A new partnership between Smart Warehousing and C2FO provides one stop for businesses to manage their inventory and generate more cash flow—all at greater speed and operational flexibility, with less cost.
Thousands of dollars in discounts and other incentives are available to Smart Warehousing customers who partner with C2FO.
It’s a common challenge for a growing business: your company is breaking into a new market or launching a product. You need affordable, flexible warehousing space for your inventory. You need logistics and scale to deliver large orders for your customers with ease.
Finally, you need working capital to fund this expansion to your business.
What if you could quickly accomplish all three of these endeavors from one source—with greater convenience and at less cost? What if you could essentially press a single button to control your cash flow, warehousing and logistics?
A partnership between C2FO and Smart Warehousing makes that possible. C2FO is a financial technology platform that allows companies to receive early payment and generate greater cash flow. Third-party logistics (3PL) provider Smart Warehousing specializes in supply chain services that help companies meet their fulfillment needs through innovative technology and by operating 32 warehouse facilities in the United States.
This partnership includes customer discounts and other incentives. Smart Warehousing customers that choose C2FO’s working capital solutions will receive $1,000 off closing costs and 0.25% off the rate when funding their receivables with C2FO.
To learn about the advantages of the C2FO-Smart Warehousing partnership, contact the C2FO team at (844)805-8522 or lending.advisors@c2fo.com.
An “Easy Button” solution
The sharing of data between C2FO and Smart Warehousing provides a seamless solution that allows companies to manage their supply chains and grow revenue with less hassle and expense. Customers of Smart Warehousing generally save between 15% and 20% on shipping costs alone. With C2FO’s early payment and Receivables Finance solutions, customers typically save 30% more than with other forms of alternative financing and can grow twice as fast as they would with a bank line of credit.
“This partnership is an ‘easy button’ solution where everybody wins,” said Smart Warehousing founder and CEO Carl Wasinger. “Speed and velocity are important for companies that need warehousing space, and they’re also important in the finance space.”
Third-party logistics of the future
The partnership between C2FO and Smart Warehousing is built on a shared commitment to technology, data and analytics.
This depth of knowledge about their customers enables C2FO and Smart Warehousing to provide an integrated solution for inventory financing, shipping and early payment on invoices.
“Third-party logistics of the future is all about data and connectivity,” said Chris Atkins, senior vice president of Capital Finance for C2FO. “And, by the way, that’s also true in lending.”
In addition to efficiency and speed, here are some of the advantages of working with Smart Warehousing and C2FO:
- Significant discounts and long-term cost savings on logistics, warehousing and supply chain financing.
- No negotiating to remove a warehouseman’s lien from your inventory.
- A financial partner that accelerates payment from your customers and allows you to borrow against inventory and accounts receivable.
- The ease of working with a partnered source for logistics and financial services.
Why use a 3PL?
Companies are under more pressure than ever before to move products efficiently and meet ever-growing customer demands around pricing and time of delivery. Many companies seek help from 3PL providers to address these market pressures. Still, there remains some confusion about 3PLs and the services they provide.
Put simply, a 3PL offers outsourced transportation and logistics. These services can include packaging, warehousing, transportation services, fulfillment and distribution. Contracting with a 3PL enables a company to use supply chain and distribution services on an as-needed basis and at larger economies of scale, which can be powerful when a business’s fulfillment isn’t perfectly distributed. Generally, 3PLs control transportation and logistics costs, allowing a company to focus more on providing great products and serving customers.
In recent years, 3PL providers have become more sophisticated in meeting clients’ needs. Technologies like GPS and the Internet of Things enable 3PLs to provide full, around-the-clock visibility to inventory and shipments. New software innovations work seamlessly with clients’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting systems. And artificial Intelligence and machine learning reduce the amount of manual labor and repetitive work, increasing efficiencies and lowering costs.
Third-party logistics continues to provide value for companies at a time when consumers and retailers demand quicker delivery, and irregular order sizes (whether from a rapidly growing product or a new large customer), adding stress to supply chains. According to recent reports, the global 3PL market is growing at a 7% clip annually—from $861 billion in 2017 revenues to a projected $1.4 trillion by 2025. A 2019 study on the industry-led by Infosys Consulting and Penske reports that 91% of shippers describe their relationships with 3PLs as successful.
“By using logistics providers to manage the distribution, companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, are able to focus more on growing their businesses,” Wasinger said. “Trends like last-mile delivery and helping clients navigate the digital economy are going to continue to be important roles for 3PLs.”
About Smart Warehousing
Smart Warehousing’s network of 32 warehouses enables next-day delivery almost anywhere in the United States. The company manages millions of shipments a year for more than 900 customers—everything from direct-to-consumer packages to full truckloads destined for retailer distribution centers.
Based in Kansas, Smart Warehousing is one of only a handful of 3PL companies that store and transport both small parcels and full pallets within the same facilities. The company accurately stores, picks, packs and ships for a wide variety of customers, from e-commerce start-ups to Fortune 500 multinationals. In the next 10 years, Wasinger envisions his company having a physical presence in the top 100 U.S. markets.
What differentiates Smart Warehousing as a logistics provider is its technology. The company’s proprietary software gives companies seamless, cloud-based access to their inventories and supply chains. They have full visibility to what product is in the warehouses, what’s on the road and what has been delivered to customers.
“The biggest differentiator today is the ability to truly customize a solution with technology,” Wasinger said. “You have to control not only the physical space, but the virtual space. And we do that very well.”
In having a financial partner like C2FO, Smart Warehousing now offers its customers access to working capital via inventory, without the inconvenience of a working capital lender that lacks access to Smart Warehousing’s data.
The partnership offers customers of Smart Warehousing and C2FO another advantage: Smart Warehousing no longer must place a warehouseman’s lien on customers’ products in order to manage the risk of nonpayment.
“That’s a huge advantage for companies who work with us and C2FO,” Wasinger said. “We’re one of the only warehouse companies with a service offering that doesn’t require us to place liens on your inventory.”
About C2FO
Based in Leawood, KS, C2FO provides a groundbreaking digital platform that enables companies to rapidly generate working capital to fund their business and growth.
With C2FO’s early payment program, leading enterprises empower their vendors to select invoices for early payment, at discounts that the vendors determine. C2FO works with 25 Fortune 100 companies, as well as hundreds of thousands of other businesses worldwide, accelerating more than 1.6 million invoices each month. Early payment on these receivables is a flexible, hassle-free way for companies to increase their cash flow.
And now, C2FO’s Receivables Finance gives companies access to a revolving line of credit through eligible invoices that aren’t already on the C2FO platform. The funding process involves considerably less effort than other providers in the space and the Receivables Finance solution can scale with your company’s growth.
“The process is smooth, transparent and easy to understand,” C2FO’s Atkins said. “Best of all, our clients see the result of improved cash flow: revenue growth.”
The Bottom Line
Smart Warehousing’s 3PL expertise, combined with the working capital solutions provided by C2FO, can be a game-changing resource for fast-growing companies, especially those working with large customers.
For more about the C2FO-Smart Warehousing partnership, contact the C2FO team at (844)805-8522 or lending.advisors@c2fo.com.
