Kewill enables Specialty Retail Group to race suits to store and remove warehouse pressure

Kewill Solutions Europe (KSE) announce that Specialty Retail Group (SRG), the UK retail chain that operates through 80 stores under the Suits You and Racing Green fascia, has cut its order to delivery cycle times by up to two weeks following the implementation of an electronic trading system Kewill Trade. SRG has also been able to optimise warehouse space and reduce associated costs by moving from warehouse to supplier picking, with positive results in terms of deliveries to its stores.

They are utilising the supply chain fulfilment solution Kewill Trade from Kewill, the leading provider of business-to-business supply chain execution solutions. Kewill Trade facilitates the exchange of business critical documents between SRG, its suppliers and its carriers. The system accommodates all elements of data movement for purchase orders, delivery instructions, despatches and stock availability declarations.

Gareth Durban, SRGs IT Director, said, By exchanging orders via the web, we are achieving both cost and time savings by asking our key suppliers to move to store picked deliveries. We are then able to cross dock this stock through our warehouse and send it immediately to our stores. We also aim to provide our suppliers with the information they need to improve their forecasting and delivery scheduling, reduce lead times and ultimately achieve higher sales.

Our web based delivery system has allowed us to push towards becoming market leaders within menswear distribution, and moves us closer to our ultimate objective of being best in class retailers.

Jacquie Boast, Managing Director of KSE states, With SRG we have shown that web-based ordering enables small to medium sized retailers to take advantage of 100% electronic trading, which was once the preserve of large retailers. SRG has enhanced visibility of the supplier process, particularly in the overseas supply chain, through expediting the delivery process.

As a select group of suppliers are based in the Far East, the time taken from initial ordering to finished goods arriving in SRG stores was significant and has been reduced by using Kewill Trade.

SRGs orders are raised in its head office system, Futura, and sent to Kewill. Suppliers view orders via the web and declare availability. SRG then decides on allocation to stores in advance of delivery and notifies suppliers who can then schedule deliveries well in advance. Suppliers are also sent pick lists so that they are able to organise picking, packing, labelling and bar coding.