":"2021-07-19T10:50:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T17:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/?p=12444"},"modified":"2021-07-20T11:30:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T18:30:51","slug":"benefits-virtual-bundling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/amazon-fulfillment\/benefits-virtual-bundling\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Virtual Bundling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/3pl\/bundling-ecommerce-fulfillment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fulfillment bundling<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a tactic used when multiple products are sold together, in the same package, and together those items have a single SKU assigned to the bundle. In recent years, technology and automation have made bundling much easier to accomplish operationally. It\u2019s now a competitive advantage\u2014especially for sellers looking to increase their average order value\u2014to offer their customers specialized assortments of their products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What is Bundling in Fulfillment?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From a fulfillment perspective, the difficulty of bundling products comes down to the high level of attention and accuracy they require. The warehouse needs to be able to follow the stock levels of each product in the kit, plus track new assembly orders on-the-fly. Typically sellers would have to choose which products would be bundled together prior to fulfillment and send those pre-bundled items to the fulfillment provider. Alternatively some sellers might have their fulfillment provider build these bundles and create a unique SKU for them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Limitations of Pre-Kitted Bundles\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While bundling has a lot of benefits, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/fulfillment\/kitting\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pre-kitting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> bundles can be costly, financially and in timing. The time it takes to build can slow down the innovation process. For companies building hardware or other manufactured items, a slow supply chain can already be a big hurdle. Ecommerce is growing such that flexibility and speed to market are key to a brand\u2019s success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additional fulfillment cost<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Sellers need to account for extra cost to cover the shipping, assembly and labor, plus potential lost revenue (or lost product) if the bundle doesn\u2019t sell as hoped.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decreased inventory flexibility<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Once items are in bundles, they are not available for individual sale. This can also lead to increased storage fees.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Limit sales experimentation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Pre-kitted bundles make it difficult to engage in bundling trials. For example, if one bundle is selling better than others, the brand would need to kit more of that bundle, but also push sales of the bundles that aren\u2019t working well so they don\u2019t lose that revenue.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Virtual Bundling?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently in fulfillment the concept of \u201cvirtual bundles\u201d has begun picking up popularity. In essence virtual bundling is when a seller can assign products to a bundle <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/news\/efactory-feature-release\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">via inventory management software<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the fulfillment provider can execute that bundle (and new SKU) as it\u2019s ordered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBeing able to bundle products virtually was the biggest lifesaver! Before we could create virtual bundles we had to pre-kit all of our variety pack box options. Between the transit time to get new products to the warehouse and then building the kits, we were struggling to keep up with orders. Creating bundles in eFactory gives our customers the freedom to create any variety option, while giving us much better visibility of our inventory!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Liz Lane, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Head of Operations at Magic Spoon<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This new method has enabled the expansion of bundling capabilities. For example, at DCL Logistics, our fulfillment software allows sellers to create three different types of bundles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regular bundles\u2014two or more specific items, predesignated to ship as one part number.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configured\u2014a set of items that can be added to a single package in any permutation that the end-consumer wants.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Assembled to Order\u2014designating an item that needs to be assembled with two specific components. This is designed for short-run assembly only as the bundles will be made as the items are received.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sellers can send just one number (the bundle SKU, not the items specifically) to the warehouse so that those specific components should be picked and packed, or even assembled together for that particular order. This enhancement allows sellers greater flexibility in their order management and a simplified way of offering a wider variety of ordering options for their end-customer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Benefits of Virtual Bundling<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By bundling products customers will be exposed to a wider variety of items. It\u2019s a great tactic to introduce loyal customers to new things and promote a unique product mix that may not be available from other sellers. The ultimate benefit for sellers is that bundles increase the perceived value of your products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other major benefits to virtual bundling:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help offset shipping costs by increasing average order size which leads to greater profits.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no additional cost to do virtual bundling.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create bundles on the fly, which gives you more flexibility\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How to A\/B Test with Virtual Bundles<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest benefits of virtual bundling is the flexibility to meet customer needs and iterate quickly. By being able to quickly assign SKUs to new bundles, sellers can easily A\/B test which assortments are more popular. It also allows sellers to provide a perceived larger variety of options for their customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A company can create different variety packs of their product (think flavors of cereal) by using virtual bundling. These product mixes can be changed for different seasons of the year, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/blog\/fulfillment\/advanced-planning-fulfillment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">holidays<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or promotions linked to a new flavor release. The novelty of a new flavor pack, even if it\u2019s a similar assortment as the last flavor pack, might entice some consumers and loyal customers to buy sooner than they would have without the new spin on the product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, a brand might want to test out three different bundles to see which sells the best. Customer A might receive different flavors from Customer B and Customer C. With the data of which sells best the company can more confidently make product choices and grow sales efficiently, faster.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Amazon Seller Central and FBA Businesses<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For brand owners who fulfill with Amazon, there is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sellercentral.amazon.com\/gp\/help\/external\/87HAE6PMKKM23Z7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">virtual bundling tool<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you can use. As of September 2020, sellers can create virtual bundles made up of two to five complementary ASINs which are purchased together from a single detail page. This eliminates packaging items together prior to shipping to the Amazon warehouse, or changing any fulfilled-by-Amazon inbound inventory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are looking for a fulfillment partner dedicated to improving your logistics with advanced technology, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/company\/get-started\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reach out for a quote<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. DCL Logistics has offered a virtual bundling tool since the summer of 2020, and many of our brands are benefitting from our best-in-class fulfillment <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dclcorp-phase2\/why-dcl\/efactory-platform\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">software platform eFactory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fulfillment bundling is a tactic used when multiple products are sold together, in the same package, and together those items have a single SKU assigned to the bundle. In recent years, technology and automation have made bundling much easier to accomplish operationally. It\u2019s now a competitive advantage\u2014especially for sellers looking to increase their average order [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazon-fulfillment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Biggest Benefits of Virtual Bundling - DCL Logistics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using fulfillment software sellers can assign multiple items to one single bundle SKU\u2014virtual bundles mean greater flexibility &amp; consumers get more variety!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Biggest Benefits of Virtual Bundling - 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