Case Europris A Supply Chain Transformation Journey
The Europris supply chain team needed to be able to measure store service levels in an efficient and reliable way so it could plan and forecast effectively. For that, Europris turned to RELEX.
Europris is Norways largest discount variety retailer. Its low-cost model relies on optimized sourcing, logistics and distribution. Europris offers competitively-priced private-label and brand-name merchandise across 12 product categories including home, DIY and gardening. In 2015 it decided to transform its supply chain operations in order to gain better visibility, free-up working capital and improve customer service.
Case Europris: Leadership and Technology A Supply Chain Transformation Journey
Background
The Europris supply chain team had two particular areas of concern. Firstly, it appeared that some stores were carrying significantly more inventory than others. The SC team felt it would be possible to reduce inventory by 10-20% overall.
Secondly there seemed to be no obvious relationship between inventory and availability. Some stores with lower inventory levels had excellent availability, while a neighboring store might be carrying excess and yet still be out of stock across a range of items.
Europris concluded that the underlying problem was a lack of visibility. In particular its overview of what stock stores were actually holding was poor. It needed to be able to measure store service levels in an efficient and reliable way so it could plan and forecast effectively. For that, Europris turned to RELEX.
Before we implemented RELEX, it was difficult for us to measure things like availability other than by going out to stores to take a look or by monitoring customer complaints, says Marco Pair, Supply Chain Manager, Europris. We were being told that our campaign items had sold out even though they were still being advertised. That sort of thing inevitably has an impact on customer loyalty.
Results
The technical implementation went very smoothly with all the chains suppliers, its 230-plus stores and the DC all brought onto the system in a matter of months.
From a technical point of view there were almost no obstacles. Wed sit in project meetings and ask When is a bug going to show up? It never did. Did we ever wonder if wed made the right choice? No. Never. says Pair
Achieving a high level of supply chain visibility meant that Pair and his colleagues at last knew what stock was in the stores. Moreover, it opened the way to significantly more accurate replenishment forecasting and campaign management. Inventory levels fell sharply, availability rose dramatically and Europriss ability to plan its logistics and staffing requirements improved markedly.
Pair foresees even more efficiency gains in the future. We believe that weve only achieved 40% of what is possible so far. A fantastic roadmap lies ahead of us. The timeline over the next one or two years is full of things we can do thanks to RELEX.
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For the full case study and more results, read the study here: Case Europris: Leadership and Technology A Supply Chain Transformation Journey