Trade shows are fun, right? They’re an excellent way to connect with like minded people and let your product shine whilst creating a few new leads in the field.

But like so many good things in business, trade shows come with a heavy load of logistics on the side. 

You have to design your stand, organise travel, promote attendance, and on top of it all; get your goods to the show safely AND on time. 

This is where the most significant cause of anxiety lies. If you can’t be sure your products will be there in mint condition…you don’t have a trade show. Full stop.

Perhaps you’ve been considering sending your products to a warehouse in advance. 

We’re here to tell you why that’s a good idea.

Read on for five reasons to include warehousing in your trade show shipping process!

What’s an Advance Warehouse?

In short, advance warehousing (at least where trade shows are concerned) is where you store your products with a third party warehouse.

These warehouses are well-renown for undertaking all the tasks involved with handling your goods.

As the day of the trade show approaches, you can rent space for your goods. Companies like LTS Global Solutions will handle your products, and make sure they’re organised, labelled, and loaded onto a truck ready to get to the show on time. 

1. No More Fretting: Know Your Goods are Going to be There

Organising shipment on the day of the trade show and handing them over to venue personnel is risky. These workers are already swamped with hundreds of other stands to prepare.

Send your stuff to a warehouse in advance! Cut out the stress. You’re bound to be more relaxed when you know your products are already close to the event site.

Not to mention, warehousing companies usually also organise and label your stuff ready for venue personnel — what’s not to love about that?!

2. Save Money!

You might not think it, but often advance shipment warehouses have lower rates than if you were to ship directly to the show. 

You also stay clear of additional handling or other rates the event might apply on the day if you handle shipping directly with them.

If you ship directly to the event venue, your driver will probably get stuck for hours waiting to unload at the marshalling yard.

3. What’s a Marshalling Yard?

A marshalling yard is just a waiting dock where freight trucks queue to have their wares unloaded when they ship directly to the event location.

Marshalling yards usually unload freight on a first-come-first-served basis, meaning your shipment will be in a long queue. 

As there are no specific appointment times, there is no way to anticipate just how long your driver will be waiting. And it’s not uncommon for shows to have hundreds or even a thousand trucks queuing to unloaded!

Not only is this frustrating for the driver, but it may cost you a great deal when you are charged for the added inconvenience – so it’s well worth it to skip the marshalling yard.

4. Easier Set-Up

With all the excitement, location checks and travel stress, the last thing you’ll want on the day of the trade show is to spend hours trying to get your stand set up.

Having your goods there and at the ready, means you can spend more time perfecting the location of your flyers and less time fretting with boxes.

Venues often handle the shipments from advance shipping warehouses before they accept the loads from the marshalling yard so that you could be saving yourself hours, sometimes the whole day.

5. Better Organisation

If you choose to include advance warehousing in your trade show shipping process, you will have a much larger window of time to prepare your budget. Research potential deals and find the best rates for delivery and storage!

Use this time to check reviews and familiarise yourself with the event procedures so you can make sure all your boxes are correctly labelled and prepared. 

The extra planning time can often save you lots of money. After all, you don’t have to hurry your shipment decisions. You can thoroughly research your choice, which means you can prioritise a warehouse with better customer support.

This also gives you more time to double-check your shipment and make sure you have everything you need. Realising last minute that you have forgotten your freshly printed flyers is never a good feeling!

6. More Delivery Options

The delivery window for an event venue is usually quite small and often falls on a weekend.

This often means having to shell out for extra costs on expedient weekend shipments.

With an advanced warehouse, it is as easy as calling up customer service and arranging a time in sometimes up to three-week-long delivery windows.

Make sure to only pay the basic shipping costs like FedEx Ground or ‘standard freight’.

Get the delivery out of the way at the best rate you can find, and feel safe in the knowledge that this important task is taken care of.

Ready to Organize Your Trade Show Shipping?

Are you convinced that warehousing might be a great addition to your trade show shipping process? We hope you are!

Save yourself the time, money and mental energy by using advanced warehouse shipping so you can enjoy the trade show to the fullest and spend as much time as possible selling and networking.