Get Started with Direct Store Delivery and Van Sales
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain how direct store delivery and van sales improve product distribution and efficiency.
- Describe the common challenges with distributing consumer goods and executing van sales.
- Identify the benefits of direct store delivery and van sales.
- Describe the business processes related to direct store distribution.
- List the key roles and responsibilities involved with direct store delivery and van sales.
Before You Start
Before you start this module, consider completing the following recommended content.
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Order Management for Sales Reps in Consumer Goods Cloud
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Penny Perfect Pricing with Consumer Goods Cloud Offline Mobile App
Direct Store Delivery and Van Sales
Think back to your last trip to a store. Was it a quick sprint to grab supplies for your kid’s science fair project? Or just another routine grocery pickup? Chances are, these items were waiting for you because of the efforts of unsung heroes: delivery drivers and warehouse workers.
Along with navigating busy roads and delivering products at stores, delivery drivers perform several other important tasks. They build important relationships with store managers to solidify business, manage payments and invoicing, collect reusable containers, and deal with the fallout of damaged goods, theft, and accidents.
Back at the warehouse, admins manage the routes and tours that drivers follow, checkers verify truck inventory and conduct audits, and cashiers collect and track payments from drivers.
In terms of logistics, many product manufacturers store their products at distribution centers, where the items sit idly until a store orders them. For certain types of products, this supply chain model causes issues, including increased lead time for product shipment, delays in stocking, and complex inventory tracking. It can also result in the damage of delicate or perishable goods.
There’s an alternative supply chain model that’s gaining traction for many manufacturers: direct store delivery (DSD) and van sales. In this model, truck drivers working for consumer goods manufacturers transport goods directly to retail stores from the manufacturer’s warehouse. Van sellers check stocks during store visits, create orders, and deliver goods directly from the truck. More on van sellers later in the module.
The DSD model provides many benefits for manufacturers.
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Special product handling: Shorter delivery routes make sure that fresh or frozen foods stay at the same temperature, such as bakery goods and ice cream. Drivers are trained to handle fragile products, such as salted snacks.
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Quick replenishment cycle: Drivers and van sellers can restock products faster—often within 24 to 48 hours.
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Nationwide distribution: Manufacturers can make products available in rural or remote areas and avoid expensive sales and distribution infrastructure investments outside major cities.
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Improved customer loyalty: Drivers can develop closer relationships with store owners and consumers at the point of sale and better understand regular and irregular demands.
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Fewer out-of-stock situations: Van sellers can replenish shelves during delivery, so stores experience lower out-of-stock rates for popular items.
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Fewer payment defaults: Drivers collect payments from the stores for current deliveries, which helps manufacturers receive timely and accurate payments.
This simpler model provides a smoother and more reliable supply chain for manufacturers, drivers, and stores. Still, there are several challenges associated with DSD.
Challenges in Consumer Goods Markets
Consumer goods manufacturers are usually not experts in the world of logistics, so they face several hurdles when executing their own distribution processes. Here are some of the challenges that stakeholders in the consumer goods markets face with DSD.
- Manufacturers struggle to make product distribution efficient and minimize out-of-stock situations.
- Manufacturers use different systems for logistics, sales, and merchandising processes, which makes it difficult to maintain unified and reliable records.
- Manufacturers use different solutions and workflows to serve modern and traditional markets.
- Delivery drivers struggle to complete store visits on time and track accurate payments and product inventory.
- Van sellers often face product shortages during their tours, which leads to out-of-stock products in stores.
Historically, manufacturers, warehouse workers, and drivers lacked the tools necessary to complete their delivery execution activities. But now there’s a solution: DSD in Consumer Goods (CG) Cloud.
Direct Store Delivery in Consumer Goods Cloud
DSD helps consumer goods businesses quickly and accurately distribute products and improves the efficiency of delivery drivers. Check out the unique and powerful capabilities of this solution.
Increased Driver Efficiency
Persona-driven user interfaces, including the Driver Cockpit and Delivery Cockpit, give drivers a complete view of customer details, upcoming visits, order history, and truck inventory status.
Integrated Logistics, Marketing, and Sales Processes
Keep an accurate and seamless record of sales, merchandising, and logistics, and easily manage related processes all from a single app.
Market-Dependant Configuration
Cater to your unique market needs by configuring tours with localization and extensibility options.
Global Market Coverage
Speed up and simplify your delivery processes for both modern and traditional markets, no matter where they are located.
With DSD, manage product inventories, set up efficient routes for drivers, and complete timely orders to stock the shelves with the products your customers love.
For example, David Lopez is a delivery truck driver for Alpine Group Nutrition and Beverages. One of David’s fondest childhood memories was hearing the music of the ice cream truck as it cruised through his neighborhood on a hot afternoon, bringing frozen delicacies and excitement to all the children and a few grown-ups.
David knows that delivering ice cream brings joy to the community, though these days, he’s doing more than that. David distributes Alpine Group’s cereals, snacks, and beverages to the Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO) retail stores throughout the downtown area in Dallas. The sight of happy consumers leaving stores with the goods he delivers warms his heart every time.
Unfortunately, David faces several challenges in his day-to-day work. First, he manually counts the product inventory, which is time-consuming and prone to errors. There’s also the issue of last-minute tour changes, which complicate his route and sometimes lead to unexpected traffic situations. David’s not very tech savvy, so he constantly struggles to use Alpine Group’s existing digital solutions.
Fortunately, Alpine Group has started to use DSD in CG Cloud to manage deliveries more efficiently. Now, David can use the intuitive app to quickly track inventory, see his scheduled routes, and complete deliveries more efficiently than ever.
The Direct Store Delivery Business Processes
The business processes involved in DSD, such as order management, tour preparation, and start-of-the-day activities, help truck drivers and van sellers manage their daily work quickly and easily. These business processes are designed to support the DSD supply chain model and help manufacturers sell and deliver goods directly to retailers. To explore the DSD business processes, check out this interactivity. Click each business process to learn more about it.
Direct Store Delivery Users
With DSD, set up your users to match your business requirements, which can vary depending on the size of your market and company. In the consumer goods world, there are two types of markets: traditional markets with small, independent stores, and modern markets with large, organized stores or chains of stores.
Modern Market Users
Users in large, modern markets typically have the resources to assign one or more dedicated roles to complete each required task. Check out the roles and responsibilities of DSD users in modern markets.
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Delivery driver: A delivery driver delivers products to stores, picks up approved returns, and collects payment.
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Merchandiser: A merchandiser conducts store audits and shelf surveys, and tracks the assets in a store.
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Preseller: A preseller creates orders and return orders.
Traditional Market Users
Users in smaller markets often rely on a smaller workforce to complete direct store delivery tasks. Luckily, in CG Cloud, you can set up hybrid users to perform multiple tasks, including merchandising, sales, and delivery. For example, hybrid users can deliver products to stores and create presell orders. By setting up hybrid users, manufacturers can serve traditional markets more cost-effectively.
In this unit, you learned about the DSD supply chain model, the challenges in consumer goods markets, and how businesses can overcome challenges by using DSD in CG Cloud. You also discovered the various business processes associated with the feature and explored the roles and responsibilities of logistics and delivery personnel.
In the next unit, learn how warehouse admins set up tour preparation and how delivery drivers complete the start-of-the-day activities using DSD.