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Rising to Challenges of International Expansion through Smart Delivery
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries
- Retail
- E-Commerce
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Supply Chain Visibility
- Inventory Management
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
ASOS, an online fashion and beauty retailer, was facing complications in international delivery, particularly in documentation and data. The requirements for these vary by country of destination, adding to the complexity. The company’s international delivery processes required manual intervention to regularly contact carriers and update prices within the ASOS fulfilment systems, as well as paperwork for each order to meet necessary customs regulations. ASOS wanted to manage its increased volume in deliveries and destinations, minimise manual tasks and paperwork, and achieve the best price for carriers around the globe.
About The Customer
ASOS is an online fashion and beauty retailer that was established in 2000. The company's websites attract 29.5 million unique visitors a month. ASOS has a global presence, selling over 65,000 products to over 230 countries from its 1.1 million square foot global distribution centre. The company's head office is located in London. ASOS is known for its exceptional growth worldwide, which has led to an increase in the volume of deliveries and destinations. The company's goal is to grow global sales, manage the increased volume in deliveries and destinations, complete data and documentation requirements with minimal manual intervention, and achieve the best pricing for international carriers.
The Solution
ASOS partnered with MetaPack to develop an automated solution integrated with the company’s own order processing and fulfilment systems that was capable of automatically dealing with the nuances of international shipping. To calculate the volumetric weight required for air freight, ASOS captures the exact size and weight dimensions of each order at the packing bench. This information, along with the country of destination and the exact contents of each package, is passed to MetaPack through an API. MetaPack's technology automatically determines the type of documentation and number of copies that are necessary to accompany the shipment. The correct documents are then printed automatically along with the appropriate carrier label. The process now in place takes complex decision-making tasks and the completion of any export documentation completely out of the operator’s hands.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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