Ryder’s Quiet Logistics Arm Now Drives Half Its Revenue

Not long ago, supply chain management was viewed as the silent, dusty backbone of commerce. Essential, yes, but hardly worthy of mainstream attention.

Then came the pandemic, and suddenly, everyone from Wall Street to suburbia realized that getting toilet paper from warehouse to aisle was a logistical miracle, and even sometimes a catastrophe.

“Our supply chain side of the business is actually more than half of our revenue now,” Stephanie Wicky, VP of marketing at Ryder, told PYMNTS.  “We’ve been in business for 90 years … and supply chain has always been sort of the secret sauce of competition for our customers.”

“Supply chain obviously became way more sexy when COVID happened,” Wicky said. “All of a sudden, everybody understood that your toilet paper comes from somewhere beyond just the supermarket.”

The modern commerce mantra has long been “scale or fail.” But as eCommerce evolves, the emphasis is shifting from “I need to find more demand” to “I actually need to service the demand that I have.” And Ryder, a nearly century-old logistics company more commonly associated with rental trucks than digital transformation, has been planning for this moment for longer than most.

To many, Ryder still evokes images of yellow-and-white trucks and rental counters. And while fleet management remains a part of the firm’s DNA, that view obscures a massive strategic pivot.

“We have a branding issue,” Wicky said. “Everybody thinks of Ryder as rental trucks … but what they don’t understand is how much our business strategy has changed in the last five years.”

For decades, Ryder played the role of the silent enabler, an anonymous extension of client operations. That began to change when global disruptions elevated the visibility — and vulnerability — of supply chains. Now, Ryder’s reimagined service model spans the entire logistics journey, from port to door.

“When we say port to door, we really … go all the way from inbound supplies at the port or cross-border, to the consumer’s door,” Wicky said. “And we can do it omnichannel … brick-and-mortar stores, big box retailers, direct to consumer, another DC — you name it.”

To support this vision, Ryder has strategically pursued M&A activity, adding capabilities that round out its end-to-end offerings. The result is a more strategic relationship with clients, moving from a transactional vendor to an integrated logistics partner.

“We’ve continued to fill our portfolio … drayage, cross docking, transportation, fleet management, technology for visibility — we cover the whole gamut,” Wicky said. “People still need to run their businesses. They still need to get their goods to market. And we’re preparing ourselves to take on that demand.”

But for Ryder to be considered at the table when those strategic decisions are made, it must first overcome decades of legacy branding. The challenge isn’t technological. It’s psychological.

One doesn’t normally expect to see a B2B logistics firm advertising during NHL broadcasts, but that’s precisely the point. Ryder has invested in mass media not to target every viewer, but to elevate awareness among a broader set of decision influencers.

Previously, Ryder focused heavily on account-based marketing — a surgical approach to targeting specific decision-makers. But that tactic had limitations.

“Our salespeople would come into RFPs and the first reaction was always, ‘I didn’t know Ryder does that,’” Wicky said.

Cue a full-court media press, beginning with golf — featuring PGA pro Sam Ryder — and expanding into NHL, college football and MLB. These channels aren’t chosen at random.

“What we look to do as a team is have a very balanced channel mix,” Wicky said. “Mass media is not the only thing we do … but what that doesn’t do is large-scale brand awareness … With golf, we’re getting to C-level decision makers, which is great. But with [sports like] NHL, we’re opening that up to directors and VPs — all the influencers of those decisions.”

If there’s one takeaway from Ryder’s marketing evolution, it’s that logistics is no longer a behind-the-scenes function. It’s a front-line differentiator — and a growing brand in its own right.

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