Good news for the furniture industry!

We love to stay on top of the many industries we service. A large portion of our customers ship furniture, and some are even leveraging our technology to expand their services - especially to the growing number of online shoppers.

 

According to a recent Winston-Salem Journal article, "The confidence consumers have gained in shopping online for home furnishings is opening new sales opportunities, particularly with stores such as Ikea, Williams Sonoma and Restoration Hardware, but also limiting the appeal of the brick-and-mortar store for young adults."

 

Catering to the online shopper presents a challenge for traditional furniture stores. Fewer and fewer customers are buying furniture at a brick-and-mortar location and having it locally shipped to their home or apartment. These new shoppers are savvy. They stop at nothing to find the best possible total price, and the Internet gives them the ability to do it quickly. Retailers have to stay agile by offering free shipping or finding ways to compete on more than just craftsmanship - like price, and that includes the cost of delivery and serviceable areas..

 

What if there was a way to immediately start offering nationwide delivery? Whether you prefer to handle all the shipping or need shipments executed on your behalf, Cirrus TMS could be the answer. Cirrus offers flexible plan options that suit the needs of a start-up, a growing business, or a company with a long legacy.

 

Want to learn more about our freight management software for furniture retailers? Check us out online or leave us a comment.

5 Things Every Freight Management Software Should Do

Your business spends a great deal of money on shipping freight. Every year, your transportation spend increases as fluctuations in capacity and fuel prices deplete a large chunk of your revenue. Can you confidently say that you're paying the best possible price on every shipment you make? If not, you might consider using freight management software to uncover hidden freight savings.

Our system simplifies freight planning by giving you a "big picture" look at your freight spend and lane usage over time. That's just the beginning. Here's five things every TMS should do.

1. Bid Procurement

You should be able to compare rates from several carriers all at once through one system. Most LTL-specific carriers will provide rates electronically and your software should be able to accept that data in real-time and display it to you easily when you're running a quote. Booking LTL and truckloads can all be handled online, and you should never have to resort to calling around for rate and service.

Cirrus TMS goes one step further. We've partnered up with FreightCenter to provide affordable rates and services from their large network of carriers. So whether you have your own contracts or not you'll be able to compare more rates from more carriers, which ultimately lets you confidently select the absolute best rate available. The system also lets you match new truckload bids to past loads and to available trucking companies within a radius of your pickup zip code.

2. Dispatch Carriers & Track Shipments

It's 2014 and scheduling pickups and deliveries should be as simple as setting an appointment. More and more carriers have enabled GPS tracking of drivers and loads and this information should be available to you as it happens. LTL shipping is almost an entirely automated process, but there is still some manual functions of securing full or partial loads.

Cirrus TMS can handle both your LTL and truckload volume. The system can post to popular load boards like DAT and Internet Truckstop, or any load board of your choosing. With our truckload dispatch board, you will be able to see all of your bids and in progress shipments. New truckload features are constantly being added to our system or we can customize any feature for you.

2. Load Execution

You shouldn't have to wait to find out if a carrier has capacity at the quoted rate you received. If you book a rate with a carrier that may or may not have the space or trucks available to provide the service, than you're going to go through the headaches of missed pickup dates and delayed deliveries. Both of those can be a huge hindrance to effectively running a supply chain.

Cirrus TMS users execute inbound and outbound shipments with ease. Our system automates load tendering and empowers your shipping or sales department to do more in less time.

3. Advanced Reporting

A business is only as good as the data it relies upon to make decisions and strategize for growth. A good system will let you view and export historical shipment data, carrier data and customer data. You should be able to tell within seconds whether your freight spend increased or decreased month to month.

Cirrus TMS is only a placeholder for your data. You completely control what goes into your system and what comes out. Export your shipment data daily and import it into your accounting software - like QuickBooks - so you can audit and settle carrier invoices.

4. Return on Investment

ROI is a no brainer. What is the use of software that doesn't pay for itself either immediately or within a short period of time?

Our system gives you three different ways to achieve ROI: compare multiple rates, optimize routes, and execute loads. When you compare multiple rates, you get to shrink the spread between the best price and the next best price. Use your reports to identify high-cost lanes and optimize your routes. Improve the productivity and efficiency of your shipping or sales department to reduce labor costs.

The Difference Between TMS and MTS

Capacity is tight - especially on long hauls - and this is causing frustration for shippers in

every industry. Regardless of the method a shipper uses to manage freight, they often have to resort to their second and third carrier choice which leads to increased freight costs and sometimes longer transit times. Because route optimization becomes limited by capacity issues, shippers may not be able to achieve the return on their TMS software investment quite as quickly.

"An MIT study shows that if your primary carrier on a lane rejects a tender, the shipper can expect to pay 15 percent more when they default to their number two carrier on a lane. The deeper a shipper goes into the route guide, the more they can expect to pay. And clearly in a tight market, a higher tender rejection rate should be expected," says Steve Banker, a contributor for Forbes, the popular business and investment publication¹.

Current TMS buyers may start looking at other options like managed transportation services (MTS). With managed services, a shipper contracts a third-party logistics provider (3PL) to execute moves on a shipper's behalf. The shipper ends up seeing some freight savings in this scenario, but not nearly as much as if they managed their own transportation with TMS software. The difference between a TMS and MTS is service.

If you have an in-house logistics planner or shipping manager, you may already be happy with the level of service they provide and in that case you would just need software to help them do their jobs effectively. To avoid the pitfalls of slow ROI, choose a transportation management system that reduces the demand on your IT resources and takes a minimal amount of time to setup and train.

Do you currently use a TMS? Which one? Or, do you prefer to have a 3PL manage your moves? This is a hot topic. Join the conversation.

1. Banker, Steve. "Transportation Management and the Dangers of ROI Research", Forbes. September 4, 2014. (available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2014/09/16/transportation-management-and-the-dangers-of-roi-research/)

What Do TMS Buyers Really Want?

It's no secret. Every prospective TMS buyer has one ultimate wish when they commit to a purchase, and that one wish is affordability. But what if cost weren't an issue? What if, at the end of the day, the month-to-month or annual license fees were all relative? Well, it's our opinion that the market has already shaped up to be that way: You get what you pay for.

To put it into terms, think of this worst case scenario:

You're a high volume shipper or 3PL and you're looking to ditch the phone/email rat race for the modern, more sleek and efficient ways of the transportation management system (TMS). Product price is your main concern, followed by practicality and usability. So, you opt for the lowest cost TMS only to discover in a few months that you've outgrown the system or need it to work with some specificity. If only you've gone for the mid-priced TMS, you would've saved yourself the time and expense of implementing the system and paying for a product you can't use. We won't mention what that can do to your business' bottom line if you're contracted with the TMS provider for a year.

How is the average TMS buyer supposed to know which TMS is right for them? Well, that's where handy sites like Software Advice come in to play. Based on your needs and budget, they match you to the best possible TMS. Pretty cool, huh?

Upon surveying potential buyers, it's no wonder how Software Advice, a TMS research and reviews site, discovered that "twenty-four percent of buyers are still using manual methods (e.g., pen and paper) to handle transportation management needs."

In fact, Software Advice uncovered all sorts of insights about a TMS buyers' needs, wants and concerns. Check out this chart showing current freight management methods and the percentage of prospective buyers that currently employ them.

Current Methods of Freight Management

courtesy of Software Advice

Knowing that the majority of those surveyed still use pen and paper to manage their freight, is it no surprise that TMS buyers want to stop wasting time and money just getting a quote, let alone tracking shipments, and optimizing routes? Software Advice asked prospective buyers to tell them which features they were looking for in a TMS and as shown in the chart below the top two requested features relate to route optimization and tracking.

Top-Requested TMS Software Features

courtesy of Software Advice

If you're in the market for TMS software and you're using multiple methods or components to manage freight transportation, than consider opting for a single-platform solution. There are very few on the market - and most come at astronomical costs - but imagine how easy managing your freight can be when using one system to do it all.

Is your current method or "wish-list" feature not listed in these charts? Tell us in the comments.