Cost to Serve: The Hidden Lever Behind Profitable Growth

In this episode of, Dan Keto continues his conversation with Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights, on why cost-to-serve transparency determines competitive advantage. They break down how SKU- and customer-level activity-based costing exposes hidden margin leakage, aligns sales and operations, and transforms warehouses from cost centers into strategic pricing engines. From product mix complexity to customer benchmarking, this episode challenges leaders to use data discipline, not assumptions, to drive profitability and long-term customer partnerships.

In this episode of The Performance Driven Warehouse, Dan Keto continues his conversation with Lora Cecere host of the Supply Chain Insights podcast and Founder of Supply Chain Insights, to challenge how warehouse leaders think about cost, pricing, and customer profitability. They explore why “a case is not a case,” and how product mix complexity quietly erodes margins when pricing models lack granular cost-to-serve data.

Lora explains how activity-based costing at the customer and SKU level enables faster decision-making, stronger alignment between sales and operations, and more disciplined customer management. This discussion goes beyond warehouse labor management and into strategic pricing, supply chain profitability, and disciplined customer management. If you're looking to improve warehouse margins, strengthen 3PL pricing models, or implement cost-to-serve analysis in your supply chain, this episode provides a clear framework.

What You’ll Learn:

How to break the warehouse visibility black hole
Why "a case is not a case," and how this unlocks 15-20% margin recovery
The real value of cost-to-serve data beyond labor optimization
How to align marketing, sales, and supply chain before campaigns tank your margins
The discipline required for customer centricity that actually works
How to position yourself as a strategic partner, not a cost center

Lora Cecere is the Founder of Supply Chain Insights, a research firm focused on advancing thought leadership in supply chain excellence. With more than 35 years of experience spanning practitioner, software executive, and industry analyst roles, she brings a rare end-to-end perspective to enterprise strategy. Lora is the author of the blog Supply Chain Shaman and co-author of Bricks Matter and Metrics That Matter. A former analyst with Gartner and AMR Research, she now advises leaders on digital transformation, predictive analytics, demand shaping, and market-driven value networks.