Achieving
a fast fashion international supply chain
TALLY WEiJL first opened stores in Central Europe
(Germany, Switzerland and Austria), before expanding
into Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe (including
Russia, Poland and the Ukraine). Headed up by Tally
Elfassi-Weijl herself, the design team, composed of
around fifty designers, is based in the Paris headquarters.
The buying, IT, logistics and marketing teams are
based in Basel, Switzerland. The company has its own
manufacturing plant in Morocco and a 25,000m2 international
warehouse located in Germany, which handles more than
18 million articles a year.
"The TALLY WEiJL brand relies on speed. From
design to production, distribution, import and logistics,
everything has to happen very rapidly, explains Alexis
Bischoff, IT & Logistics Director. Our ideal turnaround
time from product launch to store is 10 days." To
support TALLY WEiJL’s strategy, based on rapid
international growth and “fast fashion” retailing,
it needed a robust supply chain. Only with the logistics
and IT teams working side by side could this be achieved.
Today: an end-to-end
software solution underpins the company’s daily
operations
For the last twelve years, TALLY WEiJL’s success
has been underpinned by retail management software
solutions from VCSTIMELESS. Across TALLY WEiJL’s
store network, the Colombus
Retail store management
solutions are operating in various languages and in
accordance with local fiscal regulations. Colombus
head office modules (including merchandise planning,
global import, sourcing, sales management and replenishment)
are installed at the Swiss and French head offices,
supporting a 20-strong team of buyers and merchandisers.
" There are more than 150 Colombus users at
TALLY WEiJL. Colombus lies at the heart of our manufacturing,
distribution and retail activities, confirms Alexis
Bischoff. Since we first started working together
in 1995, we decided on an integrated system. The
advantages of an end-to-end solution are stable
architecture and scalability, to support our international
growth".
Tomorrow: a decision-support
supply chain solution
To support TALLY WEiJL’s
rapidly expanding business it has recently selected
supply chain optimisation
software, Colombus.NEXT from VCSTIMELESS, which
is currently being deployed in a phased approach.
They needed a solution able to manage historical
data, sales and demand forecasting, key performance
indicators, and economic and geographical criteria
associated with each of its stores’ locations. “At
the moment we are using a lot of in-house systems,
says Irénée Higelin, Merchandise & Stock
Control Manager, but with Colombus.NEXT we will
be able to achieve complete visibility over all
our business processes, using just a single application".
Anticipated
benefits of the new solution include optimised allocation
and assortments by geographical
area, size and colour, leading to reduced markdowns
on poor-performing lines, automated alerts, integrated
and accurate buying and replenishment processes
and visibility over product life cycles on a store
by store basis. Having the right product in the
right place will lead to a reduction in inter-store
transfers and stock movements between stores and
the warehouse, and increased sales and profits.
“Until now, the merchandise plan has been
limited to a list of product references. We haven’t
been able to evaluate the impact of out-of-stocks
on sales”, says Irénée Higelin.
Thanks
to multi-dimensional analysis cubes, TALLY
WEiJL will be able to access consolidated data in
just a matter of seconds, compared to hours with
its previous system.
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