Logistics processes take on special significance when dealing with virtual services. Internet services do not exist physically, yet they require logistics operations that are just as developed as those for other services. Companies offering virtual services (such as hosting or domain name registration) very rarely have “face-to-face” contact with the customer. Selling these services does not require direct meetings between a company representative and the client. Therefore, high-quality pre- and post-sales service is the path to achieving market success.
The role of logistics
The logistics department, much like the Customer Service Office, acts as a so-called touch point. It is the point of contact between the customer and the company providing virtual services. The idea of a touch point is to place special emphasis on the quality of work of departments that have direct contact with the customer. In the case of the companies mentioned in the article, the logistics department plays a strategic role. It is responsible for the timely delivery of invoices and other shipments (letters, marketing materials) to customers. It is responsible for securing the entire infrastructure that ensures fast and timely delivery of shipments to customers. The logistics department staff has a wide range of responsibilities here – from negotiating with courier companies and the Polish Post, through wholesale purchases of envelopes and letterhead, ensuring the efficiency of packaging machines, to handing over shipments directly to couriers. Maintaining a high level of customer service, with such an extensive scope of activities, requires the logistics department to cooperate with many other departments. The graphic design of envelopes or letterhead, for example, is handled by the marketing department. Meanwhile, the development department is responsible for developing software for printing and sorting bulk correspondence and invoices. Logistics tasks involve more than just the logistics department. High-quality customer service is only possible through close cooperation between all departments. The logistics department at NetArt has introduced a standard whereby all documents related to direct customer service are sent on the same day they are generated. One of the biggest obstacles to implementing such a standard was the fact that NetArt has several locations where different departments work.
The marketing role of logistics
The relationship between the logistics department and marketing activities is one of the keys to ensuring the effectiveness of promotional campaigns. Logistics activities mediate in creating the company’s image, and in the case of companies providing virtual services, they play a key role. The image of a company whose products do not exist physically is built on the basis of physical elements of the company’s contact with the customer, i.e., among other things, on the basis of shipments, invoices, and advertising materials. That is why their aesthetics and timeliness of delivery are so important. The marketing and public relations department is responsible for the attractiveness of the graphic side of the materials. However, their design of any promotional materials using traditional ways of reaching the customer requires consultation with the logistics department. Consultation here is essential because it is necessary to assess the possibilities of automating the routing of advertising materials and invoices. In this regard, further tasks of the logistics department appear. It has a significant voice in the selection of the shape and weight of the materials sent (multi-page brochures, CDs, etc.). It provides guidance to reduce costs associated with exceeding subsequent weight thresholds for postal shipments and tests the possibility of using packaging machines. Furthermore, it assesses the possibilities of delivering materials to the customer in a way that excludes damage to packaging and ensures the timeliness of shipment delivery. Cooperation between the marketing and public relations department and the logistics department is also important at the level of distributing advertising materials – mainly in direct mailing campaigns. Consultations between marketing and the logistics department should take place as early as the conceptual and production stages. The more non-standard and unusual the form of advertising materials, the greater the importance of securing and planning the shipment. Modern marketing uses a wide range of promotional gadgets, and their distribution is an important challenge undertaken by logistics departments. Each new advertising material must be analyzed, as each advertising shipment requires different protection. The list of duties of the logistics department is very extensive, and it should also include the automation and streamlining of the distribution process.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 5/2008.
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