This year marked a huge milestone for our company: the first ever Extensiv Edge conference! In the last week of September, Extensiv hosted our first user conference to discuss industry trends and share company insights and product roadmaps with our customers in Park City, Utah. To learn about or register for upcoming Extensiv Edge conferences, check out www.edge.extensiv.com.
Read on to see what we covered at this incredible event!
Extensiv Edge User Conference Kickoff
Andy Lloyd, CEO of Extensiv, kicked off the user conference by delivering the primary message that our mission is to help brands and third-party logistics (3PL) warehouses streamline their warehouse operations and improve business operations.
Extensiv’s goals are to seamlessly connect the ecosystem, identify ways in which Extensiv can partner with our customers to identify mega-trends in robotics and automation, and leverage generative AI as we work with our customers to develop a dynamic hybrid fulfillment model.
New fulfillment models are emerging monthly; Extensiv wants to be the technology platform and partner of choice who is at the forefront of this trend, delivering on the promise of helping our clients build dynamic fulfillment networks. We recognize the industry is moving away from building new warehouses, instead choosing partners who are already strategically placed to meet brands’ fulfillment needs.
Our brands customers remain focused on sales and product development as well as cultivating customer loyalty. Because of this focus, they have come to rely on the expectation that the fulfillment side of their operations execute flawlessly.
Our 3PL customers excel in fulfillment operations, however their marketplace challenges include facing increased competition for customers, from both other 3PLs and from 4PLs. For our 3PL customers, integrations are essential, but we recognize they can be error prone.
In the Q&A, Andy reiterated our team’s commitment to unification, seamless integration of our platform, continuing education, and the ability to use the billing and automation data we collect to provide benchmarking data to our clients.
Navigating the Future of Fulfillment
David Miller, Extensiv’s VP of Strategy, talked about our industry being at the height of the hype cycle of artificial intelligence, with the masses recognizing the power of what OpenAI (via ChatGPT, among other generative AI tools) can do for us to improve workflows.
The use cases for AI in fulfillment span an impressive and broad spectrum, including demand forecasting, inventory management, route optimization, quality control, dynamic pricing, supply chain predictive analytics, customer insights, return prediction, environmental impact reduction... and the list continues.
Does this introduce a change to our foundational strategy for how we do fulfillment? Among David’s 5-year predictions was the need for logistics professionals to double down on delivery experience as a differentiator and expand this to all pickup methods. In addition to this, automation will no longer be for the early adopters as AI and data analytics become widely accepted.
David ended the presentation with a checklist that brands and 3PLs can reference as they plan for the AI-driven future state of fulfillment:
- Unify your technology stack.
- Diversify your carriers.
- Go all digital.
- Plan for frictionless vendor and client acquisition.
- Think beyond your warehouse.
Marketplace Magic – Empowering Brands & Optimizing 3PLs
Marketplace and ecommerce expert Joana McKenna underscored the importance of understanding market dynamics and taking a customer-centric approach. Equally important is the backend efficiency, which includes optimizing supply chains, achieving inventory management excellence, as well as agile fulfillment (or the capability to scale up/scale down and pivot quickly).
One of Joana’s predictions was that green supply chain practices will become required in the next 3-5 years. Our 3PL audience will want to publicize their sustainability-focused efforts as they start adopting eco-friendly packaging, optimizing transportation routes, and reducing energy consumption in the warehouse.
Where omnichannel selling is concerned, one of Joana’s points was that not every seller or brand has to use FBA to be successful; the challenge is to understand how diversifying your sales channels can expand your audience. Her advice to brands is to evaluate all different channels instead of putting all their eggs in one basket. Leverage 3PL partners to help them diversify into new selling and distribution channels. Consider them as an active partner in your strategic planning & initiatives.
A 3PL provider’s role in achieving omnichannel excellence includes synchronizing inventory management, streamlining order fulfillment, and seamlessly integrating systems (ideally, via plug-ins or APIs) for operational efficiency. She advised that 3PLs should also be thinking more about how they market their services and articulate their value proposition.
She ended her presentation emphasizing the need for brands and 3PLs to work together to reach a larger audience and drive sustainable growth. Transparent, mutually beneficial relationships between brands and 3PLs are going to change the landscape and broaden the ecosystem.
3PL Annual Benchmark Report Survey Highlights
Rachel Trindade, CMO of Extensiv, delivered a pre-read of the 3PL Benchmark Survey analysis to user conference attendees.
Some of the key points she highlighted were that warehouse capacity is less constrained than in previous years, which should encourage 3PLs to get creative with excess capacity, either by partnering or diversifying their services.
Alongside this, labor costs are rising, implying that 3PLs should be focused on building programs to grow, engage, and attract workers. To increase profitability, 3PL warehouse owners should find ways to reduce the lag time between performing the work on behalf of their clients and getting paid for their services as this continues to be an operational challenge.
For more in-depth discussion and insights with Extensiv CMO Rachel Trindade, sign up for our live webinar on October 17, 2023. We’ll send you a link to the replay and a copy of the full report once it is released.
Customer and Product-Focused Sessions
As part of the inaugural user conference, the agenda for our general sessions and customer advisory board tracks included an array of product-specific sessions that were of high interest to our customers.
Tailored to our Brands vs. 3PL audiences, these sessions included:
- Extensiv’s product roadmap & vision
- Customer round-table discussions, with Q&A from the audience
- Business Intelligence insights (Sales Analytics dashboard for brands and Labor Analytics dashboard for 3PLs)
- Optimizing billing and payments
- Automating small parcel shipping and carrier diversification
- Leveraging integrations and EDI connections
Closing Remarks
We wrapped up the Edge conference on a high note, recognizing our customers for their outstanding achievements in expansion, innovation and order volume growth.
Our team at Extensiv was thrilled with the engagement and feedback from all of our customers, along with the outstanding effort and commitment to execution excellence from our internal team and stakeholders. We can’t thank our customers enough for making this a huge success!
We’re already looking forward to 2024! For more information about next year’s user conference, visit our 2024 user conference event page for updates and follow our social media channels.
