Download PDF
3 Suisses France runs multi-channel retail operation with Manhattan’s supply chain platform
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
Applicable Industries
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
- Warehouse Automation
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
3 Suisses France’s proprietary system was unable to support the rapid growth of the company’s e-commerce operation. The system was not scalable enough, lacked real-time inventory visibility, and did not offer the necessary flexibility to run a catalogue and e-commerce order fulfilment operation. To optimize the performance of its online sales channel, which now generates 50% of the multi-channel retailer’s revenues, 3 Suisses France set several key objectives. These included improving product availability, inventory accuracy, and rationalizing the order preparation process. Additionally, the company needed to support its multi-channel sales strategy by increasing its SKU range from 100,000 to 150,000 individual products while improving inventory visibility. Finally, 3 Suisses France sought to increase productivity levels and reduce operational costs.
About The Customer
Founded in 1932, 3 Suisses France originally ran a mail-order service for woollen knitting yarn manufactured at a spinning plant owned by the Toulemonde-Destombes family. Over the years, 3 Suisses France has evolved into one of France’s leading multi-channel ‘distance retailers’, offering a wide range of goods including clothing, cosmetics, household items, audio-visual equipment, computer and office supplies, and financial products. These products can be purchased via the Internet, by mail-order, or over the phone. Annually, 3 Suisses France delivers more than 13.5 million consignments to its customers, representing over 45 million individual items. The company has had a web presence since 2000, and its online business has experienced exponential growth.
The Solution
3 Suisses France deployed Manhattan Associates’ Warehouse Management solution for Open Systems and Supply Chain Intelligence solution at two distribution centres in Croix, Northern France. The implementation was carried out in three phases over five months. The transition required a strategic approach to change management and the formation of a dedicated team to lead the project. A well-defined training program was developed in collaboration with Manhattan Associates, involving workshops and a pilot zone within the warehouse for real-environment training. This culminated in over 13,000 hours of training. The change management process was supported by key trainers and facilitators, ensuring a positive and constructive transition. A communication program was also put in place to gain employee and partner commitment.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Improving Production Line Efficiency with Ethernet Micro RTU Controller
Moxa was asked to provide a connectivity solution for one of the world's leading cosmetics companies. This multinational corporation, with retail presence in 130 countries, 23 global braches, and over 66,000 employees, sought to improve the efficiency of their production process by migrating from manual monitoring to an automatic productivity monitoring system. The production line was being monitored by ABB Real-TPI, a factory information system that offers data collection and analysis to improve plant efficiency. Due to software limitations, the customer needed an OPC server and a corresponding I/O solution to collect data from additional sensor devices for the Real-TPI system. The goal is to enable the factory information system to more thoroughly collect data from every corner of the production line. This will improve its ability to measure Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and translate into increased production efficiencies. System Requirements • Instant status updates while still consuming minimal bandwidth to relieve strain on limited factory networks • Interoperable with ABB Real-TPI • Small form factor appropriate for deployment where space is scarce • Remote software management and configuration to simplify operations
Case Study
How Sirqul’s IoT Platform is Crafting Carrefour’s New In-Store Experiences
Carrefour Taiwan’s goal is to be completely digital by end of 2018. Out-dated manual methods for analysis and assumptions limited Carrefour’s ability to change the customer experience and were void of real-time decision-making capabilities. Rather than relying solely on sales data, assumptions, and disparate systems, Carrefour Taiwan’s CEO led an initiative to find a connected IoT solution that could give the team the ability to make real-time changes and more informed decisions. Prior to implementing, Carrefour struggled to address their conversion rates and did not have the proper insights into the customer decision-making process nor how to make an immediate impact without losing customer confidence.
Case Study
Digital Retail Security Solutions
Sennco wanted to help its retail customers increase sales and profits by developing an innovative alarm system as opposed to conventional connected alarms that are permanently tethered to display products. These traditional security systems were cumbersome and intrusive to the customer shopping experience. Additionally, they provided no useful data or analytics.
Case Study
Ensures Cold Milk in Your Supermarket
As of 2014, AK-Centralen has over 1,500 Danish supermarkets equipped, and utilizes 16 operators, and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. AK-Centralen needed the ability to monitor the cooling alarms from around the country, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each and every time the door to a milk cooler or a freezer does not close properly, an alarm goes off on a computer screen in a control building in southwestern Odense. This type of alarm will go off approximately 140,000 times per year, equating to roughly 400 alarms in a 24-hour period. Should an alarm go off, then there is only a limited amount of time to act before dairy products or frozen pizza must be disposed of, and this type of waste can quickly start to cost a supermarket a great deal of money.
Case Study
Supermarket Energy Savings
The client had previously deployed a one-meter-per-store monitoring program. Given the manner in which energy consumption changes with external temperature, hour of the day, day of week and month of year, a single meter solution lacked the ability to detect the difference between a true problem and a changing store environment. Most importantly, a single meter solution could never identify root cause of energy consumption changes. This approach never reduced the number of truck-rolls or man-hours required to find and resolve issues.