SOTA TOYS Eliminates Supply Chain Damage By Packaging With ShockWatch Labels

SOTA TOYS virtually eliminates breakage by packaging: ShockWatch labels

About the Customer

SOTA Toys is a boutique developer, manufacturer and wholesaler of collectible resin figures and statues. The company creates and fabricates prototypes and licensed products based on characters from popular movies, TV shows, hit video games and literary works – even legendary musicians and pop stars.

The company’s art piece statues are limited editions, frequently under 500 pieces total in a production run and distributed to customers across the United States.

Traumatic shipping for tough toys

SOTA Toys’ figures are designed to take abuse and seemed to be able to survive anything – anything except mishandling by its shipping carriers.

“We had a statue that could survive a two-story drop test, but it couldn’t survive shipment to a city 20 miles away,” laments Chris Hollosy, at SOTA Toys. “We were to the point where we opened every package from the factory to make sure the statues were safe before shipping to our customers, and they were still arriving damaged. There was broken resin all over the place, bits of limbs and statue parts strewn about the packaging when opened by a customer.”

For some shipments, the company estimated its breakage rates at an astounding 30-50%, which meant significant reshipping and replacement costs – not to mention hassles for its customers.

“We had extreme occasions where we shipped replacements to the same customer four times,” recalls Hollosy. “Replacing and eating the shipping cost on a 12 lb. statue pretty much destroys any profit right off the bat.”

Clearly, SOTA needed a solution. In April of 2013, the company

In April of 2013, the company began affixing ShockWatch Label impact indicators to its outbound packages. The green ShockWatch labels activate when impact exceeds a predetermined level – providing a trail of accountability. More important, in combination with ShockWatch companion alert tape, they serve as a highly visible reminder that prevents rough handling in the first place

Immediate improvements

Since it started using the ShockWatch Labels, SOTA’s breakage rate has plummeted, with no breakage reported for the 20 retail shipments made with labels affixed.

During its busiest shipping periods, typically right after an order arrives from its OEMs, SOTA may ship 50-200 pieces in a week. Reducing its reship and replacement rates by 30-50% would translate to huge improvements both in profitability and customer satisfaction.

“We are looking to roll the labels into our OEM projects, putting them on all of the packaging that we produce so that there is a trail that can be followed back to the factory on mishandling,” concludes Hollosy.

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