A Retailer’s Guide To Multi-Node Fulfillment

Whether your retail business calls ecommerce or a physical store home, in order to meet customers where they are, you’ve likely developed an omnichannel presence. If you’re seasoned in that business model or about to dive in, it might be a good time to explore optimizing your order fulfillment process with a multi-node solution. Here’s why. 

Consumers expect quick-turn order-to-delivery. And as exciting as increasing orders can be, actually managing the scale and added complexities that come with growth is a tall task. By using multi-node fulfillment in your operations, you can get closer to your customers through shortened delivery times and shipping cost reductions.  

What Is Multi-Node Fulfillment?  

A logistics “node” is a point within a supply chain where goods are processed, stored, or transferred. For retailers, there may be only one node, a warehouse for example, responsible for storing products, and picking, packing, and shipping them to complete the order fulfillment cycle. These nodes aren’t limited to warehouses—distribution centers and transit hubs are referred to as nodes too.  

Logistics nodes are essential to managing inventory, optimizing delivery routes, and reducing transit times. They help suppliers, carriers, and retailers coordinate their efforts and keep to customer commitments, ensuring timely and cost-effective distribution of goods.  

When omnichannel retailers expand their footprint and operate using nodes in multiple locations (a multi-node strategy), it enhances their efficiency, responsiveness, and ability to scale. 

Benefits of Multi-Node Fulfillment 

As retailers expand business in new channels and grow their presence in more locations, it adds visibility. Subsequently, the added activity increases your customer base, and sales, likely what you’re looking for. More orders intensify warehousing and distribution processes, which are easily handled through multi-node fulfillment. 

Online shoppers are affected by the same behaviors and trends as those who try and buy at their nearest brick-and-mortar. Seasonal shifts affect demand and can create stockouts or excess inventory depending on location and time of year. But with multi-node logistics, ecommerce retailers can adjust inventory levels to meet customer demands in varied locations, supporting fluctuating and volatile markets with agile solutions. 

The Impacts to Business  

Shifting from single- to multi-node logistics can come with hiccups, especially during the process of moving from one location to many. But the good news is the challenges that have you considering multi-node, once implemented, are immediately resolved.  

Reduced lead times.
With multiple fulfillment nodes, products can be stored closer to where your customers are, tightening timelines from order to pick, pack, ship, and delivery. More distribution channels available to move your product creates convenience for retailers and their customers, allowing your brand to maintain and increase its competitive edge.  

Inventory management in real-time. 
Imagine being able to avoid operational disruptions. Multi-node logistics act like a safety net so when disruptions happen, and they do, your business can rise above. It’s hard to avoid the complications that come after a natural disaster hits or when a product promotion worked better than expected, creating a demand spike. But with multi-node locations, solutions are an inventory transfer away.  

Once the inventory challenge is averted, data reporting analysis can give a snapshot of how well multi-node solutions responded, while indicating areas of improvement and suggestions on how other routes may also prove beneficial for the future. 

More cost savings, for less. 
Multi-node could feel like another word for expansion, and that implies added costs. Instead, consider how having nodes to choose from allows room for negotiating routes and rates, while boosting risk management efficiency.  

Almost fool-proof. 
Protecting omnichannel fulfillment cycles isn’t about finding more eggs, it’s having more baskets to carry them in. When you operate under a single-logistics hub, it may seem easier to control, and it is—until the unexpected happens. Now your only option is out of commission, and so is your productivity. By going multi-node, you’ve created a business safety net of other storage and logistics resources, ready to step in.

Improving the customer experience. 
With more ways to increase brand reliability and business resiliency, customers gain confidence with every shopping and fulfillment experience. Because multi-node operations reduce delivery times, this strategy helps bring an added level of assurance, where brand loyalty happens without a second thought and growth is a natural part of the process. 

Is a Multi-node Fulfillment Strategy Right for You?  

Changing your logistics strategy and considering going multi-node can feel like a big undertaking, and preparing for the shift involves dissecting many pieces. Now that you know the benefits a multi-node strategy can provide your omnichannel business, you could still question if it’s right for you. 

The answer could be in whether you’re ready to let go of the logistics complications you have.  

Unnecessary costs.
For small-to-midsize retailers, logistics costs aren’t just expensive, volume-based pricing breaks may hover in the distant future of your growth, not to mention for kitting and packing too.
Multi-node gives you the advantages of being part of a larger operation. 

Delivery disappointments.
It wouldn’t be a day too soon if customer complaint calls about late deliveries ended.
Multi-node enables retailers to deliver seamless order experiences.  

Inventory out of control.
Having too much or too little product creates unavoidable stress in your call centers, and warehouse and distribution facilities. Accounting and purchasing personnel won’t be thrilled either.
Multi-node creates dynamic inventory solutions, for inventory flows that meet customer demand where it lives. 

Unreasonable expectations.
Encapsulating what customers really want in the fulfillment experience is how brands can deliver the ‘perfect’ order. And for shipping, it’s fast, free or don’t bother. Omnichannel retailers are bound to the customer promises made, and the consequences of those they cannot keep.
Multi-node operations shorten fulfillment timelines, even during operational disruptions, to keep business moving and expectations met. 

WSI Streamlines Multi-Node Fulfillment for Omnichannel Brands

Making the decision to shift into multi-node operations isn’t a process you have to do alone. It’s best to start the conversation with a reliable and trusted 3PL provider that knows the ins and outs of multi-node logistics and where and when it makes sense to implement. 

Omnichannel and ecommerce brands operating in multiple states or from coast-to-coast will quickly find value in multi-node strategies. Being able to store, pull, and ship inventory from many locations adds time- and cost-efficiencies not otherwise found without multi-mode use. 

With over 13 million square feet of warehouse space across the U.S., WSI serves omnichannel brands and retail businesses by optimizing operations and customer experiences at multiple locations, from inventory and loading, and order to end-delivery. And with integrated technologies, greater visibility and transparency are yours and your customers, from day one. 

Ready to create a new logistics success story? Connect with a WSI omnichannel fulfillment expert and learn how to get started with multi-node today.