Top Logistical Challenges Retailers Face with Store Fixtures

By Rich Moorehead
Director of Retail Division
Technical Transportation, Inc

Of the many challenges that retailers must contend with on a daily basis, store fixtures can bring a unique set of logistical issues.

These fixtures play a major role in the marketing and sale of products, thus their timely delivery and setup is very important, especially for seasonal or sale events.

In this blog we take a look at some of these challenges, and how to best address them:

Logistics Challenges

White-Glove Deliveries
As retailers know, how a store is merchandised can play a big role in sales success, and store fixtures play a major role in that. Store fixtures are highly visible, and create the first impression. So any error or damage incurred during delivery or set up can have big consequences on timing and expense.

In addition, a retailer’s employees are there to sell products, so pulling from the sales floor to address receiving or installation issues can affect the bottom line. A successful white glove delivery should be seamless and have little or no effect on a store’s daily operations.

Rollouts
When a retailer rolls out a new fixture, it is often in conjunction with the release of a new product that they want to display. It could be to support the latest product releases, or could be based on seasonal merchandise, so timing and communication are paramount in these situations.

It’s important that all specific instructions are clearly defined and adhered to by the delivery and setup crews. Otherwise, the merchandise won’t be displayed on the planned schedule.

Fixture Assembly/Installation
Normally, a retailer has to use two separate companies for a new fixture rollout—a logistics company and an installer. It is time consuming for retailers to procure these activities with approved vendors, and it takes up valuable time coordinating the two companies for one project.

Store-to-Store Fixture Transfer
Having the ability to move fixtures from one store another is a great asset. For example, if a retailer has a store in a colder climate region that is not selling a lot of swimwear, but they have stores on the coast that can’t keep enough swimwear on the shelves, they need to maximize sales by moving that merchandise and fixture to the more appropriate locations.

The challenge for the retailer is that these fixtures are probably sitting on a store floor, and they likely don’t have sufficient packing materials to get them safely from Point A to Point B.

Store Closures
If a retailer has to close a store, they can either liquidate everything, dispose of everything, or move and place all assets with other stores or back to their corporate office. It is a very big undertaking, and they need to work with a provider that can supply the equipment, labor and network to relocate all of the recycled assets from the closing store to its final destination.

In closing a store, the challenges are very similar to a store-to-store transfer, only on a much larger scale. Instead of one or two fixtures, you are clearing out an entire store, and making sure everything is sent to the correct place, in good condition and in a timely manner.

How Retailers Can Solve the Problem

What retailers need is a logistics partner who can help them in all aspects of fixture delivery and setup. A good provider:

• Is experienced in retail and understands your business and your industry
• Can expertly ship, install or de-install your fixtures, which increases efficiency
• Provides seamless delivery, with little or no store downtime and disruptions
• Has national exposure and can support your needs no matter where you’re located
• Is a single-source partner for you, meaning they manage all the moving parts
• Provides a dedicated account team that knows your company and is accessible and available for you
• Is flexible and can customize their processes to solve your unique challenges

What retail challenges can TechTrans help you with today? Click here to contact us.