focus on fashion

CROSS DOCKING FOR DOUGLAS Beauty care package

Chanel’s latest scent for her birthday, a Shiseido day cream for Easter and a fluffy dressing gown for Christmas: Perfumes and cosmetics are popular gifts befitting of every occasion. Douglas is the place to be inspired or find a specific beauty product. Behind the scenes of this temple of beauty, a clever logistics concept guarantees the availability of products: Cross docking.

Renningen, around 30 kilometres west of Stuttgart. It’s action stations in the cross docking centre. 600 consignments from 20 Douglas suppliers around the world have just arrived, the deliveries already labelled to match each store's order. Logwin staff take the packages from the pallets and mark each with the receipt date. Then they enter the goods in the warehouse inventory system and reconcile them against the original store order.

Fast and efficient

The Douglas store deliveries can now be assembled: The Logwin staff retrieve each individual item from the shipping cartons and check that the goods are all present and in perfect condition. Then it’s time for scanning. The machines read the bar codes in a flash – up to 2.5 scans per second. The printers produce the matching price tags at the same pace. The current daily product prices are available in the Douglas based IT system and use the in-store receipt date of the goods. Auditing of invoices is also computer aided – by exchanging data electronically with the suppliers.

8 www.logwin-logistics.com – Logwin Magazine – 01|10 Birds of a feather

Certain items also receive a safety label. The next step involves packing into recyclable containers. “We thereby ensure that the containers are filled to match the shelves”, explains Dr. Stephan Freichel, Managing Director Solutions, Sales and Logistics Engineering, Logwin. “This means that we sort the items according to product groups.” Consequently, the transport containers only contain ladies or men’s perfumes, skin care products and decorative cosmetics, testers, samples and accessories. The Douglas store employees enjoy the advantage of having the items arrive ready to be placed directly on the shelf – no unpacking, labelling and sorting.

Winning concept

The Logwin cross docking centre in Renningen commenced operation early this year. Between two and five times a week the logistics service provider delivers a store-specific, shelf-ready consignment to around 80 Douglas outlets in the region. In contrast, without cross docking there would be several partial consignments every delivery day. Dr. Michael Krings, Director Logistics and Organisation International, Parfümerie Douglas GmbH, is adamant about cross docking. “This concept has proven to be a winner. On the one hand, stores no longer require costly storage space. On the other, our staff are no longer required to prepare the items for display – they can concentrate on serving customers.”

LONG-STANDING PARTNERS PARFÜMERIE DOUGLAS GMBH

Logwin and Douglas have been The Douglas brand perfumery division generates the highest working together successfully in sales of the Douglas Holding AG. The holding also encom- and for over a passes Thalia (bookstores), Christ (watches and jewellery), decade. In addition to Renningen, AppelrathCüpper (ladies fashion) and Hussel (confectionery). Logwin operates cross docking The first Douglas perfumery opened in in 1910. Today, the mint green Douglas centres for its customer in logo can be found decorating over 1,200 stores in Europe and the USA. With sales of Aschaffenburg, Hamburg and 1.85 billion (2008/09 financial year), the company is Europe's leading perfumery Langenfeld. operator.

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