The four basic P’s of Marketing are also four fundamental requirements of running any business: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. The “Place” refers to the physical location where your products are available to your customers. It is the distribution aspect of a business. Whether you’re offering intangible services via the World Wide Web or selling vegetables in a busy Farmer’s Market, all businesses have to account for a location or place where you are creating services and making them available. Distribution is a BIG part of your business – a sizeable factor to account for.
At Bluff Manufacturing, we have given the “Place” and Distribution aspect a great deal of thought and we have created solutions to save our customers a great deal of money in terms of last-minute shipping and time. By allowing them enough flexibility and accessibility to place last-minute orders and make last minute purchases without incurring huge expenses, we have removed some of their material handling pain points.
How did we manage to do that? With seven stocking locations across the United States, Bluff Manufacturing is the only dock and warehouse products material-handling manufacturer stocking nationwide from coast to coast.
But first, we had to understand our customers pain points. We realize in material handling, often requirements for our products arise as a result of last-minute decisions or urgent events.
Many dock, warehouse, and safety equipment purchases are not planned and are usually driven by failure, loss, or a dramatic change that creates an immediate need for material handling solutions. If these needs are not quickly addressed, supply and fulfillment interruptions arise causing revenue streams to be affected and/or serious cost spikes driven by bottlenecks. Worse, safety risks mount as needs remain un-addressed.
But because these dock, warehouse and safety equipment needs are so unplanned and their solutions are so varied, it becomes virtually impossible for most material handling dealers to plan against these unplanned purchases.
Because of the factors listed above, Bluff Manufacturing inventories its best sellers such as dock boards, dock plates, and yard ramps in seven different locations across the country (Plus, our Fort Worth, TX plant):
- Seattle, Washington
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Temple City, California,
- Fort worth, Texas,
- Montgomerville, Pennsylvania
- Hagerstown, Maryland
Because of this well laid-out network, Bluff’s Material Handling Dealers are able to offer their customers same or next day resolution of their non-planned purchases.
For the customer, supply is not seriously interrupted, revenue streams continue to flow, and their operating costs are still controlled. Plus, rising freight costs are minimized.
Bluff Manufacturing’s unique posture with in-market inventory benefits a multitude of customers with smooth efficient continued operating postures and our excellent family of Material Handling Dealers are able to keep customers happy with the broad array of lightning fast solutions they are able to provide. So, while the other Marketing P’s are just as important too – Promoting the right Products at the right Price; in the end it comes down to being at the right PLACE at the right time!
