Logistics company exceeds B2B expectations with SPS for 3PLs

The challenge

Jay Group is a 60-year-old, industry-leading 3PL Logistics Services company specializing in dual coast order fulfillment, specialty packaging and warehousing services.

As they expanded from best-in-class eCommerce solutions to business-to-business customers, they realized they could benefit from expert guidance and modern solutions to meet the specialized needs of B2B.

While drop-shipping eCommerce orders was a relatively straightforward process, when it came to the demands of B2B, it was difficult to understand and meet the differing compliance standards of multiple retailers using their existing processes.

Manually printing labels or working through the process of using labels that were sent to them was a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, eating up staff time for hours at a stretch. From gathering the information needed for each PO, to manually printing, sorting and preparing shipments, it could take a full work day to complete, with high potential for errors along the way. Incorrect labeling—such as applying labels to the wrong PO or pulling the wrong orders— could lead to client chargebacks, forcing Jay Group to issue credits.

Adding new customers also brought new complexities. While one retailer required a specific label and a particular way to have the pallet shipped and labeled, other retailers had their own set of requirements. While trial and error may have worked as a startup, as an industry leader, Jay Group knew they needed to level up.

The solution

Their first goal was to figure out how to achieve compliance and eliminate the need for manual label printing. It just made sense to look for an expert partnership for guidance, which is when SPS Commerce became involved.

“We were looking for the best opportunity,” said Nicole Davis, Onboarding Project Manager at Jay Group. With an eye on retailer depth and familiarity with their WMS, they chose to implement SPS for 3PLs, which seamlessly integrated with Manhattan WMS via API to automate their processes.

“We learned a lot of things working with SPS. We learned how everything really should be from a B2B and dropship standpoint. It’s really helped everyone that it’s integrated…it allows our team to spend their time doing other things that are more important than sitting there waiting for thousands of labels to print out.”

— Nicole Davis, Onboarding Project Manager at Jay Group

The results

Automating their processes with SPS has freed up time for both Jay Group and their clients.

Before using SPS, they’d have to create orders manually in the system, print labels, sort them, wave the orders and prepare to ship.

“Everything leading up to there has essentially gone away,” said Davis.

From a customer perspective, clients can now skip time-consuming steps like compiling order data, generating case labels and waiting for them to print, all before they even begin prepping a shipment.

Label accuracy has been very high since integration. “Nothing is 100%, but I’d say 99% accurate. I have not heard of any chargebacks for incorrect case labeling or anything along those lines since we’ve integrated,” said Davis.

This translates to an estimated time savings of around five to eight hours per PO on average, and an estimated 75% decrease in chargebacks.

The time savings are critical. “It really helps with labor planning, making sure that we don’t have an account manager spending eight hours working on labels when they could be working on other things. Now that’s all streamlined, received in and done. They don’t even have to touch it.”

They are also expanding their B2B capabilities with a dedicated team and view SPS integration as a way to attract more clients who are seeking both D2C and B2B distribution channels.

When they sign that new client, automating processes has also streamlined their onboarding. While it used to take months to onboard a new retailer, they’ve been able to reduce the time to around six weeks per retailer.

“The knowledge that you guys provide to us to be able to work better and learn more about B2B has been incredibly helpful for our clients and ourselves.”

— Nicole Davis, Onboarding Project Manager at Jay Group