Clipper Logistics Group
The Customer:
Founded in 1813 as a London linen shop, upmarket department store chain Harvey Nichols houses many of the world's most prestigious brands across womenswear, menswear, accessories, beauty, food, and home.
The Challenge:
Harvey Nichols has a seasonal on-line hamper business that is historically managed externally. In previous years, hampers have been produced within a two-week window, however as products are imported from across Europe, delays often put pressure on this build time. Harvey Nichols was therefore looking for a more flexible and efficient solution to maximise skills, experience and capacity at the DC as well as ensure on time delivery. This year, Harvey Nichols forecasts that around 6500 hampers and 8000 gift boxes will be assembled over the peak Christmas trading period, making flexibility and efficiency essential to deliver customer satisfaction.
The Solution:
Clipper will take over the building and fulfilment of the seasonal hampers for Harvey Nichols, working directly with the Harvey Nichols food buyer to increase the gift box range so that the team has year round gifts and can create seasonal gift boxes as and when required.
Clipper conducted trials with the hampers this summer, which revealed that the food gift boxes retail extremely well online and the Clipper team recommended capitalising on this. Establishing hamper production at the DC in Northampton will create greater flexibility for Harvey Nichols. Clipper also recommended basing the Customer Service Desk in Northampton to improve the customer’s experience. Clipper intends to extend the build period and tailor the build to the products that are available at the time, also increasing production at very short notice, as well as reducing it whilst waiting for stock, so making the hamper operation more efficient.
The Results:
The solution is now live and Harvey Nichols is already enjoying significant benefits due to the customer services team being based on site. Clipper plans to produce gifts and hampers all year round, which is a first for the online site. Building the hampers at the DC allows Clipper to make use of off peak periods and reduce the extra cost to Harvey Nichols, as well as increase Harvey Nichols’ offering online. Looking ahead, further efficiencies can be created, for example, by ordering packaging on behalf of Harvey Nichols to enable greater visibility and stock control, as currently an excessive amount of packaging is taking up space on site.