Perspectives: Super-Sized Logistics

One of our very first blogs was discussing the Amazon Effect, and how it will lead to many changes not only within the logistics industry, but in the shipping realm as a whole.

Fast forward a few months later, we continue to see the effects. This time, specifically in large-item shipping.

Felicia Stratton from Inbound Logistics discusses the increasing difficulty of delivering oversized items such as furniture and heavy technology. Problems which we deal with every day.

In the article below, she describes the growing challenges in providing proper logistics support for these products.

This article was originally posted on Inbound Logistics.

Thanks to the Amazon Effect, fast and free delivery is the new normal, forcing other online sellers to keep up.However, there’s one area of e-commerce where online sellers can still compete logistically with Amazon and big box players: delivery of oversized, larger-than-parcel items, such as furniture, sofas, armoires, mattresses, treadmills, and more. But every opportunity comes with certain hurdles.

A recent uShip report—Realities in Oversized E-Commerce Delivery in the Amazon Era—looks at the experiences of consumers who have made an oversized online purchase in the past 12 months. The findings shed light on consumer frustrations and mindset when buying large items online, as well as ways retailers can proactively begin to address these pain points.

Oversized e-commerce is on the rise. Buyers—particularly millennials—are more comfortable than ever making large online purchases sight unseen.

But large-item logistics remains a black hole for most online sellers. There’s simply way more to consider when shipping a 250-pound couch cross country compared to cosmetics or cross trainers. Pickup and delivery schedules, insurance, assembly, and bottom-line transportation costs are all friction-causing factors.

When consumers have a poor delivery experience, it reflects negatively on a seller’s brand, regardless if fault lies with the carrier. At a time when parcels can be delivered in a matter of hours, too many buyers of large, bulky items are experiencing damages during delivery. Some shipments don’t arrive at all.

Nearly one in six (16 percent) consumers had to immediately figure out how to transport an oversized item themselves after making the purchase, the survey reports.

When it comes to last-mile delivery, e-retailers can’t afford to skimp on innovation (at best) or ignore it entirely (at worst). It’s as much of a selling point as the product itself. Many turn

to less-than-truckload shipping options, concerned that white-glove service will be more expensive—which is typically not the case.

Without a turnkey, low-cost delivery option in place, there is a strong chance that the money spent acquiring customers will be for naught.

What do consumers want to see improved? Proactive updates, white-glove service, choice in delivery company, and more control over the delivery time slots. These are all fixable moments that online sellers can resolve with the right partners and technology.

A Convenient Truth: How Convenience Retailers Can Overcome Their Unique Logistics Challenges

John Cox
National Accounts
Technical Transportation, Inc

According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the growth in convenience stores across the United States continues to rise into record numbers. With those new stores also comes a seemingly endless flow of new technology and new automated equipment. This makes logistics services for the industry more challenging than ever.

Delivering new in-store and back office equipment and technology to convenience retailers is a unique endeavor, because the daily demands of convenience stores themselves are unique compared to most businesses, including the broader retail industry. Following are some of the challenges faced when coordinating logistics services with convenience stores:

1. A Premium on Space

From the customer-facing storefront to the back office and storage area, space is hard to come by at most convenience store locations. You don’t want your logistics partner to contribute to that headache by piling product or equipment on your store floor in a way that impedes business.

2. A Premium on Personnel

Just like there’s a finite amount of square footage in each store, there’s also a limited number of personnel. Logistics providers often introduce non-revenue-generating activity for these employees by having them observe, supervise, and assist with a multi-step delivery process. This either takes them away from necessary day-to-day operational activities , or away from assisting customers on the storefront side.

3. Scheduling and Communications

As a rule, convenience and grocery retailers receive more daily deliveries than most retailers because of the premium on space and the nature of perishable goods. And that means more trucks, more drivers and more shipments coming to your location. So when you introduce multiple logistics providers, that’s more trucks to manage; more dock space or outside store space to secure for deliveries; and additional personnel pulled to supervise the drivers. It becomes even more complicated if you need to schedule an after-hours or overnight delivery of in-store equipment.

Convenience Retailers Need Turnkey Logistics Partners

To meet these challenges, both manufacturers of convenience store equipment and technology and convenience retailers themselves need logistics partners that provide adaptable turnkey services to fit their specific needs at each store.

An ideal provider needs deep knowledge of the convenience store industry and should intimately understand the demands that convenience retailers face each day. They also need to know the ins-and-outs of the equipment being delivered and have the right skill sets to manage and install the products, while efficiently troubleshooting any issues.

A turnkey provider should also be able to minimize the impact on a store’s personnel, time and space.

For example, traditionally, when there is new equipment to be installed or set up, one team would deliver and drop off the product and leave it at the store for an undetermined amount of time before a second team installs the equipment. This approach, however, can cause a lot of disruption for store employees and affect foot traffic.

A turnkey provider, however, will work with the convenience retailer to schedule a single, optimal time to deliver and install the equipment in a way that minimizes downtime and doesn’t get in the way of in-store business. In the end, convenience store logistics should be a convenient process for manufacturers and store personnel alike.

Need Help?
If you’d like more information on how your company can build and manage a nationwide field services program, then contact us today and we can help.

Out in the Field and In the Pocket: Benefits of an Outsourced FSE Program

By Tom Chick
Vice President, National Accounts
Technical Transportation, Inc

For manufacturers that transport highly complex equipment and technology to customers across the United States, providing nationwide in-house field services can present multiple challenges.

Beyond the standard transportation, delivery, and installation of product that is moving from point A to B, any specialized, technical or highly sensitive equipment may be in need of additional services for calibration, networking or operational functionality for immediate use.

For many companies that manage these services in-house, this entails deploying engineers in the field, affecting budgets and potential sales, as these engineers are occupied in a non-revenue generating function. The better option for many, therefore, is to engage a logistics partner who has field service engineers (FSEs) available in geographical markets, trained to handle their specific equipment.

In fact, an outsourced FSE program can help manufacturers meet the following demands:

Flexible Reach
Your partner must be able to serve you and your customers wherever you have a presence or need domestically. This may include the ability to deploy FSE teams at a moment’s notice, or even procure and manage warehouse space to store critical parts.

Single Source
According to a recent report conducted by Cognizant MedVantage, more than 48 percent of medical field service leaders polled rated their dispatch control scheduling as only adequate, in need of improvement, or poor. For this reason, an ideal partner should be your one source to manage everything, from the scheduling and movement of resources, to the reporting and follow-up.

Your partner should provide you with a single, dedicated account team for all of your needs, and a single, consolidated invoice for the services performed. All while conducting themselves professionally as brand ambassadors in front of your customers.

Extensive Training
Your partner needs to specialize in your industry and be well-versed with your products. That includes the ability to create and provide detailed and extensive training so their FSEs can perform knowledgeably, efficiently and effectively with your products and customers. Your client should experience the quality of service they expect, with minimal downtime and impact on operations.

Value-Added, Not Value-Draining
A value-added logistics partner should be able to take any and all non-revenue generating FSE-related tasks off of your hands, so your personnel can focus on core competencies that produce revenue-positive activities and build your business. They can also help you avoid the internal costs of hiring and training field service technicians yourselves, while also eliminating some travel expenses and utilization of resources.

Tech Tools
According to the Cognizant report, more than 86 percent of respondents consider technology critical in ensuring efficient maintenance and correct allocation of field technicians, and want real-time access on the go, supporting both online and offline work. Therefore, an ideal partner should also have the technology necessary to keep you informed on your logistics operations, providing real-time reporting and outcomes to anything happening in the field.

Need Help?
If you’d like more information on how your company can build and manage a nationwide field services program, then contact us today and we can help.

When Seconds Count, Hospitals Need Top-Tier Logistics Partners

By Phil Burnette
Vice President, National Account Sales
Technical Transportation, Inc

In hospitals, seconds can mean the difference between life and death, and downtime is not an option.

But as medical facilities depend more and more on complex equipment and machines to provide timely patient evaluation, testing and diagnosis, they run a higher risk of downtime that can cause major disruptions.

The fact is, machines break, and when they do, positive patient outcomes hang in the balance. That’s why hospitals need a logistics provider that can respond to their needs at a moment’s notice and get them, and their patients, back on the road to recovery.

One solution is a critical parts program that can procure and manage a parts storage location that is near and convenient to the hospital. This place would house spare replacement parts, special sub-assemblies, hardware kits or critical tools for deployment and use at the moment they’re needed.

But more important than simply having these parts and tools nearby, is having knowledgeable, trained field service engineers (FSEs) who can respond quickly, efficiently and effectively. Think of it as emergency care for MRI, C-ARM, X-Ray and other vital equipment.

And not just any supply chain provider will work. You need a hospital logistics partner with the following characteristics:

• Reliability—Your hospital helps patients 24/7, and you need a partner that will answer your call on any day, at any time, including weekends and holidays. You need someone that you can depend to do the right thing at the right time.
• Responsibility—You need a single-source provider that can handle all of the moving parts and can deploy FSEs that know your industry, your hospital and the equipment in your facility. They must have the skills to quickly and expertly repair and maintain your products—no matter how complex the equipment.
• Proximity—Your partner must have the local reach to assist you in minutes, not hours or days. If they’re a national provider, then you need to be sure that they can help you procure and manage your critical parts program near any and all of your locations.
• Urgency—The partner must understand your needs, as well as the needs of your patients. You need someone who will not only answer the phone 24/7, but one that won’t slack on the job or loiter. The true partner will work as fast as possible until the job is done and your equipment is back up and running.

If you’re in need of a hospital logistics partner, or simply have questions, feel free to click here and contact us today.

The Cold Hard Truth: Logistics Challenges of Cold Storage Equipment

By Phil Burnette
Vice President, National Account Sales
Technical Transportation, Inc

When it comes to cold storage equipment, shipping damage is a hot-button topic among manufacturers and transportation carriers alike. Thanks to the delicate nature of the refrigerators and freezers required by today’s life-sciences market, any damage experienced during shipment and setup can mean a loss of revenue—a cold reality for all involved.

That said, a successful logistics program for these products is achievable, but you must first overcome some large challenges, namely providing safe, damage-free transportation and delivery.

Before we delve into the characteristics of a successful program, let’s first take a look at some of the factors that influence cold storage product damage.

Cold Storage Products Are Sensitive Creatures

Since the 1980s, polyurethanes have become the most prominent insulation method used for refrigerators and freezers. Polyurethane insulation is injected between the steel or aluminum outer casing and the inner plastic liner of a unit. It begins as a liquid when injected, and within a very short period of time, it expands to fill the space between the inner and outer liners.

Polyurethanes are great insulation options, because they are energy efficient, strong, durable, cost effective and lightweight.

However with this type of insulation, each unit becomes, in effect, a single piece, and dents to the products are almost always unrepairable. For example, if a unit sustains a dent on the right side, there is most likely no way to replace that single right panel.

In addition, some manufacturers feel that a dent to the outer shell condenses the polyurethane foam, which can create hot spots or inconsistent insulation that may compromise the internal temperature consistency. The manufacturer may then deem the unit unsellable. Scratches also present problems. While some can be touched up and repainted, most are unrepairable, especially on brushed aluminum models.

So with today’s cold storage products, you have highly engineered, high-value, sensitive pieces of equipment that when damaged have a high probability of being a total loss. That’s why safe transportation and delivery are vital.

The Role of Packaging

Most of the time, a damaged unit results in an unnecessary cost to the shipper and the carrier. But 100% of the time it results in an unhappy end-customer and perhaps a cancelled order.

The best line of defense here is effective packaging. Even in a scenario where the savings from eliminating total losses is spent on increased packaging costs, it is a win for everyone involved to have satisfied both your internal customer (your company’s finance and sales teams) as well as your external customers with an undamaged unit the first time.

So how to you achieve effective packaging?

1. Work closely with a third-party packaging design and engineering partner. An external partner will give you an honest assessment of your current packaging and a solid recommendation on any redesign that is needed. An internal packaging person can be influenced or pressured by company agendas and may result in flawed recommendations.
2. Packaging must be model-specific. Attempting to save money by creating a one-size-fits-all solution usually fits no one and will not solve the damage issue.
3. Test, test, and re-test. Work in concert with your packaging design, transportation carrier, and an International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) certified packaging testing company. You can test your product and packaging for numerous factors including drop, impact, compression, vibration, and more.

A Helping Hand

In the end, your winning formula is a competent transportation and technical service provider who has the tools and experience necessary to provide smooth white-glove delivery, unpack, placement, and setup of today’s complex and delicate cold storage units.

The combination of a well-designed product, a good protective packaging design, and a great logistics & service partner can eliminate the issue of product damage and ensure industry players aren’t left out in the cold in today’s competitive market.

Have questions?

If you’re having trouble transporting your cold storage equipment, or if you just have questions, feel free to contact us today for more information.

Coming up Short: The Impact of Driver Shortages on the Logistics Industry

By Len Batcha
President
Technical Transportation, Inc

Commerce is growing faster and more convenient than ever. Whether making personal purchases or ordering for an organization, customers have high expectations when it comes to transportation and delivery services.

With the rise in demand — thanks in part to a booming economy and growing e-commerce infrastructure — analysis by DAT Solutions reports that only one truck is available for every 12 loads that need to be shipped. More importantly, the supply of truck drivers in the U.S. has significantly dwindled over the last 15 years, with ATA claiming the driver shortfall could be as high as 50,000 jobs by the end of this year.

This significant driver shortage directly affects the logistics industry, especially with long-haul jobs, driving transportation costs higher. This means many companies are forced to raise their prices to offset the rising costs. Since more than 70 percent of U.S. goods are transported by truck, addressing this driver shortage is crucial for the future of the industry.

However, some changes in regulations and operational practices could alleviate some of the challenges in the short term future. Here’s how.

Relaxing Regulations

It’s no secret that too many regulations create barriers for people interested in pursuing a career in the industry. For example, the minimum age for drivers currently is 21, which means recent high-school graduates are ineligible to train and operate equipment. In addition, some eligible candidates are skeptical of the required electronic-logging device mandate put into effect in 2017. Meanwhile, strict regulations on a driver’s time on the road mean shorter runs, which are unappealing to many drivers hoping to maximize their pay or time away from families.

But working with the U.S. government to relax some of the current regulations — at least temporarily — could help get more people into the industry. Easing the age minimum and softening requirements for ELDs are two oft-discussed solutions. These moves would make it easier for logistics providers to attract and retain the talent they need in the short term.

Training Talent

Like logistics, the airline industry is facing a skilled worker shortage as its pilots reach retirement age. To ensure there is a pool of qualified individuals to replace them, airlines are recruiting high-school students and helping pay for their education and training, so they’re ready to take to the sky when the they complete their programs.

Since the average age of a U.S. commercial driver is currently 55 years old, the trucking industry can take a page from the airlines and recruit promising high-school graduates and reimburse for their educational programs and training.

Winning with Women

Currently, only 6 percent of drivers are women. This is a huge disparity for our industry, but it presents a tremendous recruitment opportunity. New technological advances make operating of heavy equipment more realistic for anyone, which means more women could get behind the wheel.

Staying Ahead of the Competition

The growth of the gig economy — Amazon’s ride share and Uber deliveries, for example — might be contributing to the logistics industry’s shortage. However, it’s important to note that many of these drivers aren’t qualified to handle logistics challenges such as proper documentation, quality compliance requirements, customer service and delivery operations services. What’s more, many customers feel more secure with established providers as opposed to delivery from unmarked, anonymous personal vehicles.

Communicating these differentiators with clients will be important.

Keeping an Eye on the Future

Some have suggested that autonomous vehicles might eventually serve as a solution for the lack of drivers. Obviously, this possibility is still a-ways down the road, as infrastructure doesn’t currently support these types of vehicles. And while autonomous vehicles might indeed be ideal for long-haul trips, there will always be a need for human intervention when it comes to verification of delivery, installation and getting the product user-ready.

In the meantime, though, while this shortage exists, non-asset-based logistics companies have the advantage. These companies often have access to a host of providers and aren’t weighed down by these shortage issues internally. They can instead find the right partners and shop around to secure best options to minimize costs.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our shipping services, feel free to contact us today.

How Not to Experiment with Your Life Sciences Logistics Program

By Phil Burnette
Vice President, National Account Sales
Technical Transportation, Inc

Just like medical-equipment logistics, heavy and sensitive laboratory and life science products require special considerations and qualifications. Not to mention training and skills to ensure safe and timely delivery, proper set-up and installation of seamlessly operating equipment.

But life sciences equipment deliveries often differ from medical equipment in that not all laboratory equipment manufacturers need highly specialized field-service agents to set up and operationalize this unique equipment. Nonetheless, life science equipment can need more specialized expertise than is often found in many logistics companies, especially when in-house teams are scarce and expensive to deploy.

As a manufacturer of specialized laboratory or life sciences equipment, you should consider the following when choosing a life sciences logistics partner:

1. Pre-shipment NeedsIn many cases, life science manufacturers need logistics providers to perform specialized pre-delivery functions. This can involve turning the equipment on, basic testing, and—in the case of many cold storage or refrigeration units—controlling temperature accordingly to ensure it is operational and arrives on-site already cooled. Some cold-storage manufacturers even require pre-filling and glycerin probe-testing to ensure the equipment can sustain the liquid-temperature in the unit.
2. Handling the Heavy StuffA lot of equipment found in today’s medical laboratories or life sciences centers are heavy and bulky. What’s more, most have delicate or sensitive parts such as sensors, temperature-specific chambers, moving components and tech-specific components that require delicate handling. For this reason, handling life-sciences equipment requires a partner with specialized training and tools that can carefully transport, offload and deliver the equipment already user-ready to the end-user’s location.
3. Sealed and DeliveredMuch of this specialized equipment requires a distinct packing process that ensures safe transport and delivery of the units without damage to the external casing, or any internal components. It then become the logistics team’s job to create the customized packaging process. This can be everything from a custom-designed padding, wrapping and overpack system that keeps everything in place and immovable, to a shipper that will ensure no other shipment on the truck will come in contact with the laboratory equipment.
4. Recycle and RefurbWith fast advancements in medical technology, it’s often necessary to arrange shipment of an existing unit in the field for equipment upgrades, for end-of-life refurbishment for secondary markets, or even medical recycling. In a lot of cases, for equipment that has used or stored fluids or reagents—such as blood analyzers or centrifuges—a special decontamination process is required before it can leave the facility. A logistics partner adept in managing the decontamination process, who can ensure it has been adhered to with all required paperwork in place, is critical.
5. Tech TrainingSince life sciences equipment is so specialized, most manufacturers will require a logistics partners who can ensure the shipping personnel, installation team or field service engineers receive the specialized training necessary to handle, turn on, test and help make the equipment operational. Make sure your logistics partner has an in-depth training program in place to ensure anyone who touches your equipment has the know-how and specialized expertise to do so. This ensures you have one point of contact to guarantee your equipment gets to its final destination safely and user-ready…without the added time and cost of deploying your own field service teams.

Learn more about our life sciences specialty services here, or contact us today.

Cash Management Machines Offer A Great Opportunity to Cash in on a Growing Delivery Specialty

By John Cox
National Accounts
Technical Transportation, Inc

As cash management systems—like cash recyclers, coin counters, smart safes, and cash exchange machines —are starting to become everyday norms, the need for logistics providers to transport, deliver, and install cash-management equipment is on the fast track.

If you don’t believe me, just ask a retailer.

Cash recyclers are advanced systems that automate cash-room processes for organizations such as big-box retailers, grocery stores, and other institutions that manage large volumes of cash every day. These large, heavy and delicate machines can accept, dispense and secure the cash needed to run a store’s day-to-day operations.

In a similar vein, the smaller, yet sizable, smart safe also automates cash operations of busy retail environments—all while deterring theft and reducing bank fees.

These machines offer huge benefits to retailers – both from a banking convenience as well as reduction in bank deposit fees perspective. But, because of their complexity and weight, they can also be a huge pain to deliver and install, unless you have the expertise within your supply chain to do the job right.

A typical buyer of these cash management systems is often not set up to receive in and install the equipment themselves – primarily because they may lack the necessary skilled labor and warehouse equipment needed, as their locations are tailored to their walk-in consumers. In addition to this challenge, retailers seek to maximize their return on investment in store personnel and floor space, so the activities surrounding the delivery and installations of these devices may be taking up valuable employee time and retail space better spent on serving customers.

With all of these factors in mind, how can a manufacturer or distributor of such equipment take this challenging aspect of the sale and spin it into a seamless experience for their retail customers? The key is in optimizing the on-site activities at time of delivery; such as partnering with an experienced logistics provider who has the right core competencies to minimize the impact to your customer.

When looking for such a partner, you need to consider:

1. Your typical delivery company may not be equipped to deliver these machines,especially with the heavier (1,500+ lb.) cash recyclers. Your provider needs to have specialized personnel, gear, tools and know-how to properly transport and move this equipment, particularly when the job calls for installation in small retail or back-office spaces.
2. Your provider should have an established track-record in shipping cash-management systems. Providers need to know the ins-and-outs of your systems, and the experience of maneuvering product within your customers’ facilities. These activities include parts/areas of the equipment that are fragile or sensitive, best practices for lifting and equipment handling within the building, and the process for installing the equipment to make it ready for end-users to operate. It is critical that the delivery and installation happens quickly to minimize disruption to the end customer and their store resources, as well reducing the impact to retail customers due to store downtime.
3. You should work with a turnkey logistics resource. Your white-glove delivery partner should make your job easier by providing all of the services you need to handle the process. This is not only limited to the delivery itself – the pickup, transportation, remote storage, and installation of your products all play a part in the experience of your customer receiving their new device. Your delivery partner should be confident and capable in each of the activities mentioned above to ensure the job is done seamlessly. Challenge your partner to take on these tasks while you spend your time doing what you do best—running your business.

Do you need help delivering and installing cash management systems? Contact us today to learn more.

Homeward Inbound:Transparency in Transit is An Evolving Norm in Residential Logistics

By Len Batcha
President
Technical Transportation, Inc

It seems like everyone can’t stop talking about the Amazon Effect these days, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down any time too soon.

The ability for consumers to order virtually anything they want with the click of a button—and then to have it delivered to their doorstep in a matter of hours—has changed the way we purchase and sell forever.

It has also changed expectations about what residential logistics providers must do if their goal is to deliver high-quality services.

What’s realistic from a logistics perspective, however, isn’t always in sync with changing consumer expectations. Take, for example, rapid turn-around times. When white-glove delivery services are required, short-cycle turnarounds aren’t always feasible or even advisable, especially when larger or more complex equipment is involved.

The question then becomes how to keep consumers satisfied when it’s in their own best interest to allow a quality-driven process to evolve, even if instant gratification isn’t realistic.

The answer is for the shipper to be as transparent as possible throughout the ordering, transportation, delivery, and install process.

Residential Logistics Providers Need to Keep Buyers Informed

As consumers continue to expect personalized service on all fronts, there is a growing demand for transparency and information between pick-up, delivery and, in some cases, even installation.

It’s an especially important trend for those of us in the third-party, white-glove delivery arena. Where large and/or complex products are involved, there is much at stake, and the possibilities for damage are too high to ship expensive home furnishings, appliances, home-entertainment systems, or any other heavyweight product, without extra care and specialized expertise.

The issue, however, is that the average consumer has no real understanding of what the logistics process involves.

That’s why transparency in transit is important, and why demand for it continues to grow. Consumers who are increasingly used to getting goods at Mach speed are comforted when they know where their order is in the queue, and transparency allows them to check on their order’s status at any time.

What’s more, with the growing dominance of e-commerce and inbound marketing, consumers are now accustomed to receiving immediate feedback through automated communications that confirm their orders are in process.

There are many ways to keep buyers informed (and confident) during the shipment process for high-end residential logistics. All of them require comprehensive information and open communication between the shipper and the buyer.

Be sure to check out this example of how we handle challenging, high-end residential logistics projects in this latest case study.

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.