Getting a delivery at your doorstep is an exciting feeling. There was no need to get dressed and travel to the store to get the item of your choice. Seemingly like magic you are able to order your desired products online and have them delivered to your doorstep. Not many people consider the whole process that goes behind getting products from the manufacturer to their door. Let’s take a closer look at the consumer goods journey from production to the doorstep of the end-user to better understand the process.
Consumer Goods Journey From Production to Doorstep
Sales Numbers & The Supply Chain
There are hundreds of millions of consumer products sold worldwide each year. Add to that the number of retail and industrial products that are sold, and you will have numbers ranging in the billions. With the holiday season just around the corner, sales of consumer goods are expected to see a traditional spike. More people are shopping online as opposed to making a trip to the store. As a result, this adds a few steps to the supply chain process.
Consumer Goods Journey From Creation to Your Door
Consumer goods journey through a long process from production to your door. Though the process has many small steps, there are three main phases that make up the bulk of the process. Some consumer goods may have more or fewer steps depending on the type of item it is and its origination point. Certain products may have extra steps such as safety checks and import or export reporting.
Manufacturing of Consumer Goods
Most consumer goods come through established routes. These routes have reliable logistics links to companies with proven manufacturing expertise. Many of our consumer goods are produced overseas. This is due to labor and production costs being low. Plenty of items are produced locally, however, though these tend to have a higher-end cost due to the increased cost of manufacture. China, Bangladesh, and the Philippines are some of the top countries to which consumer goods manufacture is outsourced.
The manufacturing portion of the process is usually completed by a third or even fourth party. This sourcing partner is not a part of the brand, but rather produces goods for the brands under contract. Sourcing partners may work for several brands at once. Depending on the location, some components of the final product may require shipping to the manufacturer from other locations. In addition, some may be local while others may have to come via air or freight. Anything arriving from outside of the manufacturer’s country will need to comply with local laws in addition to customs compliance. Once the goods have been manufactured, they are set aside for transportation.
Multimodal Transportation of Consumer Goods
Manufacture and production is the first step. After that, they will go through quality testing, labeling, and packaging. The manufacturer will then pass the consumer goods on to the distributor’s logistics partner. This partner is tasked with getting the consumer goods from the point of manufacture to the point of sale. Most often this location is near a port or airport in the country of manufacture.
The logistics partner will also have another warehouse in the target country to receive the goods, or they will be passed to yet another logistics service provider on the other end. Shipping containers will be packed and then protected to prevent damage, the packages will be counted again and sent for customs clearances. The consignment will then move toward the port or airport service for loading and transport. Once it arrives in the destination country, it will need to clear customs for the second time.
Delivery & Distribution of Consumer Goods
Once the consumer goods finally reach their final destination country, they will need to go to their various fulfillment centers. Depending on the product and the brand, this may mean being delivered to the brand itself, or it may be distributed to various centers across the country. This part of the consumer good distribution process is often the most complex and time-consuming.
A portion of the goods will be sent to brick and mortar retailers. The rest of the goods then go to fulfillment centers. The containers will be unloaded at the port, checked for quantities, and then loaded onto shipping trucks. These trucks will transport the goods either for finishing or storage depending on the product and brand instructions. From there, the goods will go to regional distribution locations. From there, they will be further broken down into lots for online fulfillment centers, retail locations, and wholesale stores.
The next step in the process is their delivery to customers. Depending on the method of purchase, consumer goods will be shipped either from a big retailer or from fulfillment centers directly to the consumer’s door. Of course, some goods will be purchased in person from regular retailers which will then arrive at home with the end-user themselves.
The Junction LLC | Truckload Shipping
As a leader in the transportation industry, we demand excellence from our entire team. Our team at The Junction LLC strives to deliver the best possible customer service and by a desire to solve our customer’s toughest transportation and supply chain needs.
Our team is dedicated to serving our customers and will take the necessary action to deliver our customers’ products safely, efficiently, and on-time. This is our promise to you!
Nationwide Services include:
- FTL (Full Truck Load) Shipping
- LTL (Less Than Truck Load) Shipping
- Transportation of refrigerated, dry and bulk shipments
- 3PL Warehousing and Logistics
- Contract Warehousing
- Trucking Freight Brokerage
Trucking & Freight Shipping Services:
- Overweight,
- Over-dimension
- Time-sensitive shipments
- LTL (Less-Than-Truckload)
- FTL (Full Truckload)
- Flatbed
- Flatbed LTLRGN (removable gooseneck lowboy)
- RGN (removable gooseneck lowboy)
- Maxi’s / A-Train / B-Train
- Heavy Haul
- Over Dimensional
- Dry Van
- Dry Van LTL
- Refrigerated
- Refrigerated LTL
- Power Only
Additional Services:
- Our sister companies can also provide warehousing in our food-grade facilities, cross-docking, and contract warehousing.