Today I’m joined by the pioneering digital retail brand, Narvar.

Narvar’s end-to-end post-purchase platform focuses on driving customer loyalty and increasing lifetime value through the provision of a seamless post-purchase experience. Recognized by Fast Company as one of its “most innovative companies”, Narvar serves 80% of US adults annually across 2 billion outbound shipments and 80 million returns.

Today, Amit Sharma, Founder and CEO at Narvar, joins me to talk all about Narvar and what they do; their mission to simplify the everyday lives of consumers; transforming returns and exchanges from a cost center to a competitive advantage; and leveraging intelligent communication to boost consumer trust, create memorable shopping experiences, and maximize conversions.

Guest bio:

Amit Sharma is the CEO and Founder of Narvar, bringing over 20 years of industry experience and retail domain expertise from his tenure at Williams Sonoma, Walmart, and Apple. At Narvar, he is dedicated to driving seamless customer experiences across the supply chain. Known for his innovative ideas, Amit continues to push boundaries both at the office and while running barefoot. He holds a BS in Engineering and an MBA from Duke University.

IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:

[07.56] Amit’s career journey, and how it led him to establish Narvar.

[10.12] An overview of Narvar – who they are, what they do, and how they help their customers.

“Online, after we buy, there’s a waiting period. And often that waiting period is overlooked, or under-invested. We help businesses engage their customers with the intention of driving long term loyalty and advocacy.”

[12.54] The ideal client for Narvar.

[14.28] Amit’s take on the biggest e-commerce challenges right now, especially when it comes to the post-purchase experience.

“Once you buy a product, it’s a chore. ‘Find a tracking number; When can I get it?; Do I have to be at home,?; Will the package be secure?’… There are all these questions that lead to anxiety about the order you placed. So the challenge is to build the trust every step of the way.”

“There’s a disconnect… you have to understand the customers context and provide the right information at the right time.”

[17.13] Narvar’s mission to simplify the everyday lives of consumers, and why taking care of retail customers isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good business.

“Everything is “and” now. It has to be cheaper AND it has to be faster AND it has to be on time AND it has to be an amazing customer experience.”

“Consumers want returns policies and processes that are easy to understand and follow… and making it convenient is better for the retailer as well.”

[25.18] Why 60% of shoppers are more likely to choose a retailer that can tell them the exact date a package will arrive at the time of order; and the role of Narvar’s ‘Promise’ solution in helping retailers utilize intelligent delivery estimates to drive conversion and deliver transparency.

“Given a choice, customers select visibility and predictability of delivery dates versus faster delivery. And, from the merchant perspective, we then see consumers buy more, and make less customer service enquiries, because you’ve built trust and confidence…. There’s a big benefit from setting that expectation.”

[31.46] How Narvar helps retailers continue to communicate with consumers using post-purchase marketing and different touchpoints to keep them informed, but also boost trust, keep experience levels high and upsell.

[35.35] The challenge of returns, and how Narvar helps retailers to find the balance of retaining revenue and reducing costs, whilst also offering customers easy, convenient, positive experiences.

“All of the data and sophistication gets applied on the acquisition side, but not much on the retention side. Returns is an opportunity for that.”

[40.38] Why Narvar is fostering collaboration between retailers, and how a unique relationship with Kohl’s is setting a standard for smoother, cheaper, and more sustainable returns experiences for brands and consumers alike.

“Cheaper, convenient, and beneficial for everybody.”

[44.42] The upcoming trends and opportunities in the ecommerce industry that we should be looking out for.

“Using intelligence, the supply chain is going to get more and more intuitive, more consumer-friendly, and more cost-effective for all the players involved.”

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:

Head over to Narvar’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with Narvar and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and X (Twitter), or you can connect with Amit on LinkedIn.

Check out our other podcasts HERE.

Today I’m joined by unique global freight forwarder, Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW).

EFW is one of the leading domestic and international freight forwarders in the US, providing customized logistics solutions for clients around the world and across all industries including retail, government, automotive, health services and technology. Whether it’s air, ground, or ocean freight, they take a personal approach, and are passionate about fostering the best customer relationships possible, and exceeding expectations each and every time. A subsidiary of Estes Express Lines, and with over 400 employees nationwide, the company earned its billionth dollar in revenue in 2017.

Today Michael Campese, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Estes Forwarding Worldwide, joins me to chat all about the company: what they do; the rising focus on home delivery; moving from fixed to flexible; and why everyone needs to be thinking about capacity.

IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:

[07.29] The evolution of EFW, and on overview of their broad range of services.

“Some of our best customers are those that we get to do a lot of things for. A lot of our relationships start with one or two solutions, and they grow and expand.”

[10.11] The current landscape of the trucking industry, the main challenges, and how EFW are tackling these challenges to help their customers gain a competitive advantage.

“We’re not constrained… we have 10,000 asset providers that we work with, and we’re backed by this great network.”

[13.49] A closer look at EFW’s Net Promoter Score and the growing importance of customer service and satisfaction.

“It’s not just: ‘on a scale of one to ten, how happy were you, how satisfied were you?’ It’s: ‘how likely would you be to refer us?’ And that’s a more critical lens.”

[17.31] The ecommerce boom: the changes EFW have seen over the last few years, the challenges that the industry is still facing, and how EFW are responding.

“Supply chain is full of bottlenecks and opportunities for things to go wrong… great partners are the ones that try to get ahead, try to learn ‘why did that happen last time and lets avoid it in the future’ – but when it does happen, they recover quickly.”

[19.13] A closer look at EFW’s warehousing capacity and solutions, and how they can scale and flex to meet changing customer demand in a volatile market.

“Being a forwarder and a logistics provider, and also having space, has allowed us to come to our customers… who couldn’t rely on just-in-time inventory anymore, and we’ve been able to pull that into our facilities and help them in a lot of ways.”

[21.14] An insight into how, and why, customers typically engage with EFW, and how they work together to create the right solution.

[22.52] The ideal client for ESW.

“Our ideal clients want to come to the table, in earnest, and have good strategic conversations…. It’s collaborative.”

[24.28] A case study showing how EFW helped a key customer to tackle capacity constraints and delivery restrictions in order to meet quickly rising product demand during COVID.

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:

Head over to EFW’s website now to find out more and discover how they could help you too. You can also connect with EFW and keep up to date with the latest over on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook, or you can connect with Michael on LinkedIn.

If you enjoyed this episode, why not check out episode 285, Unlock the Power of Partnerships, with Cargo Chief and Hubtek, or read our blog Managing Crisis and Adversity in Uncertain Times: What We Have Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic and What to Do and Not Do When Facing a Crisis.

Check out our other podcasts HERE.

And this month, we’re proud to feature Sydney Badger in our Women in supply chain blog series. Sydney is the co-founder for Public Habit, an organization committing to cutting the waste out of the fashion supply chain.

She has over a decade of experience in fashion, product marketing, and learning what fuels consumers—and supply chains. Sydney has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Chinese from Brown University and a bachelor’s degree in Advanced Chinese from Capital Normal University.

What started your supply chain journey?

I grew up in England and was great at languages—leading me to study Mandarin in the United States. Junior year, I studied abroad in Beijing and landed my first internship working for a UK-based apparel company—working in quality control and production management from Qingdao, China.

That internship sparked a life-long curiosity and interest in China and the rapid business development I’ve witnessed first-hand since 2008. I moved to Shanghai after college, but I didn’t get back into retail and supply chain operations until I was stateside again—trying to stay connected to global trade and China specifically.

Ralph Lauren brought me onto the Asia-Pacific merchandising team–a function I didn’t know a thing about–that’s where I learned retail and fashion—from the ground up. From there, I was recruited to Amazon’s retail team, and my world was opened up even more to the scale of a global supply chain and to the possibilities of enabling global trade.

In 2018, I left corporate to start Public Habit with my co-founder, Zakhar. And we made it our mission to disrupt the global fashion supply chain to provide more value for consumers and suppliers while minimizing waste in the system.

What did you learn about yourself along the way?

I learned that I appreciate efficiency and that the beauty of an open-market organization—like Amazon—resonates with me. Marketplaces facilitate global commerce and can create value for organizations and consumers who wouldn’t typically have access and visibility to broad customer bases or selections, respectively.

I learned that everyone, no matter where they are from, their background, or who they work for, has something to teach me.

What challenges made you who you are today?

Building a company, period. It’s very challenging and once you’ve solved one challenge, it’s onto the next. For instance, developing long-term relationships with suppliers who still have a transactional mindset. We look at our suppliers as our production team.

We are sales and marketing, and that level of trust and collaboration takes equal investments of time and work. Out of around 200 suppliers that we vetted to join us on Public Habit, just three met our requirements today because of MOQs, flexibility, and the willingness to work in a new way. But we only need three to start.

What does good mentorship look like to you?

Having a co-founder has made the journey to building Public Habit much more enjoyable, rewarding, and, just easier. I never had a mentor or advisor before this partnership.

Good mentors–like my co-founder and I–are willing to have tough conversations with you. That allows you to surface uncomfortable truths or feelings that you may not have otherwise articulated and helps work through them.

They effectively empower you to solve problems yourself because, however much we, as founders, may doubt ourselves at times, typically we know what to do. Everyone sometimes needs  a nudge and boost to pull the trigger.

What do you want readers to know about sustainability and supply chain?

I am heartened by how much of a driving factor sustainability is becoming for consumers. They are demanding information and brands are responding. That will trickle down through the supply chain at some point, but there is still a long way to go.

There’s still a lot we can do differently in the fashion industry. The fundamental challenge in most supply chains is how complex and opaque they are—making sustainability and transparency a challenging pursuit.

In fashion, a single t-shirt typically touches at least 12 different hands before reaching the consumer. Most retail brands don’t know much beyond their finished goods suppliers.

A marketplace like Etsy does a much better job than a typical brand like The Gap in connecting customers and manufacturers directly. You know what you’re getting, the origin, and the person behind the product.

That’s the first step towards accountability that just doesn’t exist in most fashion supply chains today.

What aspect of the retail supply chain made sustainability a core part of your personal and professional mission?

No one is benefiting from the current system, it just stopped making sense to me. Suppliers, brands, customers, and the environment deserve more. I couldn’t rationalize why brands were planning their orders 12-18 months ahead of time, marking up their products immensely to manage the storage, logistics, markdowns, and liquidations.

I’m excited about flipping the supply chain dichotomy to a demand-driven model that listens to customers first and produces on-demand to minimize waste, eliminate unnecessary markups, and create more value for everyone.

What else inspires you?

Travel. I have been fortunate to travel extensively in my life and career. I always wanted a career that would scratch my itch for travel, provide exposure to new cultures and people, and opportunities to solve hard problems.

My opportunity—and responsibility—at Public Habit is to do just that. I meet people, go out in the world and learn from others, asking questions, and solving problems. It’s pretty cool, tiring, but cool.

What’s next?

Well, I’m almost five months pregnant with my first kid, plus, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic and a pretty unstable global situation. So, excessive travel isn’t in my immediate future.

But I’m excited about taking this time to leapfrog our efforts to build Public Habit into an industry-changing company. Now is the time for a new kind of business model that is more sustainable and efficient that creates more value—across the chain. That’s exciting enough for me.

Meet Our Sponsor

This Women in supply chain feature was made possible by our sponsor, Shipz. The middle layer of companies that import and export want to work with forwarders, but are limited by the current process. Meanwhile, forwarders are equally strained by the amount of “free” work they do, and by being treated as a bank—they would be happy to focus on what they do best—moving freight. There is a growing disconnect, that could be devastating to the industry if left unaddressed.

Shipz is a neutral bid-and-shipping platform for mid-market shippers, providing forwarders with a safe space to stay in the ring. Forwarders benefit from direct access to shippers and instant bookings. Shipz closes the gap and alleviates the hassle for carriers by providing shippers directly with shipping info, benchmarking, and payment options.

About the Author:

Naomi Garnice is the Director of Marketing for MicroAge where she leads the marketing team and creative strategy. Naomi has been a content marketer for 14 years and is passionate about creating engaging content that matters. Throughout her career in marketing for technology, healthcare and supply chain organizations, Naomi has advocated to highlight female thought leaders in male-dominated industries.