22: Elevating e-Commerce: Partnerships That Deliver

Amanda Meadows: 00:00:00

You know, we're a great logistics provider. Yes, we were. We can get, we can deliver the package, we can pick up the package. We are great at that.

So we definitely have to rely on our partnerships to help us, you know, with that end to end shipping solution.

Intro: 00:00:11

Step into the future with shipping. Smart. Outside the box is where the journey starts. From borders to buyers, we break it down fast. Nick and Jason deliver knowledge that lasts.

Insight, innovation. Wherever your brand goes, we'll guide your growth so your global reach flows. Tune in, lean in. Let's unlock the way.

Go outside the box with the senior usa.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:31

Welcome back to to day two Manifest Las Vegas from Outside the Box with Asendia USA podcast here with my co host Jason Roland.

Jason Rowland: 00:00:38

Welcome back everybody.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:39

And we have a very, very special guest today, Amanda Meadows, head of Partnerships, Asendia usa. Thanks for joining, Amanda.

Amanda Meadows: 00:00:45

No, thanks for having me. Excited to be here for day two.

Jason Rowland: 00:00:47

We're very glad to have you.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:48

Yes, it is bright and early here in Las Vegas. There's nobody on the floor. Nice and quiet in the mics. It's a great day.

an you go all the way back to: 1980

Amanda Meadows: 00:01:10

Yes.

Nick Agnetti: 00:01:11

Tell us about yourself and your history and your role with Asendia.

Amanda Meadows: 00:01:15

Yeah, absolutely.: 1980

Nick Agnetti: 00:01:21

I love it.

Jason Rowland: 00:01:21

I love it.

Amanda Meadows: 00:01:23

So I'm super excited. I've been in logistics my whole career.

So graduated college, went straight into working for FedEx, did international sales, left FedEx and started a3PL, started working with the3PL and a startup company and that was, you know, definitely a fun time. I'm sure 3pls can be fun. So anyway, after that left the 3pl industry and went over to Octane.

Been, you know, went there for four years and, and worked with carriers. So worked with Asendia. Um, was super excited to be able to work with the traditional carriers, the non traditional carriers.

So it was a really exciting time. And then came over here and loving it, working on partnerships.

Nick Agnetti: 00:02:05

Beautiful. So are you a Saints fan?

Amanda Meadows: 00:02:09

I mean, it depends on the players. I'm a players fan.

Nick Agnetti: 00:02:12

Are you a Drew Brees fan?

Amanda Meadows: 00:02:13

I'm a Drew Brees fan.

Nick Agnetti: 00:02:14

Well, he just got inducted into the hall of Fame, so. So that was. I don't know if you saw the video. It was very. I didn't see that Very tender, very touching. Yeah, absolutely. So, okay.

Yeah, go ahead, Jason.

Jason Rowland: 00:02:26

So I guess here at Manifest, right, there's so many of these companies and these booths and everyone has a different part of the industry. Tech companies, AI companies, logistics providers, 3 PLs. No one company can really do everything right.

So you kind of try to be good at what you're good at and then use partnerships to enhance a product to make it as good as it can be right for the final consumer. So in a world where no one company can do it all, how do we leverage those partnerships to put the best product possible on the table?

Amanda Meadows: 00:02:57

No, absolutely. That's a great question. As you know, we're a great logistics provider.

Jason Rowland: 00:03:02

Yes.

Amanda Meadows: 00:03:03

We can deliver the package, we can pick up the package. We are great at that. So we definitely have to rely on our partnerships to help us with that end to end shipping solution.

So, for example, technology companies being able to be where our customers can access us, they don't have to go outside of their workflow to access us. We want to be in there with, when they go in to list their items on their marketplaces, it pulls from the inventory and it selects the carrier.

We want to be that carrier that they select and be integrated with those partners that can support that.

Nick Agnetti: 00:03:38

So being a part of their, their native environment, really.

Amanda Meadows: 00:03:41

Yes. Being part of their, their day to day, we want to be where they can access us easily, seamlessly and frictionless.

Nick Agnetti: 00:03:47

So you have a vast amount of experience in the, you know, working with partnerships. I do not.

And that's what so, so very interesting to where can you elaborate maybe on the impact that partners have as it relates to customer growth and expansion?

Amanda Meadows: 00:04:01

Yeah, absolutely. So it's kind of a multiplier effect. So a lot of these partners, when we go, you know, it's, it's one integration that we have with the partner.

But they have access, you know, sometimes to hundreds of thousands to millions of customers. So we, we can access a customer base that we're not necessarily accessing one to one in a direct relationship.

We can cater to a smaller customer, somebody that may not necessarily come to one of our sales reps directly. They can then access us and have the ability to have a wider variety of carriers, international carriers.

So that's super important to just have access to customers that we typically wouldn't run into day to day.

Jason Rowland: 00:04:41

Yeah, absolutely. That's huge.

Amanda Meadows: 00:04:43

Yeah.

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:43

Historically, you know, and Jason and I, you know, we haven't, we haven't had, we haven't had an Amanda.

So this is, so this is, this is exceptional for our business in terms of not only lead generation, but solidifying those partnerships, especially with these multi carrier, you know, logistics technologies, integrations and things like that.

Jason Rowland: 00:05:05

Yeah. And it can have such a dramatic impact. Right. On your company's capabilities and offerings.

But so it can, it can do a lot of positive, it can also in a lot of ways do a lot of bad.

Nick Agnetti: 00:05:15

Right.

Jason Rowland: 00:05:16

So if you, over your time in the partnership world, what are some ways you've seen partnerships negatively impact a company?

Nick Agnetti: 00:05:25

Right.

Jason Rowland: 00:05:25

Are there things that can affect the bottom line or identify that you're in a bad partnership?

Amanda Meadows: 00:05:30

No, absolutely. That's a great question. We definitely don't want bad partnerships.

We want a partnership where it's a win, you know, win for win for both, both companies, both brands. So I've seen where, you know, sometimes partnerships will happen and if the customer starts shipping less, you know, you don't want that to happen.

You want, that would be bad. Everybody wins when the customer ships more. So you want to make sure that you select partners where your customer can grow.

And then also you don't want to go into a situation where the partner's not necessarily expanding their product. You know what you want. The reason for partnering with somebody is because the tools, the international tools that they provide to our customer.

So we want to make sure that, you know, we're with a partner that's making sure, hey, regulatory compliance, all that's being followed and the customer's not getting hit with things that are outside their control. So you know, again, you want to make sure everybody's shipping more.

At the end of the day, everybody wins when we're, when we're shipping more and that the customer has a good customer experience with that partner. We want a complete end to end shipping solution for, for our brands that we represent.

Jason Rowland: 00:06:37

So I mean, outside of Asendia, if there's a small company out here who's in our audience, who wants to get started in partnerships, maybe they haven't dipped their toe into that before. What are some things that they can kind of do easily just to get involved or somewhere, you know, a type of that business.

Nick Agnetti: 00:06:52

Great question.

Amanda Meadows: 00:06:53

No, that's a great question. So, yeah, there's like lots of different, you know, there's women in shipping in the industry where they can go.

And, and is that today, that meeting today?

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:02

The, the.

Amanda Meadows: 00:07:03

I think so.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:03

Is it okay?

Amanda Meadows: 00:07:04

Yeah, I think so.

So, yeah, definitely some of these smaller businesses just, just going and participating in some of the different events like where it may be again, like the women in Business, the women in logistics dipping their toe into that, coming to things like this, walking the floor and seeing just the different companies and brands, and majority of these brands have partnership divisions. So it's an exciting time.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:30

I've noticed that, too.

So, listen, while we're here on video at Manifest, I figured it's probably safe and fair to ask, are there some partners that are here today that haven't been responsive to you that we can maybe call out publicly?

Amanda Meadows: 00:07:43

Yeah, let's do that. They would love that. To our millions of viewers. Let's call out.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:48

We do have. We do have millions of viewers, so. Yes, that. That's confirmed as well.

Amanda Meadows: 00:07:53

Yeah, absolutely.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:54

Well, who are they? No, I'm just kidding. All right, so everybody, I'll tell you what.

Amanda Meadows: 00:07:57

It starts with, it ends with.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:59

We'll fill in the letters. That's fine. Do you have anything else to add, Jason?

Jason Rowland: 00:08:02

No, I'm just.

We're, you know, I know Asendia is much better for having brought you in, and we're very excited to work with you as we go through our endeavors and our expansion of our programs. And we're really excited to have.

Nick Agnetti: 00:08:13

Yeah. So.

So for listeners and viewers, not just Manifest people, if you are interested in partnering with Asendia, please contact Amanda and we'll make sure that we list her contact information at, you know, somewhere in the episode, in the notes or something like that. And thank you all for joining outside the box of the Cindy USA podcast, and we'll talk soon.

Jason Rowland: 00:08:33

Thanks, everybody.

Amanda Meadows: 00:08:33

Thank you.

Outro: 00:08:34

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