This approach has become so popular that, even if you operate entirely domestically, your business will probably still be impacted by the global supply chain \u2013 especially if disasters, policy changes, or world events make cross-border collaboration difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that no matter how you run your business, it\u2019s important to understand how global supply chains work. In this article, we\u2019ll dive deep into the key components of global supply chains, the challenges they pose, and how expert supply chain partners like ShipBob can help you build a reliable and efficient one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Understanding global supply chains <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A global supply chain refers to a network of businesses, parties, and stakeholders across multiple countries that are all involved in producing, transporting, and selling goods for an ecommerce company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, if you source raw materials<\/a> from China, manufacture the products in Vietnam, and sell it in the United States, you have a global supply chain. Even if you import finished goods directly from Australia and sell them in Canada, that also qualifies as a global supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This type of ecommerce supply chain<\/a> allows businesses to tap into more economical resources such as labour, materials, and services to reduce their operational costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Global supply chains are extremely complex and are comprised of many different stages and functions. Here are some of the basic building blocks that make up a global supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many businesses look to overseas suppliers and manufacturers<\/a> to source their inventory. This is often because it allows brands to tap into cheaper labour sources and materials, and because it may give brands access to products or raw materials that aren\u2019t available anywhere else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, using a global supply chain allows you to diversify product sourcing<\/a>. That way, instead of relying on just one supplier in a single country, you can source your products from multiple countries, enabling you to stay stocked even in case of disruptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sourcing and distributing goods across borders and international waters tends to complicate your logistics. You have to strategically plan how, when, and where you source and transport your products to ensure that you are turning a profit and that everything gets where it needs to go on time and in full. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Logistics planning<\/a> in a global supply chain involves planning how goods should be transported and distributed across different regions and countries. Through proper logistics planning, you brand can: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLogistics is something you never think about until it stops working, and we\u2019ve never come to that point with ShipBob. Everything just works. We are super happy with ShipBob and very impressed by how well they\u2019ve pumped out our large volume of orders.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergio Tache, CEO of Dossier<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n With factors like international politics, global trade laws and regulations, unexpected crises, and the global economy impacting international ecommerce<\/a>, the global supply is vulnerable to changes and disruptions. As such, risk management is a vital element in global supply chain management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to prepare solutions and contingency plans to address these vulnerabilities and improve supply chain agility and supply chain resilience, so you can ensure that your global operations aren\u2019t heavily impacted by changes or issues in global markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many countries offer brands lower production costs (often as a result of a lower cost of living and less expensive labour) to ecommerce brands. As a result, retailers will often manufacture or produce their goods in other countries through foreign production partners in order to minimise costs and increase their bottom line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Transportation is an absolutely essential element of global supply chains, as without international transportation methods, brands would not be able to move goods between geographies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the raw materials, parts, or finished goods<\/a> get transported across different regions and countries, you\u2019ll want to make sure that you\u2019re using the most suitable transportation methods to keep costs low and your operations efficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You will also need to research, achieve, and maintain compliance with international regulations pertaining to how, when, and in what amounts you transport goods (as different countries will have their own rules about importing and exporting products and materials). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many global supply chains involve a distribution network consisting of several stakeholders, such as retailers, wholesalers<\/a>, distributors, and ecommerce stores. Effective distribution management<\/a> is necessary to ensure that goods seamlessly pass between these parties to ensure fast and affordable fulfilment while maintaining your bottom line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As beneficial as global supply chains can be for businesses and consumers alike, they are not without their challenges. To avoid shortages, delays, and disruptions, it\u2019s important to prepare for these challenges when building your own global value chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you work with international supply chain partners, you may experience challenges collecting up-to-date and accurate data across multiple sources. Siloed departments and outdated or out-of-sync supply chain technology<\/a> prevent businesses from accessing real-time data, which inhibits your supply chain visibility<\/a> and prevents you from taking timely action and making timely decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your partnerships with global supply chain players could easily be affected by changes in local and international trade policies. Similarly, political tensions happening in one country could quickly snowball into larger problems that lead to supply chain disruptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, the Russo-Ukrainian war has disrupted several aspects of international trade, leading to global supply chain issues. It has led to manufacturers suspending their operations in Russia, while price hikes affected the cost of raw materials and transportation in certain markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pandemics are another major challenge that have the potential to devastate global supply chains. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in businesses having to suspend their operations while international transport stalled for months on end. It eventually led to supply chain bottlenecks<\/a> as suppliers struggled to send goods to overseas businesses, resulting in inventory stockouts and shortages on a global scale. Moreover, lockdowns and health concerns prevented many businesses from resuming their operations, which further impacted their bottom line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You often don\u2019t have control over the cybersecurity measures that your international supply chain partners have in place. Unfortunately, a partner\u2019s outdated technology or insufficient preventative measures could easily become a security risk that affects your business. You could stand to lose valuable data or expose sensitive information to malicious scammers and hackers, resulting in huge losses \u2013 not to mention the loss of trust with your customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With rising concerns over climate change, many brands intentionally incorporate sustainable practices into their global supply chains to minimise their environmental impact. However, a sustainable supply chain<\/a> may increase your costs and require a complete overhaul of existing practices, especially if you implement eco-friendly practices on a global scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to international supply chains, logistics and transport operations are prone to disruptions resulting from issues such as road blockages, port congestion, natural disasters, and more. A problem that disrupts transportation in one country could eventually lead to bottlenecks further down the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With global supply chains being so complex, it\u2019s no wonder that lots of ecommerce brands choose to partner with supply chain experts like ShipBob to manage their port-to-porch operations. ShipBob\u2019s suite of services provides scaling brands the capabilities they need to streamline their global supply chains, save money, and improve efficiency in everything from freight shipping<\/a> to fulfilment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are just some of the solutions that ShipBob customers leverage to optimise their global supply chain management<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brands can ship freight to ShipBob\u2019s global fulfilment network using FreightBob<\/a>, an end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution program that enables merchants to pick from a variety of preferred freight providers, optimise freight costs, and get access to sailings from most global locations directly to ShipBob\u2019s receiving hubs and fulfilment centres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ShipBob also simplifies inbound and outbound freight shipments to or from our fulfilment centres through a program called ShipBob Freight. Merchants who use ShipBob Freight can save on freight costs, time spent on transit and coordination, with all appointments booked for them, and simplify vendor management through ShipBob\u2019s all-in-one logistics solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had 900 backorders and needed to get our inventory over from Asia ASAP. We, of course, needed our backorders shipped out to our customers who were waiting, immediately. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n With FreightBob, we were able to ship from Shanghai through the LA \/ Long Beach port. We then were able to send out to our customers in less than 3 weeks. To watch ShipBob ship out 900 orders for us in a day, then complete another fulfilment of 2,000 orders in a single day the next week, it was magical. They made it look so easy. And with FreightBob, it\u2019s too easy to use to not utilise. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Time is money. The more time that I can save spending energy on things like freight and fulfilment, the more time I can spend on other details for my company. To know that I can trust somebody to complete the tedious stuff and be organised like I would; what a stress reliever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Emily Coolbaugh, Logistics Coordinator at Driveline Baseball <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n ShipBob\u2019s software features built-in inventory management<\/a> capabilities, including real-time visibility into your inventory levels across channels and locations. With this data, you\u2019ll always know exactly how much inventory you have on hand, enabling you to time replenishment<\/a> from foreign suppliers and manufacturers correctly to avoid stockouts and backorders.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n You can also track and analyse past order and inventory data to improve demand forecasting<\/a> and adjust your procurement strategy to meet customer demand. Plus, ShipBob\u2019s analytics dashboard displays key metrics that give you insight into your global supply chain performance, including: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can’t say enough about ShipBob\u2019s software and reporting capabilities. It really has made things easy for us to look at the data and make better decisions. Not all partners are set up that way \u2013 oftentimes when you\u2019re using other providers\u2019 technology, you have to pull the data yourself, and there’s a lot of work to be done on the back end.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ryan Steffenson, Senior Manager, Channel Operations at Tonies<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n With our dozens of global fulfilment centres, ShipBob lets you store your inventory across multiple warehouses<\/a> in various countries and regions. This means you can store your inventory closer to your customers and ship them out from the fulfilment centre closest to the orders\u2019 end destination, speeding up deliveries while reducing transportation costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ShipBob\u2019s network<\/a> spans 3 continents and includes dozens of fulfilment centres (all powered by ShipBob\u2019s proprietary warehouse management technology) for brands to leverage, with locations across the US and in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Using this global footprint, brands can effectively scale their operations and better serve international customers without investing capital, time, and effort into building their own facility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ShipBob\u2019s dashboard even offers an analytics tool to help brands determine the most strategic split of inventory across multiple ShipBob locations. This tool uses your business\u2019s real order data to calculate the inventory allocation plan that will result in the lowest average fulfilment cost and transit time \u2013 and through ShipBob\u2019s Inventory Placement Program<\/a>, you can send all your inventory to a single ShipBob receiving hub and we\u2019ll take care of distributing stock regionally for you. <\/p>\n\n\n \u201cTrying to figure out how much of what inventory to send where could be wildly complex for our supply chain managers \u2013 but since ShipBob automatically tracks our order and shipping data for us, that data basically tells us our optimal inventory distribution. We also get automatic reminders notifying us well before inventory levels are getting depleted, so we don\u2019t have to constantly be checking our stock levels. IPP has saved our supply chain team a lot of extra work, and they also feel really supported by ShipBob and know that they can turn to them for help.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tyler McCann, Co-Founder of Taste Salud<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Whether you\u2019re just getting started or climbing to $100M in revenue, ShipBob can flex to handle surges in your order volume while delivering the capabilities you need to scale, when you need them. As you scale, your business can leverage growth levers like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n ShipBob customers enjoy 24\/7 support with proactive communication that allows them to resolve issues quickly and keep your operations running smoothly. Moreover, a dedicated account manager guides you through the setup process while providing valuable guidance to improve your warehouse layout and operational efficiency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’m a big believer in raving about really good quality service \u2013 especially when it comes to customer support. At Elle Sera, we hold ourselves to an extremely high standard for customer support, and we expect the same from our partners. The same can be said of everyone on the ShipBob team, down to the people picking and packing orders in the fulfilment centre. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember a while ago, I got a call from one of ShipBob\u2019s fulfilment centre associates telling me that for some reason, a fulfilment rule in the system had not been turned on. I was about to panic, but she immediately said to me, \u2018I knew you wouldn\u2019t want to worry about work this weekend, so I’ve taken the liberty of fixing the problem for you.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s things like that, that set ShipBob\u2019s support apart on another level. To not only pinpoint the issue right away but understand the impact it would have on me personally, and take the initiative to fix it, no questions asked \u2013 that proactivity is what makes ShipBob a truly fantastic partner and helps me trust that they have everything under control.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelly Bond, Operations Manager at Elle Sera<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n For more information about how ShipBob can help you manage your global supply chain, click the button below. <\/p>\n\n\n\nKey components of global supply chains <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sourcing and diversification <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Logistics planning <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Risk management <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Production <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Transportation <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Distribution <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Challenges facing international supply chains <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Supply chain visibility and complexity <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Geopolitical tensions and trade policies <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Global health pandemics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Cybersecurity threats <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Environmental concerns and sustainability <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Logistics and transportation volatility <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How ShipBob powers global supply chains <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
End-to-end freight management <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Advanced inventory management systems <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Strategic warehouse locations <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Scalable, omnichannel fulfilment solutions <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Exceptional customer support <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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