How Retail Consolidation Enables Shelf-Space Growth

Building trust with your customers is always important, but it's especially crucial during a down market as consumer spending wanes. When consumers are feeling uncertain about the economy, they're more likely to shop with brands they trust. Timely delivery and ample shelf space are two key ways to build trust with customers. Consumers don't want to wait weeks or even days for the products they order, and if they don't see your product on the shelf, they're more than likely to try a competitor brand.

By providing timely deliveries and proper shelf space, retailers show their customers they are reliable and make it easy for them to find what they're looking for. This ultimately increases brand loyalty and customer retention.

Challenges Shippers Face 

There are many complexities in getting your product into big-box retailers, including paperwork, audits, scheduling, and technology. Navigating these factors correctly to maximize efficiency takes experience, best practices, access to equipment, partners, and the right tools.

Paperwork and Audits

Audits and paperwork are essential to ensure that the right products are getting to the retailer on the correct trucks, all while maintaining the stringent On Time and In Full (OTIF) guidelines the retailers are looking for. Often, paperwork is only provided if requested by the customer, which may be lost or thrown away if not asked for immediately. It's also vital to keep a good paperwork trail to quickly identify and pull products from the transportation line last minute if a change is needed. 

Strict Scheduling Requirements from Big-box Retailers  

Scheduling can also be a challenge. Unless there is an established relationship with big-box retailers, scheduling your drops can be a pain. Big-box retailers often have strict scheduling requirements, like requiring you to schedule your product a month out without consistent drops. An established relationship allows changing inconsistent drops into a weekly schedule.

Acquiring and Utilizing Technology

Utilizing Tier 1 Technology for your Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Transportation Management System (TMS) allows the two systems to work in tandem to maximize your product's efficiency. Together, these technologies provide visibility throughout your product's journey from the Warehouse all the way to drop off at the retailer. The integration also uses data for maximum efficiency and reporting. However, Tier 1 Technology is costly and requires an expert team to operate correctly.
 

Client Case Study: Healthcare Company 

GEODIS partnered with a prominent healthcare company to help them improve efficiency in their supply chain. Between 2019-2020 our collaborative solution supported their brand's growth by 11 SKUs. 

They continue to see volume increases in the following areas:

• 13% increase in pallets shipped
• 22% increase in product weight
• 23% increase in loads shipped 

With the help of our Retailer Consolidation Services (RCS), they are on track for projected volume growth of pallets shipped by 58% and product weight by 85% this year!

How GEODIS Drives Brand Growth

As alluded to in our previous article, which highlights the compliance expectations of Walmart, consistency is the driving factor for growth with big-box retailers. With so many companies vying for the same limited space, it is essential to consistently meet the retailer's strict guidelines for establishing and maintaining a working relationship with them. It is easier to be consistent when you have an expert alleviating your hassles.

GEODIS utilizes Tier 1 Technology to identify when to use specialized processes that match your product's needs. GEODIS will tailor our processes to make sure they fit your individual needs. We track your products from the moment they leave the plant through drop-off at the retailers, providing visibility every step of the way. We understand your company and product needs can change on a dime, so GEODIS can also perform audits at any time during your product's lifecycle. This allows us to easily identify and pull products last minute from the transportation line if a change needs to be made. This includes cross-dock audits to double-check and ensure all products are good to go and leaves time to allow corrections as needed. GEODIS has scheduling down to a science. 

Several big-box retailers have shippers and vendors schedule their shipments up to a month out. However, GEODIS has developed relationships with every retailer at each retailer's regional distribution center, so they know and recognize GEODIS due to brand consistency, creating a brand preferred advantage. Utilizing the Retail Consolidation program, GEODIS can help you schedule weekly drops with those retailers.

Retail Consolidation Services (RCS) by GEODIS

When you don't have to worry about meeting compliance guidelines and the fines incurred because your logistics provider is taking care of everything, it allows you to focus on brand growth. Retailers also want to reward consistency, allowing the opportunity to grow into premier shelf space. 

With the GEODIS Retail Consolidation Program, GEODIS will ensure consistent deliveries and remove logistical headaches so you can focus on growing your brand and revenue, rather than worrying about getting your products to consumers. By utilizing the RCS program with GEODIS, you can ensure that there will be no bare shelves where your product should be.