Extensiv - delivering omnichannel software solutions for warehouse, inventory, and order management - today announced Extensiv Network Manager to help third-party logistics (3PLs) providers build and manage networks of geographically distributed partner warehouses where a brand’s inventory is distributed across and shipped from multiple warehouses, enabling lower cost, expedited delivery options while retaining customer relationships, reducing risk and capital overhead.
Extensiv Network Manager combines software, services, tools, and relationships that empower any 3PL, even those operating out of a single warehouse, to partner closely with other 3PLs to service brands across multiple geographically distributed warehouses. Unlike current homegrown solutions that 3PLs may have cobbled together, Extensiv Network Manager offers the key capabilities necessary to build and operate a hybrid network, including sophisticated order routing rules as well as complete visibility and control over all orders regardless of which node is shipping them.
Until now 3PLs looking to build this type of sophisticated fourth-party logistics (4PL) network have had to raise massive funding rounds to pay for the costly software development associated with these models. For the first time, Extensiv Network Manager offers a productized offering that allows even 3PLs with limited technical capabilities to build and operate a software-enabled fulfillment network to compete with the likes of Ship Bob and Deliverr. Additionally, unlike home grown software solutions, Extensiv Network Manager is a cloud-based fully productized and supported product that will continue to be developed and enhanced.
“Extensiv Network Manager leverages the company’s deep experience working with 3PLs and its industry-leading 3PL warehouse operations platform to offer sophisticated fulfillment capabilities while continuing to operate their warehouses using 3PL Warehouse Manager. Consumer expectations are at an all-time high. Inflation has only increased the need to keep shipping costs down, but consumers still expect fast, and often next-day, delivery,” said David Miller, vice president of strategy at Extensiv. “Single or even two warehouse fulfillment approaches force brands to choose between paying exorbitant prices for unprofitable expedited shipping or choosing low-cost saver services, which results in painfully slow delivery times.”
Early adopters have seen positive results already, with one customer, Rocket Shippers using Extensiv Network Manager to lower shipping costs while decreasing transit times by intelligently routing orders to the best-fit fulfillment center in their network.
“The Network Manager team did an amazing job streamlining our order routing rules,” said Matthew Schneider Senior Account Manager at Rocket Shippers. “Network Manager has made it so much easier to process Seller Fulfilled Prime orders in our network as well as providing inventory visibility across multiple facilities.”
Solving Problems for 3PLs and Brands
As a brand’s expectations of their fulfillment partners grow, 3PLs need a low-risk, low-cost option to bring customers distributed inventory and omnichannel fulfillment services while retaining direct relationships with these brands. Space restrictions, start-up costs, risk volatility, and other considerations keep smaller 3PLs from expanding into new facilities, thus limiting their ability to service growing brands and making their offering less competitive.
Many brands have tried to build their own multi-3PL fulfillment strategies to offer faster or less expensive delivery. In the modern technology-enabled supply chain, brands require the consistency of service that can only be delivered by operating on a standard technology platform with an identical configuration and shipping strategy across every node. In today’s era of heightened consumer expectations, brands need to efficiently support not just ecommerce deliveries, but omnichannel fulfillment. Extensiv Network Manager helps 3PLs deliver on these rising expectations.
Introducing Extensiv Network Manager
Extensiv Network Manager enables 3PL warehouses to build relationships with other 3PLs to expand their footprint and compete at scale, while ensuring brands have a seamless and consistent experience across all the nodes. Extensiv Network Manager provides the technology to operate a reliable network of partner 3PL warehouses, working together to expand geographic reach, increase service offerings, and improve SLAs while reducing overall operating expenses for themselves and their customers.
3PLs utilize Extensiv Network Manager for:
To complement Extensiv Network Manager’s software capabilities, Extensiv launched an array of services to guide 3PLs through the process of setting up a collaborative 4PL network. These services range from needs analysis, collaboration on partner identification based upon geography or service offering, as well as implementation services to initially configure the fulfillment network.
Extensiv Network Manager builds on the recently launched Extensiv Fulfillment Marketplace, a free resource that empowers 3PLs to identify potential network partners that offer a complementary geographic footprint and/or services.
To learn more about Extensiv Network Manager, go to: www.extensiv.com/extensiv-network-manager.
To find 3PL partners and build your network, go to: www.extensiv.com/fulfillment-marketplace.
About Extensiv
Extensiv, formerly 3PL Central, is a visionary technology leader focused on creating the future of omnichannel fulfillment. We partner with warehouse professionals and entrepreneurial brands to transform their fulfillment operations in the radically changing world of commerce and consumer expectations. Through our unrivaled network of more than 1,500 connected 3PLs and a suite of integrated, cloud-native warehouse management (WMS), order management (OMS), and inventory management (IMS) software, we enable modern merchants and brands to fulfill demand anywhere with superior flexibility and scale without painful platform migrations as they grow. More than 25,000 logistics professionals and thousands of brands trust Extensiv every day to drive commerce at the pace that modern consumers expect.