MAXIMIZE YOUR DSD CHANNEL
There are two primary channels for supplying products to grocery stores in the USA. Direct Store Delivery (DSD) are deliveries sent directly from the manufacturer to the store or retailer. The ‘warehouse’ model involves shipping products to the grocer’s central warehouse for distribution to their own stores. In this model, DSD saves time and reduces some of the costs associated with carrying inventory in warehouses before it’s shipped to the store. Manufacturers can streamline their supply chain and have greater control over their “product on shelf.”
For high-volume products, shipping through a ‘middleman’ warehouse is inefficient and takes up space, making a DSD channel more attractive. During times of disruption, such as COVID, DSD channel provides clear advantages over the ‘warehouse’ or ‘two-step delivery’ methods, and manufacturers who could directly stock shelves themselves were much more effective at keeping the in-stock products on the shelves. These advantages are offset by increased labor and transportation costs and retailer penalties in some cases. However, manufacturers who can leverage new AI-based technologies will reduce costs and increase the effectiveness of their DSD channel operations. These AI-driven upgrades assist them with boosting unit growth and delivering a competitive advantage at the shelf.
New technology, including StayinFront’s Intelligent Guided Selling, relies on sophisticated AI, transforming merchandisers’ actions and delivery functions into measurable selling opportunities. Augmented reality supports reps pitching to store managers and unlocks the potential to add displays. “Doing More” and doing it efficiently is an underlying goal and the mission of StayinFront’s award-winning Retail Optimization Platform (ROP). With integrated Image Recognition, KPI Dashboards, and Retail Data Insight (RDI) Actionable Insights, ROP streamlines workflow and accelerates your team’s retail execution goals within one end-to-end platform. StayinFront’s updated release TouchCG® 12.36 also introduces the Shelf Scanner feature, a new way to quickly turn a shelf into a planogram or schematic, perpetual inventory, lot number tracking, multi-warehouse capabilities, and deliver significant enhancements to Dynamic Routing.
Chart your cost-effective digital transformation journey with StayinFront’s Retail Optimization Platform. Visit www.stayinfront.com or contact sales@stayinfront.com to schedule a demo and see ROP in action. Know More, Do More, and Sell More with StayinFront.
