Clipper Logistics Group
As one of the largest shopping centres in the UK, Meadowhall welcomes over 25 million customers every year. To achieve the best results, retailers must respond quickly to customer demand and ensure the shopping experience is as successful as possible, making Meadowhall the destination of choice.
In today’s market, competition is fierce. Meadowhall’s retailers were under pressure to provide a greater volume of product, and with only limited on-site stock room space and strict planning restrictions, acquiring additional floor space was impossible. The result was an increase in deliveries to the centre providing replenishment. However, this caused greater traffic congestion and increased pollution levels.
In 2006, Clipper Logistics Group was appointed by Meadowhall to run an off-site storage facility to handle inbound stock deliveries for numerous Meadowhall retailers. Instead of delivering direct to store, suppliers would now deliver all stock to a consolidation centre.
Clipper’s ‘can do’ attitude, coupled with their flexibility and commitment to making the consolidation centre a success convinced Meadowhall’s management team that they were the right partner to drive the project forward. Once the agreement was in place, Clipper became the primary logistics provider for the centre, helping to streamline the delivery process and reduce the centre’s carbon footprint.
Under the new system, Clipper consolidates the required stock for each retailer and delivers it to Meadowhall at set times throughout each day or as required. This gives retailers the flexibility they need and offers greater replenishment to ensure customer satisfaction.
The Meadowhall Consolidation Centre (MCC) is situated on the perimeter of the retail park, and provides 30,000 square feet of storage space for the retailers. This award-winning facility has won acclaim from all sectors of the industry, with its latest accolade being the European Supply Chain Excellence 2007 award.
The MCC’s capabilities are considerable and varied. They include, but are not limited to, pre-retail, cross-dock, storage, stock returns and inter-branch transfers. The consolidation centre is open 7 days a week to reflect retailers’ needs. With its own experienced on-site sales support team, it really is the ultimate end-to-end stock management solution.
The MCC has proved a huge success, and has allowed many of Meadowhall’s retailers to reconfigure their stores, thereby releasing additional sales space in store. With Clipper’s on-demand replenishment service, it has also enabled retailers to hold entire stock ranges, helping meet customer demand and generate greater revenues.
The in-store sales teams have benefited too. With all ‘back of house’ work now being carried out at the MCC prior to delivery, sales staff are able to concentrate on the core task of selling. Goods are held more securely than ever before, and the access to additional storage space provided by the MCC has allowed smaller retailers to take advantage of ordering in bulk.
But the greatest achievement has definitely been the environmental impact of opting for a shared-user service. As well as significantly reducing pollution around the centre, Clipper now sorts all on-site packing waste ready for recycling, within the MCC. Helping the centre achieve a more environmentally friendly way of working.
It is truly a 21st century solution that’s a winner for retailers and shoppers alike.