Fashion footwear retailer chooses the sure-footed approach to retail logistics
Prolog is providing retail logistics solutions that keep more than 1000 big-name stores supplied with fashion footwear.Fashion footwear retailer, Lloyd Shoe, which has more than 1000 high street concessions among Britain's top stores, has chosen Prolog Logistics as its next-day delivery supply chain provider.
A young, dynamic company with aggressive targets and high expectations, Lloyd's brand of marketing demands a flexible logistics partner with the agility to match its own. Its young customers are not prepared to wait, and they set a punishing pace in a fluid marketplace where demand can oscillate from 5,000 to 20,000 items a day.
Annualised, this adds up to a throughput of more than five million pairs of fashion shoes, boots and sandals, all of which pass through Prolog's strategically-located state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution centre at Sherwood Park in the East Midlands.
Lloyd Shoe operates footwear concessions in many major high street outlets, and while the in-store concessions are managed by the retailer's own staff, the product normally carries the host store's specific brand. Three of Lloyd's busiest London stores get bespoke same-day delivery by Prolog's drivers.
Since the contract went live in February 2005, Lloyd Shoe personnel have become frequent and welcome visitors at Prolog Logistics. This interchange is encouraged, because by fostering good communications and a two-way working relationship based on sound understanding of the business, Prolog is able to use its own huge storage, transport and distribution experience most effectively, assessing procedures and suggesting and implementing enhancements.
For example, all daily orders were processed initially using Lloyd's IT; but soon Prolog developed bespoke applications for its own flexible system with the result that control, efficiency, productivity and reporting were all significantly improved. And Prolog has developed a similar rapport with UPS, its client's preferred carrier.
Prolog's ISO9001/2 accredited warehouses operate 24x7 for Lloyd Shoe, so they can react quickly and keep ahead of peak demands. Since all incoming stock is bar-coded, the put-away process is accelerated so that any outstanding orders can be fulfilled there and then. The paperless system provides a clear audit trail, increases throughput and improves stock availability; and, crucially, it has a designed-in flexibility to cope at any one time with up to 2,500 SKUs.
Packaging is streamlined by scan-on-despatch both for individual items and for full cartons, and order accuracy is safeguarded by a system that will automatically reject any incorrect scans.
Returns are managed and processed on site to the client's own guidelines, and Prolog adds value by providing helpful pre-retail services such as attaching kimball tags and tickets. This also includes large picks for Internet and international warehouses who require specific packing requirements, and also the storage and transport of bulky display equipment and stands.
It all ads up to added-value retail logistics with the personal touch, delivered by one of the UK's leading integrated marketing service providers where total support is there for the asking.
