How to Manage the Complexities of Global Market Logistics with Brian Glick

11/28/22 • 34 min

For this episode of the eCom Logistics Podcast, we welcome Brian Glick, Founder and CEO of Chain.io. He digs into the complexity of global B2B market logistics and how it can be difficult for new players to enter due to EDI and compliance issues.

Brian also dives into the differences between fulfilling an order in the US and fulfilling orders in Southeast Asia where more than 100 parties are involved—and these parties change with every transaction.

He gives advice on how midmarket brands are best matched with midmarket service providers, as well as how to peel apart the different services to optimize payment terms or routing, an uncomfortable yet necessary process as the company grows.

ABOUT BRIAN

As founder and CEO of Chain.io, Brian Glick has made a career of simplifying complex supply chain and trade compliance IT challenges. Whether analyzing complex coding issues or rationalizing the compliance impacts of a vendor direct drop ship program, Brian brings a rare combination of executive perspective and deep technical knowledge to today’s supply chain challenges.

From the early days of web-based visibility platforms and into today’s connected ecosystem, Brian has been an active leader in each phase of the connected supply chain evolution. With a focus on retail and apparel supply chains, Brian has brought his expertise to bear as an IT leader both within logistics service providers and through independent software companies.

HIGHLIGHTS

06:08 The complexity of global B2B logistics and tiers of fulfillment
11:19 Defining First Mile, Middle Mile, Last Mile Logistics
13:36 The challenge of setting standards and pushing for innovation in 3PLs
24:34 Choose the right investors for your supply chain tech company

QUOTES

10:21 Midmarket companies are best served by midmarket service providers - Brian: "The companies that are more midmarket that you have to do some research and find often will give you an account manager. You'll be a big enough account to them that they will treat you well and help you, when all of this chaos is going on, help you understand, take the time with you that the biggest guys can't."

25:58 Supply chain companies must establish trust with brands - Brian: "Supply chain is a very trust-based industry, whether if you're a service provider or software that supports a service provider, people are putting their brand in your hands. It's not a consumer app that if you screw up... If you screw up Twitter tomorrow, just stop using Twitter. If you screw up the thing that delivers my product to Macy's, I got a problem. So you need investors who understand that."

Find out more about Brian in the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansglick/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bglick
Website: https://chain.io/

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ABOUT BRIAN

HIGHLIGHTS

06:08 The complexity of global B2B logistics and tiers of fulfillment
11:19 Defining First Mile, Middle Mile, Last Mile Logistics
13:36 The challenge of setting standards and pushing for innovation in 3PLs
24:34 Choose the right investors for your supply chain tech company

QUOTES

Find out more about Brian in the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansglick/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bglick
Website: https://chain.io/

Subscribe and Keep Learning!

If you’re a logistics leader looking to scale sustainably, don’t miss out! Subscribe for more expert strategies on tackling modern supply chain challenges.

Be sure to follow and tag the eCom Logistics Podcast on LinkedIn and YouTube

Previous Episode

How to Ship Inventory Across Borders with Steve Bozicevic

For this episode of the eCom Logistics Podcast, we welcome Steve Bozicevic, Sr. Director of New Product Development and GM of Flow Direct, Flexport. Cross-border shipping has evolved in the years since COVID began. From prioritizing speed and reliability, ecommerce brands now focus instead on managing costs and cashflow.

Steven discusses how they serve the SMB market and help them grow by keeping customers happy. He also digs into managing inflation during times of uncertainty and what the future holds for the logistics industry, and in Toronto in particular where Ninaad and Steve are currently based.

ABOUT STEVE

Steve Bozicevic has been in the cross-border ecommerce and logistics technology industry since 2000. Mr. Bozicevic started his career at Borderfree.com as a software developer, then moved on to product management until 2010 when he joined Pitney Bowes and formed the Global Ecommerce division, where as Vice President of Product Management, he developed products and technology that launched and powered Ebay's Global Shipping Program.

In 2016, Steve joined Amazon as the first member of the Amazon Global Logistics organization where he spent nearly six years building global trade-related technology, products and operations to facilitate B2C exports and B2B imports for Retail and FBA. In 2021, Mr. Bozicevic joined Flexport as Sr. Director of New Product Development. In this role, Steve is also General Manager of Flexport Flow Direct, an ocean freight shipping product for ecommerce SMBs; and is responsible for ecommerce platform and marketplace integrations, including the partnership with Shopify.

HIGHLIGHTS

03:20 Steve's journey in cross-border shipping and building technologies
08:50 Flow Direct offers speed and reliability in international shipping for SMBs
14:48 Tips to manage cash flow and costs in Q4
25:23 A growing talent pool for supply chain in Toronto

QUOTES

12:24 COVID transformed business' priorities to speed and reliability - Steve: "Speed was important, but reliability was more important. Knowing when it's going to get there allows the customer to plan ahead on their supply chain and say, If I know it's going to be 20 days or 40 days or 60 days, it's reliable, I can manage my POs, I can manage my cash flow according to reliability."

15:51 Manage cash flow with just-in-time fulfillment - Steven: "Cash is important and how do you best manage your cash flow? In my opinion, similarly to how manufacturing supply chains moved to just-in-time production, I think just-in-time fulfillment is a similar kind of approach. Ordering smaller quantities more frequently, being more reactive to demand trends, making sure that you always got something in transit."

Find out more about Steve in the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbozicevic/
Website: https://www.flexport.com/

Subscribe and Keep Learning!

If you’re a logistics leader looking to scale sustainably, don’t miss out! Subscribe for more expert strategies on tackling modern supply chain challenges.

Be sure to follow and tag the eCom Logistics Podcast on LinkedIn and YouTube

Next Episode

How to Revamp eCommerce Fulfillment Through Partnerships with Brittain Ladd

For this episode of the eCom Logistics Podcast, we welcome Brittain Ladd, Strategy Advisor Shatranj Capital Partners. Brittain's no-holds-barred insights on management and logistics have not only captured people's attention, but they have also even proven to be accurate given how many of his predictions have come true.

He discusses some of the biggest companies in the world like Amazon, Twitter, and TikTok, and gives hot takes on what they are doing wrong and how they can make it right. He comments on the recent layoffs at Amazon and how he believes it is only the beginning and a symptom of a much larger shift that will affect entire industries worldwide.

Brittain then digs into how partnerships can change e-commerce by providing social commerce platforms the established fulfillment infrastructure they need to deliver goods to the consumer. He also discusses in great detail the flaws of the quick commerce model and how fulfillment should be a question of accurate delivery versus quick delivery.

ABOUT BRITTAIN

Brittain has 20 years of experience in supply chain management and logistics. He has lived and worked in China, India, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the United States. Brittain is a global strategy and supply chain consultant and a writer for Forbes and his own website, brittainladd.com. Brittain is also recognized as being one of the most accurate analysts in business.

He successfully predicted multiple major acquisitions more than a year in advance of them occurring, including Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, Microsoft and Walmart partnering to bid on TikTok, and most recently, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Brittain is frequently quoted in the press and often appears on major news networks like CNN, Fox Business, and the BBC.

HIGHLIGHTS

01:37 Posting thought-provoking ideas and predictions on social media

08:52 Amazon's mistake and getting down to its optimal fighting weight

18:47 Twitter can change e-commerce with shoppable videos

25:43 Instead of creating their own fulfillment, TiktTok should partner with Amazon/Walmart/Target/Shopify

35:42 Quick commerce is a failure: Fast delivery vs accurate delivery

QUOTES

23:51 Shoppable videos can save Twitter - Brittain: "I believe the way that Elon Musk saves Twitter and makes Twitter completely different is through shoppable videos and, I think, absolutely, that what Elon Musk should be doing is we need short-form videos, shoppable videos, and for every shoppable video we put on Twitter, we take 12% of all sales, and I think the goal should be for every shoppable video that Elon Musk puts on Twitter, that it generates 100 to 250 million in sales."

25:50 TikTok should acquire Shopify for its fulfillment infrastructure - Brittain: "I think, number one, TikTok needs to do something above and beyond than just opening up their own fulfillment centers. I think what TikTok needs to do is, again, change how commerce is done on the platform. So I think what would be very interesting is if TikTok acquires Shopify, so where now I have Shopify, I have a Shopify storefront on TikTok, and so then what happens is I immediately see a video come across but it's a video from a storefront, and without having to go to a website, I see it, I buy it. And that's how I refer to what I think is the next big thing in commerce. I say see, buy. I see it, I buy it. I'm not going to websites."

Find out more about Brittain in the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittainladd/
Website: https://brittainladd.com/
Email: [email protected]

Subscribe and Keep Learning!

If you’re a logistics leader looking to scale sustainably, don’t miss out! Subscribe for more expert strategies on tackling modern supply chain challenges.

Be sure to follow and tag the eCom Logistics Podcast on LinkedIn and YouTube