Dachser, one of the leading logistics operators, offers a unique service for suppliers of home and garden stores.
DIY Logistics consists of delivering shipments to DIY store chains and providing a range of additional services, including in-store merchandising. The uniqueness of the service lies in the fact that the operator delivers products directly to the shelves, rather than to the store’s loading ramp.
The constantly growing DIY industry, especially in our part of Europe, consists of home and garden, construction, and hardware stores. As part of the DIY Logistics service, Dachser delivers to 18,000 stores across Europe every day, handling over 2 million shipments annually. It offers a unique service tailored to the needs of DIY chain suppliers, based on a large number of its own branches and a global delivery network in Europe. This is a response to market trends – customers expect increasingly broader and more comprehensive service. The operator enables suppliers to reach store chains in many countries, which is very difficult and expensive for an individual manufacturer or importer to achieve on their own.
– Retail chains often impose very difficult conditions on suppliers, such as high delivery punctuality, penalties for delays, very short unloading times, and no option to use so-called time windows. For an individual supplier, these can be impossible to meet – says Grzegorz Lichocik, CEO of Dachser in Poland. – Cooperation with a logistics operator can solve this problem – adds CEO Lichocik.
Logistics operators, who have been working with store chains for years, are treated by them under different terms. Cooperation with such an operator provides the opportunity to precisely plan delivery dates, reduce logistics costs, and shorten delivery times. Shipments can be consolidated, which also helps to reduce logistics costs. Additionally, goods receipt is better coordinated and can take place without detailed inspection of shipment contents.
Thanks to the additional services provided by the operator, suppliers do not have to worry about what happens to their products inside the store. Merchandising includes, among other things: stocking shelves, shelf maintenance, handling requests and orders, organizing promotions in sales networks, quality and quantity control of goods, labeling, repacking, and preparing returns. This provides many benefits, such as shortening the time between delivery and stocking shelves from 4.5 days to 1 day. Additionally, the operator’s employees constantly monitor the appearance of the shelves and ensure proper product display.
The average manufacturer or distributor of products that could be sold in home and garden stores usually does not have access to them. Such an opportunity is available to the largest manufacturers who have been operating on the market for years and have an established brand. Others have trouble introducing new products. Therefore, Dachser also offers support in marketing and commercial activities related to introducing new brands to the market.
Currently, the company offers full DIY logistics service (transport to stores within the Dachser network and merchandising) in the following countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.