Expertise and well-developed processes are essential for brands working with warehouse clubs but, in periods of supply chain disruption, it’s the ability to pivot quickly that can save the project.
That’s a lesson many brands learned the hard way during the cascading supply chain interruptions that started during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to TPH Global Solutions® President, CEO David Schmidt.
“Current global conditions, from shipping lane interruptions to container shortages, require a similarly flexible approach to supply chain logistics and transportation,” Schmidt said.
A Profitable Pivot Enabled by a Packaging & Display Partner
Companies should be prepared to pivot as necessary and, when inhouse experience is in short supply, find a retail packaging and display partner with the experience needed to manage obstacles and opportunities that can appear with little notice, he said.
Schmidt points to a recent example: the manufacturer of a contactless infrared thermometer sold on Costco.com experienced a pandemic-related surge in demand that opened an opportunity to sell them on the floor of Costco.
To successfully transition its inventory, the company had to rapidly repackage its products from e-commerce boxes to blister packs and pack them into pallet displays that also had to be designed and sourced for the first time. Collecting, unboxing and repackaging the thermometers and packing them into pallet displays required a significant amount of experience, preparation, labor, and physical space – on an accelerated schedule.
Fast-Tracked Costco Pallet Display
With decades of experience overseeing big-box retail campaigns and providing custom POP and POS displays and custom retail packaging and repackaging services, TPH managed the project’s logistical and timing hurdles. Warehouses were rented, trucking schedules arranged, and 285,000 thermometers were moved, repackaged and trucked into Costco warehouses across the country quickly, and in accordance with the retailer’s packaging and pallet requirements.
Nimble, proven processes kept the project on track and saved what could have been a missed opportunity for the company.
“You only get one chance with Costco,” said the company’s director of product marketing. “Getting pallets into Costco is hard; keeping pallets on the floor is a full-time job, even for a big organization.”