CASE STUDY

How Way to Play uses Quicargo to make their supply chain more sustainable

>10 different european countries served

> 25different carriers used

>200 pallets shipped within 8 months

About Way to Play

“It all started with a fun idea and product design in 2003, followed by crowdfunding in 2013. Today, we sell up to 1000 toys on a busy day.”

This is the story of Way to Play, a dutch brand that produces an unbreakable flexible toy road. These toys are both flexible and durable, making it possible to play with the tracks outside on rainy days or even inside along the walls.

Representing values in every step

The family-run company values good quality, local and socially responsible production as well as sustainability.

The roads are made out of verified materials sourced within the European Union. In Breidenbach, Germany, skilled specialists produce the road segments, which then get shipped to the Netherlands, where people with little access to regular employment print and package the road pieces.

The packaged goods are being placed on pallets and transported by a Quicargo carrier to the distribution center in Haarlem and then sent all over the world. In their main market, the EU, they ship their toys via road transportation.

Sustainability in logistics

As the demand is only increasing, Way to Play’s future goal is to keep up with production while staying true to their core values.

Being socially responsible means thinking about all the possibilities to reduce the carbon footprint in the entirety of the supply chain. Longing for a sustainable transport and logistics solution, they found Quicargo. Way to Play ships over 30 pallets per month and serves all european countries.

For their shipments, they chose the groupage services of Quicargo. By using empty truck capacity, they actively help to reduce the number of trucks driving on european roads, which ultimately leads to less congestion and CO2 emission.

As a result, companies with corporate social responsible ambitions – such as Way to Play, Elcogemert and Viktorgoes green – can easily contribute to a better environment by sharing the loading capacity of trucks.

High quality transportation

Yet, this is not the only reason why they trust Quicargo.

In the past, Way to play has had negative experiences with their previous transportation partner. Shipments were delayed, goods got damaged, freight got lost. Obviously, all these incidents lead to extra costs. When trying to get in contact with the support team, oftentimes they were ignored. Despite their wide global reach, being a small company unfortunately also means less bargaining power.

They chose Quicargo, because it is more than just one transport partner that fits into their concept. Having experienced troublesome cooperation, they now find trust and reliability more important than ever.

By using the digital freight network, Way to Play benefits from the overall 98% delivery reliability and gets access to a large number of certified and professional freight hauliers. Since April 2020, the toy manufacturer has worked with over 25 different carriers. Collaborating with transport companies like Ben Becker (98% average success rate), Micodo (99.4%) or Freightned (99.3%), Way to Play has, in a period of nearly one year, not experienced any delays, damages or losses.

“We trust that you select only quality carriers. We don’t care who, we just need to know the price and the estimated time of delivery.”

The power of a platform

At Quicargo, we consider customers our partners, which is why the entire team gives its best to provide top notch experience. When an issue occurs, it only takes a call and the support team will take care of everything else.

However, joining the network of Quicargo brings along another essential benefit. Carriers are actually more receptive towards the requests of an intermediary than those of direct shippers. This is mainly due to the bargaining power of Quicargo. Carriers want to uphold a strong reputation so that they will continue to get extra freight loads through the digital network. It forces the carriers to put their best foot forward to ensure a seamless experience for the shipper.

“We use Quicargo a lot, because you offer such a nice service. But also, you are a trustworthy partner.

We are sending some products, that could be delivered as parcels, by pallets, because it is safer and we know that it will not get damaged or lost, when we ship it with Quicargo.

In the future , we will send more and more pallets with Quicargo.”

To sum it up, using the digital freight network as an intermediary party means not spending valuable time on problem solving while being assured that the carrier will tackle the issue even more proactively.

Importance of service

“The biggest benefit is definitely the customer service. Whenever there is an issue, we get a quick response.

For instance, when there is a delay for 1 day, we get informed right away. Also, when we have a problem, we know that we can call and the problem will get fixed.”

Most of the time, good service itself is not guaranteed by the transporter, only bringing the goods from A to B. With increasing digitization and the exponential growth of e-commerce, clear communication and trust are more crucial than ever.

“Service is key. It is the most important thing in transportation. Often you get the feeling that everything is insecure. If you buy online, you don’t know the exact location of the shipment.”

This means, a lot depends on account managers or the person of contact. How does the digital logistics platform stand out? Despite the large international network, the Quicargo team tries to stay close to their partners, because this is how problems can be prevented in first place.

“I like the idea of a tightly interconnected company. If I, for instance, call Quicargo, the person answering the phone knows exactly who to get.

Even though it is a platform, it feels like a close community, you do not have the feeling of just being client number X.”

Growing together

Way to Play started to use the Quicargo platform in April 2020. Since then, they have successfully shipped over 200 pallets and tripled the number of orders. The toy manufacturer is expanding by opening up new markets and exploring more marketplaces. This leads to the need of new shipping solutions.

Luckily, Quicargo is consistently improving and expanding its services. As we speak (write), Way to Play has decided to benefit from our new service to ship to Amazon Fulfillment Centers.

“We rely on the solutions you provide. With the evolution of technology, it will only get better.
It’s a wonderful service.“

Mirco Leardini
Sales and Logistics Associate

Way to Play Toys B.V.

The company sells toy roads, which are produced socially responsible and with special focus on sustainability.

Location: Haarlem, The Netherlands

Partner since: April 2020

Ship pallets with ease, join Quicargo

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PCO is the main distributor of cinema snacks in Europe and the US. From their distribution center in Lelystad they ship their goods across the Benelux area with Quicargo.

Jonkers Bouwmetaal started using Quicargo in 2017. Today, they trust us with 100% of their pallet shipments.

„We are sending some products, that could be delivered as parcels, by pallets, because it is safer and we know that it will not get damaged or lost, when we ship it with Quicargo.”

Mirco Leardini
Sales and Logistics Associate
Way to Play

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