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Profitfreight Reports Record Savings
March 11,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on March 12, 2013
Retail software vendor Profitsystems' Profitfreight division announced a record last year for participants' savings, more than $2 million.
Over the past nine years, Profitfreight, a group buying program for freight in the retail furniture industry, has saved members more than $9.25 million.
Our program is designed to help the smaller to mid-size companies get all of the benefits that larger and top 100 companies receive, said Ginny Hampton, Manger of Profitfreight. "These include advantages like high discounts and reduced fees. Many of our retailers find that this savings is significant enough to be the difference between a profitable and unprofitable year during this tougher economy.
The program began in 2004 after a survey asked customers what would be another service that Profitsystems could offer to help them become more profitable. Hands down, the number one request was to assist with freight expense. The first members signed up in March of 2004, ending the year with 272 members. Today, the program has grown to nearly 650 members with all but 4 being retailers.
Profitfreight negotiates freight rates and discounts with carriers that are known for nationwide coverage, superior service and advanced technology. Typically, retailers are left to negotiate rates based on just their shipping volume. However, with this group buying program they are is able to use the combined shipments of all of these retailers to get the lowest shipping rates possible for their members with their preferred carriers. They currently have the top commodity carriers in the nation working for them: FedEx Freight and UPS Freight.
Members are able to save three ways: automated discounts, dedicated shipping lanes and out bound shipments. Automatic discounts come into play when Best Way is indicated to a manufacturer for the ship. When these shipments go out on the preferred carriers, the retailer will receive the Profitfreight discount. The greatest savings comes through dedicating lanes. By working with a freight specialist, members will receive help setting up specific manufacturers to always ship on their carriers. Outbound shipping is another area where the savings add up. As more retailers get into e-commerce to build their sales revenue they need ways to ship merchandise to homes not in their immediate delivery zone.
Profitfreight is easy to use and saves us a substantial amount on our freight every year, which definitely helps our bottom line profitability, said Tom Stegman, vice president of Patio and Hearth Shoppe in Centerville, Ohio, and a long-time member.
Although originally designed to service retailers in 2011, Profitfreight reached out even further and offered their discounts to furniture manufacturers who did not have discounts this high available to them. By adding the shipping volume of these manufacturers to that of the retail members this gave even greater negotiating power allowing for even larger discounts for everyone.
To date, there are four manufacturers taking advantage of this program, however we anticipate that number growing as more find out that Profitfreight is now open to them," Hampton said. "The savings on freight will help their clients save money making it easier to help them move even more merchandise. This truly is a win-win for everyone.