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Case Study: Tosca optimizes product visibility, boosting sales of German and Belgian retailers
In this article
Overview
Retail giant Edeka has around 13,600 stores in Germany, making it the country’s largest supermarket chain. In Belgium, the family-owned supermarket chain Colruyt covers over 220 locations, playing a prominent role in the Belgian retail sector. However, they needed to improve sales, and turned to Tosca’s retail ready bins to increase product visibility.
Despite the differences in size and location, both chains faced similar challenges:
- The bins in which the products were displayed on the shop floor were large and deep, providing limited visibility over the contents. After selling most of the products, customers could not see the remaining goods, assuming the crate to be empty, leading to a drop in sales.
- Both companies were reliant on disposable bins but were looking to replace them with more environmental, reusable alternatives that were easy to transport across the store.
Edeka and Colruyt needed a returnable packaging solution to improve their product visibility and their supply chain while enhancing the productivity and sustainability of their retail operation across their stores. To overcome these problems, they turned to Tosca (formerly known as Polymer Logistics).
The Process
As a leading provider of reusable plastic packaging and supply chain solutions, Tosca suggested replacing the disposable bins with a recyclable option featuring a dynamic rising floor. This transport packaging solution would eliminate the concerns relating to product visibility: as customers take products out of the crate, the floor rises accordingly. As a result, the remaining goods are always visible and within easy reach of customers.
Results
Tosca replaced the large, deep display bins of both companies. Dynamic Shipper crates that stand on wheels were implemented at Edeka’s busy stores, optimizing efficiency. And the Big Maxi Crates that rest on skids, making them easy to transport with a forklift, were implemented at Colruyt’s stores.
Both crates are made of durable polymer and feature a rising floor. Therefore, these solutions eliminate the concerns relating to product visibility: as customers take products out of the crate, the floor rises accordingly. As a result, the remaining goods are always visible and within easy reach of customers, leading to a boost in sales.
They are also a reusable transport packaging solution, helping the companies reduce waste and increase sustainability. The foldable, nestable, and stackable design improves transport and storage efficiency. It also simplifies use on the shop floor as the same crate can be used for transport, storage, and in-store display to replace traditional shelving. This versatility contributes to greater efficiency, eliminating the time and cost of replenishing shelves and reducing costs associated with storage and transportation.
The durable construction protects heavy or fragile products while keeping the crates light and easy to handle. They are also ideal for holding groceries as the material is easy to clean, resists moisture and fungi, and is impervious to odor, making it easy to maintain optimal hygiene levels.
Thanks to Tosca’s innovative reusable plastic packaging solutions, Edeka and Colruyt have improved product visibility, increased sales, and reduce storage and transportation costs.
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