Security breach

RS
IN BRIEF
Supply chain news
Scalable Solution
The Jacques Vert Group decided to
expand the Merret supply chain system
already implemented at Jacques Vert
across the entire group. The womenswear
retailer recently merged with the
Irisa womenswear group, Alexon, almost
doubling the size of the business from
1,000 stores to 1,900.
convenient delivery
UPS announced the launch of UPS Access
PointTM in the UK, a convenient alternative
to home delivery. With Access Point,
UK consumers purchasing goods over the
internet can choose delivery and returns
locations such as convenience stores,
petrol stations and newsagents.
better availability
Aldata, now part of Symphony EYC,
announced that Midlands Co-operative
has extended its investment to optimise
its product assortment and retail space
for each of its 192 food stores. Midlands
Co-operative will be able to ensure store
layouts and inventory meet the demands
of local shoppers.
GoinG international
River Island and Rocks TV were among the
first retailers to sign-up for a new international
home delivery service. DPD Direct
is a dedicated business-to-consumer
home delivery service aimed at reducing
the cost and hassle of international home
deliveries. DPD Direct simplifies customs
and duty issues for retailers, provides
a full tracking and returns service and
generates in-country notifications for
recipients, in their own language.
SupportinG Growth
Kohl’s Department Stores, the valueoriented
speciality department store,
has selected Oracle Retail Merchandising,
Planning and Supply Chain solutions. Oracle
solutions will help Kohl’s by providing
an integrated, scalable retail suite of
applications to streamline merchandising
and planning while enabling its multichannel
growth strategy.
08 RS February - March 2013
Delivering quality
Karen Moss brings you the highlights from the MetaPack delivery
conference, including comments from Sir Terry Leahy
The MetaPack Delivery Conference on 7
February saw industry heavyweights like
Sir Terry Leahy and ASOS’s Nick
Robertson come together to talk about the
supply chain issues facing the retailers. Now in
its fourth year, the conference saw its
attendance double along with an increase to 40
speakers and 32 exhibitors. The event relocated
to the Business Design Centre to accommodate
the greater number of visitors and exhibitors.
Delivery is now definitely a strategic issue
and the conference focused on helping retailers
rise to the challenge of providing a true
and fully multi-channel consumer experience –
‘omni-channel’ – where orders can be serviced
from anywhere to anywhere, from anyone to
anyone, first time, every time with full visibility
to all. Justin Cox, general manager carriers,
John Lewis, drove home the importance of focusing
on this in his presentation saying: “Omnichannel
customers spend three times more.”
Paul Menzies the multi-channel operations
manager from JD sports has attended the
conference from the start and explained why:
“We always find it a useful insight into what the
carriers are looking to do in the next year... it’s
good for post beak analysis as well, and just
catching up generally with what current trends
are.” He’s not the only retailer who returns
year after year, Tom Ramshaw the operations
manager at Ironmongery Direct explained: “We
came last year, and again, a great networking
opportunity, good to see all the different
services and carriers in one place, a real good
comparison.”
For the carrier and logistics industry The
Delivery Conference is ‘definitely becoming one
of the highlights of the year’ as Dave Field COO
of Nightline affirms. Many use it as a platform
to launch new products and release the latest
industry statistics. This year saw DPD, UPS
and InPost with product announcements and
predictions of the total e-commerce volumes
to increase by nearly 70 per cent between now
and 2017 came from Andrew Starkey, head of
e-logistics for IMRG. Starkey welcomes this type
of event and said: “It is without question the
very best of its kind and the overall quality of
presentation, data, insight and interaction was
of the highest order.”
While e-commerce companies are starting
to understand the importance of joining forces
with the carrier market with more taking exhibition
stands than in previous years. As Michael
Adesina, e-commerce consultant at Channel
Advisor explains: “Delivery is important because
it’s a crucial aspect to fulfilling our online sales,
without having multiple delivery options, you’re
going to be left behind versus the competition.”
Alternative despatch, delivery and return
points gained more coverage this year. Starkey
predicted a growth rate of 40 per cent year-onyear
for Click & Collect at least over the next
two to three years. While carriers are realising
the convenience of store pick-up with the
Hermes ParcelShop network expected to grow
to 3,000 stores (1,000 currently) and the UPS/
Kiala expansion set to provide 4,000 stores (up
from the 500 they currently have).
The conference closed with an informative
panel discussion by Robert Willet, chairman,
MetaPack, Sir Terry Leahy, Nick Robertson, CEO,
ASOS.com, Clare Gilmartin, VP marketplaces Europe,
eBay, Dwain McDonald, CEO, DPD, Carole
Woodhead, CEO, Hermes, Martin White, supply
chain director, Primark and Roger Morris, Head
of Core Network Parcels at Royal Mail.
Sir Terry said: “I’m often asked if there is
anything I regret not doing while I was CEO of
TEsco. Well, I started the Tesco e-commerce
business in the 90s and I would say that one
of my regrets was not dedicating enough time
to e-commerce. At the time we guessed that
e-commerce would become 10 per cent of
our sales but we really had no idea the impact
it would have on the retail industry. Sales are
booming online but profitability is not, there
needs to be revolution in e-commerce and
suplly chain, especially delivery is a big part of
that. I believe retailers will have to charge for
delivery, after all nothing in life is free.”