Kiabi, a popular French ready-to-wear clothing brand that offers affordable apparel for the whole family selected demand forecasting and integrated replenishment from RELEX to service all Kiabi stores and distribution centers across Europe as well as their e-commerce channel.
Gael Barbet-Massin, Downstream Supply Planning Leader, and Luc De Rycke, Upstream Supply Planning Leader, sat down to share how increased forecast granularity and a synchronized supply chain from warehouses to stores are helping them reduce inventory and drive revenue.
Transcript:
Gael Barbet-Massin: Hello, my name is Gael Barbet-Massin. I have been an Downstream Supply Planning Leader at Kiabi for about two and a half years.
Luc De Rycke: Hello, my name is Luc de Rycke; I have been the Upstream Supply Planning Leader for a year at Kiabi.
GB: Today, Kiabi is a brand with an annual turnover of more than 2 billion and sells just over 300 million quantities per year.
LDR: Kiabi relies on a supply chain that is made up of two warehouses based in both the north of France and in the north of Spain that are supplied from rather large import-sourcing countries.
GB: And as a result, having a granular forecast and supply while also ensuring the right stock in the right place at the right time, is still quite complicated. And of course, RELEX isn’t historically a fashion publisher… but it becomes one with us in a way.
LDR: It’s also about transforming the upstream supply planning and how we supply our warehouses. So, here, too, we were starting from a rather heavy history since we had tools whose implementation had been difficult in the past and which did not allow for an efficient process. Serene teams, revamped and mastered KPIs, and especially the way our tools worked, were very synchronized between what was happening in the store and with the customer and what was happening in the warehouse on a very advanced and global scale.
GB: RELEX will undoubtedly allow us to seek stock reductions. The additional increase in revenue will enable us to support our vision through second-hand sales or other forms of sustainability, products, and so on. It will enable us to steer our business with levels of information at more or less aggregated or granular levels than we have had so far. So, I am extremely calm.
LDR: And I am confident that we will be able to match all of our needs in our schedules to also capture value on the upstream side and thus maximize our benefits, our results, our stock levels, and our customer satisfaction. Because ultimately, that’s what we’re aiming for.
