| Industry | Retail: Kitchenware |
|---|---|
| Annual Revenue | Approx. ¥500 million |
| Logistics Hubs | 2 Locations (Kanto & Chugoku Regions) |
| Delivery Carriers | 3 carriers per hub (6 in total) |
| Services Provided | Delivery Optimization / Demand Map Creation / Carrier Selection Flow Setup / Order Data Integration |
Sales were stable, yet profit margins were dropping year by year—the biggest cause was soaring shipping costs. Logistics costs have been on a rising trend across the industry in recent years, and this client was no exception. However, not knowing "where and what to cut," their profits continued to be slowly eroded.
They maintained two hubs in the Kanto and Chugoku regions, contracting with three delivery carriers at each hub. But each carrier had differences in their strong areas and supported package sizes, meaning the cheapest carrier varied by product size and destination. Because the person in charge was deciding based on experience and intuition, they couldn't even verify if the optimal choices were being made.
What Meets Consulting tackled was "eliminating guesswork." We quantified all sales and delivery data from the past two years, thoroughly clarifying "which products are most ordered from which regions" and "which carrier is the cheapest for each size and area," before designing the optimal system. From analysis and design to negotiations with warehouses and carriers, Meets Consulting handled it all seamlessly.
First, we analyzed the past two years of order data by product and region, creating a demand map visualizing "which regions order which products the most." This clarified which items should be stocked at the Kanto hub versus the Chugoku hub, building the foundation for shortening delivery distances and optimizing inventory placement.
Next, for the three contracted carriers at each hub (six total), we compared and organized rates for every combination of product size and delivery area. We also compared them against industry averages to pinpoint cases where the company's shipping costs were relatively high. We built a cost map making it clear at a glance "which carrier is cheapest for which size and area."
Based on the analysis results, we built a flow that automatically selects the cheapest carrier by combining product size masters with the buyer's postal code. By creating a system that automatically links to order data, the staff no longer had to judge every order manually, achieving optimal carrier selection without increasing workload. Furthermore, Meets Consulting handled negotiations with warehouses and carriers on their behalf.
Once the system became operational, the shipping cost ratio dropped by 4%. For a 500 million yen business, a 4% improvement in the shipping ratio has a direct and massive impact on profits. Moreover, because the automated flow is established, operational workload remains identical to before the engagement, with absolutely no added burden on the staff.
This case demonstrates the principle that "cost reduction isn't achieved by just cutting, but by designing correctly." By replacing intuition-based carrier selection with data and systematic processes, structural profit margin improvement was realized.
"I never thought they would analyze things in such intricate detail. It was very reassuring that they even negotiated with the warehouses and delivery carriers for us. Our shipping costs vary significantly depending on size, but we had never compared ours to the industry average before, so this led to new realizations."— Retail (Kitchenware), Manager
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