Page 104 - Inbound Logistics | April 2017 | Digital Issue

for customers to carry out the door.
For those companies, a foolproof
inventory replenishment system is even
more crucial than it is for merchants
who rely purely on e-commerce. “We
can’t get a ‘not available at this time’
message when the customer has just
spent the time to go in and touch and
feel,” Runge says.
One SME client ran into this prob-
lem when its 3PL provider failed to
provide up-to-date inventory data. “Not
only did they lose business, but they had
offered guaranteed availability,” Runge
says. “They were giving away an incen-
tive when an item was not available.”
SME helped the retailer set up ser-
vice level agreements (SLAs) with its
3PL. “The agreements included fill
rates and penalty language for not meet-
ing the requirements of fast inventory
replenishment and accurate inventory
availability,” Runge says.

Roman Kirsch, founder and CEO of Lesara, visits China to research the latest international
Make it Snappy fashion trends for customers. Working with a network of global suppliers helps Lesara
quickly get these new fashion offerings into production, and for sale on its website.

s the need for speed has altered Lynch says. “It’s harder to track what through data what trends are popular
the way apparel companies volumes will be at different stores.” So with consumers at this moment, and
A fill customer orders, it has companies are sourcing items in smaller being able to act on that instantly, with
also forced changes all along the sup- quantities, joining the fast fashion mar- a seamlessly integrated supply chain,”
ply chain. ket even if that wasn’t the original plan. says Roman Kirsch, founder and CEO
Catering to shoppers who love to Shifts in consumer tastes are pushing of the Berlin-based firm, which cur-
keep snapping up whatever is new fast fashion as well. “The generation that rently sells into 24 countries in Europe.
and trendy, fast fashion retailers such seems to have a lot of retail buying power Lesara has developed tools for analyz-
as H&M, Zara, and Forever 21 have isn’t necessarily interested in mass-pro- ing information drawn from numerous
learned to propel new styles from duced product,” Lynch says. “They’re sources—such as Google Trends and
sketchpad to store in just a few months. more interested in what seems like various fashion blogs—to continu-
These companies hit the market with curated product.” That’s why retailers ously track what people want to buy.
wave after wave of new items, priced such as Zara and H&M have performed “Additionally, we constantly evaluate
low enough to keep customers continu- so well. our own data to identify bestsellers in
ally refreshing their wardrobes. One result of fast fashion is greater our online shop,” Kirsch says.
Zipline Logistics increasingly demand for less-than-truckload (LTL) Working with a network of inter-
encounters the logistics ramifications of transportation services compared to full national suppliers, Lesara gets new
fast fashion in its work for clients, Lynch truckload. “These retailers are not stock- products into production, based on
says. Consumers are buying differently, ing their stores in the same way they the latest trends, sometimes in a mat-
and that influences apparel companies’ used to,” Lynch says. Demand for pack- ter of days.
supply chain strategies. age delivery is increasing as well, as more “For example, last year we came
In the past, it made sense for large retailers rely on suppliers to drop-ship across a blogger wearing LED sneak-
clothing retailers to buy 1 million units e-commerce orders directly to customers. ers and knew right away that this was
of one pair of pants: they would sell In a world of ever-shorter attention a product with huge potential,” Kirsch
90 percent of that product at full price spans, fast fashion might not be speedy says. The merchandising team chose
across perhaps 2,000 stores, and then enough. That’s the premise of Lesara, a one of the company’s qualified sup-
put the other 10 percent on sale. German e-commerce apparel merchant pliers to make LED sneakers, and
“Today, however, everyone is on their that calls itself not simply fast, but agile. Lesara’s in-house photographers used
toes from an omni-channel perspective,” “Agile retail is about understanding product samples to take pictures for

102 Inbound Logistics • April 2017