Verran Freight speaks to Whicharehouse about their professional opinion on the logistics industry
We asked Verran the types of industries they have mainly seen storing with them over the past year and they advised "It’s not so much the type of industry as the type of company. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re in the retail sector, construction, FMCG, or manufacturing. Verran seek to attract like-minded companies who are prepared to take an innovative look at how they go about their business. By working together in this way you can drive out cost and improve KPI’s. If the past 5 years have taught us anything, they have shown that traditional business models are often not relevant to today’s commercial world."
Verran advised that the biggest difficulties they faced as an operator was the shift from High Street shopping to Internet shopping explaining that this undoubtedly had a major impact on the warehousing industry. Together with the downturn of volumes in the recession many logistics companies found themselves ‘wrong footed’ with a surplus of fixed assets. Their approach was to maintain quality, slash overheads, and use the savings on marketing their services. "The policy couldn’t have been too bad; we’re here today and in a strong position to grow into the future" said Verran.
So in what respect have the industry changes affected a professional bonded warehouse company in Oxfordshire such as Verranf Freight?
With many changes within the logistics industry to date we asked Verran what they felt was the biggest change in the industry during 2013. Thier response was that 2013 saw a re-emergence of industry, blinking in the light of a new dawn after the dark days of the recession. Most businesses took a bit of a kicking during the recession, it is heartening to see a return of confidence. I don’t think that the Government realize how strong the recovery is.
Verran went on to say "The era of big sheds for speculative storage has gone. In the days before the recession you could fill a shed of any size so long as you got the pricing right. The recession made people evaluate the real cost of holding stock and change the way in which they get product to the point of use. Today you have to be right sized and offer bespoke solutions. You need to be smarter"
The influence this has had on their business they explained has been neither negative nor positive, just more dynamic. The knack is not to fear change, neither should you just cope with change, but if you can anticipate and embrace change you’ll thrive.
Here at Whichwarehouse, we feel that having such a fantastic positive approach towards your business and change can only bring about positive results. Having worked with Verran Freight for a number of years now, we can truly say with our hand on our heart that this company are dynamic, accomodating and have the ability to adapt to each customers logistics requirements. No wonder Verran have not been hit hard unike some of the other unfortuante logistics companies over the past few years.
They are fortunate to have a wide range of customers. Some of these are in the online arena, some on the High Street. Retail is however, only a part of their portfolio.
"The High Street has undoubtedly been a place of major change in recent years but this is only the start of the process. We predict that the rate of change will accelerate in the coming 5 years and that retailers, local authorities, and logistics companies will have to adapt to meet the new demands presented by this process. Many successful retailers have embraced this change by developing online divisions of their business. By having complimentary rather than competing methods of achieving sales you can strengthen your brand and still compete in what is a very competitive market. Needless to say, Verran are there to help their customers evolve".
Lessons are being learnt by the retail sector but there’s no one rule that suits all businesses. Every company needs to develop it’s strategy based on the peculiarities of the market they are in and their desired position within that market. A mistake in strategy can mean only one thing, disaster. It’s a tough world out there and you need to get it right. We have no doubt that the trend toward contracting logistics out to 3PL companies will continue. Verran will continue to help their clients with new and innovative ways of delivering the goods.
Whichwarehouse would like to thank Verran Freight for their industry views and wish them continued success for 2014.