Logistics for luxury: how e-commerce fulfillment delivers for a major fashion brand

Let’s explore the fulfillment journey taken by this company in one of its key markets, Brazil. José Mattos, Operations Director, DHL Supply Chain Brazil, takes up the story: “This company – already a traditional B2B warehousing client of ours – was keen to take their e-commerce fulfillment to the next level, while maintaining their premium brand positioning. A brand like this can’t jeopardize its reputation: you want high inventory accuracy, secure and reliable operations and very strict control of your high-value products. And you want to deliver on time, with ease and without fail!”

This is a company that sells both B2B and B2C in Brazil and it is important to them to maintain both these channels. With B2B logistics already taken care of by DHL, they needed to find a B2C fulfillment solution to work alongside this – but it had to be fast and reliable and not interfere with the performance of the B2B channel. Integrating with the company’s digital sales channels was essential: there are some major luxury marketplace in particular that it is essential for this company to be present on – and this needed to happen easily and without downtime in order fulfillment.

“Reliable, smooth, world class, premium: their requirements in all our discussions were exacting, and rightly so,” notes José.

“We were convinced that the DHL Fulfillment Network would provide them with the e-commerce fulfillment solutions they were looking for,” explains José. “This is a global network of interconnected distribution centers, offering warehousing, pick-and-pack and dispatch: from dock to stock at speed, with shipments then arriving rapidly in end-customers’ hands. We’re built on the expertise of a huge team of people, plus a solid backbone of tools such as advanced inventory insights. But here’s the best part: we’re flexible and scalable. Are you forecasting higher sales of knitwear for winter? Want to increase your stock of certain SKUs while you’re running a promotion? Planning to scale back after peak season? We’ve got you covered!”

The model uses the principle of shared services: processes, warehousing space, infrastructure, team members and costs are shared across customers and continually optimized. Before coming on board with the DHL Fulfillment Network, this client did their research: “They carried out a cost validation and comparison process and discovered the economies of scale presented by this shared model vs. a traditional supply chain logistics model,” says José.

This client chose to base their core B2C business with the DHL Fulfillment Network out of a strategic location near São Paulo — a region responsible for approximately 30% of the brand’s sales. Being positioned close to customers reduces their last-mile speeds, costs and carbon emissions.

From a technical point of view, key among getting clients up and running quickly is smooth integration between us and their digital channels. “For this client, it was extremely important for them to be present on a number of luxury marketplaces. We developed custom integrations to enable this,” explains José. “This meant their all-important brand positioning was preserved – and in fact enhanced!”

“Aside from our technical capabilities, very often the cherry on the cake is collaboration. In this case, I’m happy to say that we worked really closely together. We already knew our client very well, and this laid the foundation for ongoing and open dialogue.”

All our clients benefit from the scalability and flexibility the DHL Fulfillment Network offers – even those in the luxury sector with as many as 5,000 SKUs. New customers typically get on board with us in a matter of weeks.

“This is really enhanced by our tools. The MySupplyChain platform offers our clients real-time inventory monitoring which provides end-to-end visibility — from our distribution center to the final delivery. When you have such a good handle on your stock levels and movements, it gives you operational reliability and allows you to make more data-driven decisions,” says José.

All our clients also benefit from our partner ecosystem: whether that’s technology and consulting, system integrations, or delivery partners, we’re constantly working with the best to bring you the best. We’re also carrier agnostic, so last-mile providers can be selected to best fit a customer’s needs.

José is proud of how the DHL Fulfillment Network’s contributes to client success: “This new partnership is reinforcing our client’s premium positioning. They are now closer to their end consumer and can deliver a more integrated and personalized online experience to delight and grow their customer base.”

No matter what industry or territory you’re in, if you’re shipping 1,500+ orders per month, talk to our in-country experts today about what we can do for you.