Sometimes the smartest way to sell more is to ship less. Just more often.
From my desk today
I've been building a direct-to-store offer for one of Canada's large national retail chains.
300 locations.
The idea is simple. Instead of shipping big orders into the chain's own warehouse, we ship smaller orders straight to each store, more often.
What makes it possible is geography. We have two hubs, one in Laval and one in Edmonton, and between them we reach every store in the chain.
For the retailer, that means:
- No need to run the product through their own warehouse network
- Faster turns at store level
- Less cash sitting on shelves and in backrooms
The retailer reality
Here's how it usually goes.
To make freight worth it, you order big. The product lands in your warehouse. Someone receives it, stores it, picks it and ships it again to each store.
You pay to move the same box twice.
Meanwhile, each store gets more than it needs "just in case." The extra stock sits in the backroom. Your cash sits with it.
And when a product sells faster than expected? The store waits for the next big order.
Big, slow orders feel safe. They rarely are.
Behind the scenes at Randmar: the numbers
Here's what sits behind that offer, and what each number means for you.
2 hubs, 120,000 sq ft.
Laval is 80,000 sq ft. Edmonton is 40,000 sq ft.
What it means for you: your stock is held in Canada, on both sides of the country, so it doesn't have to cross a continent to reach your store.
Over 20,000 SKUs in stock.
What it means for you: when a store needs a refill, the product is usually already on our shelves. You're not waiting on a manufacturer's production run.
About 320 orders shipped every day.
Roughly 200 from Laval and 120 from Edmonton.
What it means for you: small orders are our daily routine, not a special request. Shipping a few cases to one store is what our teams do all day.
3 p.m. local cut-off for same-day shipping.
What it means for you: a store manager who spots a gap on the shelf in the morning can have the order on a truck that afternoon.
1 to 3 days typical delivery.
What it means for you: stores can order closer to what they actually sell, because the next delivery is never far away.
2 regions, 1 backup plan.
Edmonton serves Western Canada: BC, the Prairies, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Laval serves Ontario and everything east. Both hubs can ship anywhere in Canada if needed.
What it means for you: if one hub is busy or a product is short in one place, the other one can step in.
300 stores, 0 extra warehouse steps.
What it means for you: for a chain, the product goes from our shelf to yours. No receiving, storing and re-shipping in between.
None of these numbers happen on their own.
They happen because of Ben and Wanda, our warehouse managers, and their teams. Every order picked before the cut-off and every truck that leaves on time is their work. Thank you.
My real point
Inventory is cash wearing a cardboard box.
The closer you can order to what you actually sell, the more of that cash stays in your business.
Your quick win this week
Pick your slowest-turning category and check how many weeks of stock your stores are holding. If the answer makes you wince, ask whether smaller, more frequent deliveries would fix it.
Your turn
If you could order half as much, twice as often, what would you do with the cash it frees up? Randmar. Your shelves, our warehouses.
Philippe Jeanneau, Business Development, Randmar philippe@randmar.io | 403-616-1051 | randmar.io
P.S. Ben, Wanda and the Laval and Edmonton teams: thank you for making the numbers in this post true every single day.