The MercuryGate edge helps drive retail success
5x savings on inbound transport
A sports retailer with over a thousand stores nationally wanted to reduce their transportation budget by $200,000 USD. Their transportation director wisely identified their inbound transportation systems as most likely to yield these savings and they were right. But to realize these cost reductions, they needed the processing power of MercuryGate.
With the help of MercuryGate, they were able to analyze shipments, rates, and constraints in order to optimize vendor orders and gain greater visibility and control over the current status of shipments and time of arrival. This allowed them to better plan stocking and use fewer total trucks through consolidation.
Enabling an innovative approach to inventory
Retailers must manage thin margins. One way to do this is to limit warehouse inventory. A national home furnishings retailer runs this type of lean distribution network in which much of their inventory is maintained in the stores themselves. But not every store offered the same level of stocking. When the customer requested something that couldn’t be fulfilled, the staff tried to find it in another store and ship it directly to the customer’s home.
They needed to ship parcels at the most advantageous rates, while still meeting high customer expectations for service. MercuryGate offered the answer. With MercuryGate and its native parcel capabilities and dynamic rating, the retailer can choose from a wide variety of options to find the most cost effective and customer appropriate form of delivery.
Supply chain visibility is a thing of beauty
A multinational beauty retailer wanted to automate its carrier selection process. To do this, they needed enhanced visibility into carrier performance and the capacity to collaborate more seamlessly with the brands they sell. Their existing TMS couldn’t handle the volume of purchase orders required to keep distribution centers stocked for on-time outbound delivery to stores, so they turned to MercuryGate.
With MercuryGate’s visibility and collaboration capabilities, their logistics team is able to work more closely with their brands without significantly increasing their workload. This enables the retailer to accelerate the carrier selection process, while ensuring they pick the best carriers for specific lanes. Through improved carrier and brand activity reporting, the retailer has been able to identify and eliminate significant trouble spots in their supply chain.
