Furniture Home Delivery Challenges
No matter how your furniture gets to the customer - store to door - cross dock - distribution center - 3PL - building the perfect home delivery system is mission critical. Each home delivery is the final leg of the customer journey and an opportunity to create positive emotions that will drive repeat and referral business.
Every furniture home delivery operation is unique, with its own set of challenges. Is yours struggling to keep up with sales? Need more time and space to prep furniture? Are damages eroding profits? Do you have redundant equipment or labor? Looking to expand, but new markets are too far from your warehouse? Are cross docks too expensive or a hassle to manage? Too few bay doors to load efficiently? Want better control of your final mile?
Define Your Goals
Converting bottlenecks and issues into costs will help you determine what to attack first to best improve the bottom line. For example: saving five hours of drive time per two person delivery team every day results in $7,448 in labor costs and 2,600 hours of labor a year that can be reallocated to making deliveries. If you make an average of three deliveries per five hour period the drive time you saved becomes 780 additional deliveries per year.
Current Needs
Begin with a logistics audit. Outline your existing operation and create a wish list of improvements from warehousing through details as small as what your delivery teams wear. This will help you establish a baseline of functions that need attention now and talking points that will help you build consensus with stakeholders as you move forward.
Future Needs
What are your plans for growth over the next five to ten years? Are you planning on expanding into new territories? Do you want to increase revenue per customer by offering more choices? Add premium white glove service? Want to advertise faster delivery windows than your competition? Need to make more delivery stops per day? It’s hard to predict the future, but a solid plan will yield greater success.
Facilities and Vendors
Streamlining your logistics will most likely involve analyzing facilities and vendors. Choosing new, or making sure you have the right vendors and facilities in place is as important as determining the right course of action. Before committing, be sure they'll be there when you need them and they are the best fit for your business. They should also have the desire and resources to grow with you.
Operations Wish List:
Delivery Wish List
Logistics Partner Questions
Consider Adding a Warehouse on Wheels to Your Logistics System
As you look to proactively upgrade your furniture home delivery operation, Demountable truck bodies, a.k.a. Warehouse on Wheels should be part of your research. This lean and efficient system is designed to increase the number of deliveries possible per day, reduce the need for cross docks, and facilitate cost-effective expansion into new markets.
We would be happy to show you how our company and system check off the boxes on the checklist above. Please call (844) 364-4021 or submit this form. Learn more by viewing our videos.
