Wireless Brand Leverages Under-One-Roof Signage Capabilities | Telecom

12/16/2021 RRD

A proactive and agile service strategy enables massive efficiency improvements

CHALLENGE

A value brand telecommunications provider was experiencing challenges managing in-store signage and visual merchandising across its 4,000+ retail locations, including branded stores, mall kiosks, and authorized dealers.

This client’s new promotions roll-outs are fast and often, which means securing up-to-date signage requires a high level of agility in production. But with elements of the program spread out across multiple suppliers, gaps in execution were bound to happen — disorganization plagued the signage program and the overall presentation failed to consistently represent the brand vision.

Despite last-minute element additions or delayed artwork, print and production deadlines did not, and could not, change. The wireless giant needed a single flexible source to handle late-breaking signage and to meet this brand’s top priorities for promotional kits: value and quality.

This client was ready to give control of their entire visual merchandising program to the right partner for an under-one-roof solution. They needed highly trusted retail industry experts who would learn their business inside and out: “We need you to know our business better than we do,” they asserted.

SOLUTION

After being chosen as the sole supplier, RRD came alongside the client to become their full-service partner, delivering value and quality in both production and customer service. RRD’s dedicated team of retail experts streamlined the program’s workflow by taking ownership of and improving on:

Production and kitting – Pre-planning (i.e., material purchasing), design engineering, color consistency, and print and kit efficiencies (e.g., better ganging, fewer one-off kits, etc.)
Inventory management – Notification of low stock (including rate of depletion), recommendations for replenishment quantities, discontinuing and/or destroying outdated inventory
Customer service – Dedicated resources for (re)orders and general inquiries from the field; timely responsiveness, order history, tracking, and returns research and reporting; clear invoicing; and, providing account team support for the client’s internal marketing and procurement stakeholders, as well as the external retail locations

RRD developed a solution built on six pillars:

Trust

RRD’s proven experience and consistent results allowed this client to step back and let RRD’s account team to manage promotions on their behalf. A tremendous synergy resulted from cooperatively working toward the same goals.

Structure

Whether advising on purchasing substrates in advance or catching errors along the way, the client relied on RRD to anticipate and mitigate challenges. They utilized RRD’s expert team to create element lists and maintain specs for ongoing, current, and upcoming programs.

Accuracy

RRD established a structured, proactive approach to kitting. Using a combination of technology and a client-specific playbook, RRD developed kits that are tailored to each location’s individual visual merchandising planogram — they received only the materials that will fit their existing fixtures, eliminating wasteful surplus.

Agility

RRD’s dedicated resources provided a nimbleness amid fluid timelines, which made a number of things possible: adjusting for last-minute edits or new elements, pivoting among RRD facilities, as needed, and updating shipping priorities on the fly.

Communication

Open communication with this client has been a key factor in facilitating RRD’s agility. The account team establishes transparent, realistic production timelines with hard cutoff dates so the client can work backward from a deadline. RRD participates in twice-weekly meetings with client stakeholders to collaborate on scope and priority, including what signage to print, how many, and where to distribute.

Technology

RRD supplies topline information to the client from a dashboard twice weekly, which captures promotion estimates, inventory status, new store kit tracking, invoicing, and more. The client’s retail locations can order directly from RRD’s eCommerce tool ConnectOne Storefront^℠ to order inventory, or make contact with the service team via a dedicated email box for inquiries and tracking.

RESULTS

This new approach also brought a number of new advantages into the light:

Open communication has created a strong and trusting client-vendor partnership.
A tremendous synergy has resulted from working cooperatively toward the same goals.
Individual retail locations expect and experience accuracy, receiving the right products at the right time.
Leveraging the best tools and processes drives continuous improvement and accuracy for the signage program.

Through RRD’s multi-pillared solution, the client has been empowered to focus on reaching their intended audience and, ultimately, growing their business.