Companies can offer excellent customer service, user-friendly online ordering, and an affordable price, but a terrible shipping experience? That can ruin everything. This critical step in the e-commerce process is mostly invisible but behind it is a great deal of strategy and expertise.

Logistics is also the key to the Slingshot maxim “on or before the first day of class.” So, how exactly do we guarantee first-day access to course materials?

1. Coast to Coast Service Through Distribution Centers

Once a textbook is ordered from the publisher, it makes its way to one of our two distribution centers in Indiana or Nevada. Our newest distribution center in Las Vegas is part of our strategy to shorten shipping times and lower costs for our pool of expanding clients on the West Coast. Currently, the Las Vegas center serves one-third of Slingshot accounts.

2. A Strong Logistics Strategy

Inside the distribution center, the item, such as a textbook or a course pack, is assigned a serial ID and stored using a shelving schematic. From there, course materials wait for an order to be placed. In some cases, campus stores will fulfill their own orders, and the distribution center supplies their inventory. Slingshot also sells some inventory on the online marketplace, like Amazon and eBay.

3. Putting Students' Shipping Preferences First

After an order is placed, one of the logistics team members assembles the materials and it is shipped depending on the student’s delivery preference—either to campus, where their materials will be waiting at their residence hall when they arrive, or to the shipping address of their choosing. In either case, the Slingshot promise is still…

All students, all materials, by the first day of class, at an affordable price.

The logistics team also receives returned and rented books and prepares them for the next round of learners.

4. Pursuit of Better with Innovation and Technology

The logistics team is currently transitioning to a new software that will further streamline how the team supports partner schools and Slingshot as a whole. Mark Deisler, VP of Logistics, says he’s excited about what’s on the horizon.

“Innovation is definitely a part of our DNA,” he says. “Logistics is a resource for the entire company. We are here to help get whatever is needed done.”

5. Building and Maximizing Strong Relationships

The most frequently asked question we hear about logistics has to do with shipping times and troubleshooting shipping issues. Shipping is a top concern in the course materials industry right now because the entire shipping industry has been overwhelmed in the past couple of years. Between the growth of e-commerce and worsening supply chain issues, these obstacles have had trickle-down effect on consumers and businesses alike, including Slingshot. Mark spends a lot of time working with shipping representatives in the industry to troubleshoot those issues, and most importantly, he works to maintain good relationships with them. At Slingshot, we believe these relationships are equally critical to delivery “on or before the first day of class.”