Tech Startup Adds Program Allowing Business to Store, Ship Trade Show Materials

Those who frequently attend trade shows know the hassles that can come with sending things, like displays, tablecloths, signage and promotional materials, to the trade show locations. In an effort to ease that pain, DUFL Inc., a Tempe, Arizona-based startup, launched DUFL Business, an app that provides a new service for shipping event materials.

"Save yourself the hassle and stress for moving these things, which is a giant pain," Andrea Graziani, DUFL's co-founder and chief marketing officer, told the Phoenix Business Journal. "Now you can have these things in a virtual closet and see a virtual inventory to choose from before you travel."

For $100 for storage, companies can ship their trade show materials to DUFL, which will take photos of the items and store them in its Tempe warehouse. When the company has to travel, they choose which items they need from the "virtual closet" and DUFL delivers them to the destination. When the event is over, the customer ships the items back to DUFL.

"Trade show booths are heavy and a pain to ship," Graziani said. "Getting all the labels together is also a hassle. This alleviates that."

The company also introduced DUFL Business Pro, which allows customers to take advantage of the regular DUFL Business service, but also lets them restock on promotional items.

The service currently is in its beta testing stage.

"I'm very familiar with the pain points," Graziani said. "Now this is a natural extension of what we're already doing. A couple customers asked for this, and that's how the beta got started."

For more information on DUFL, visit www.dufl.com.