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Case Study - The Co-operative Clothing

 

The Co-operative Clothing designs and distributes a wide range of work wear, business wear and uniforms for catering, construction, beauty and most other industries, all under The Co-operative Clothing label. They supply all businesses within The Co-operative Group as well as independent suppliers (trade) and B2B which is a new channel for Clothing. 

Their core business was initially focused around selling stock as a service, based on an annual catalogue release, but in recent years the organisation has developed significantly to become a true multi-channel business, generating sales through catalogue, telephone and e-commerce channels.

As a growing and evolving business, their key requirement was for improved stock accuracy to optimise the availability of existing stock and new products, ensuring that the right product would be available at the right time. 

The Co-operative Clothing has implemented the PrimaNet® application across their whole business operation, integrated with business intelligence for management and KPI reporting. PrimaNet® Order Management is fully integrated with the warehouse system to monitor and manage stock. The result is an integrated enterprise-wide system that replaced the various islands of information and data, with a solid ERP platform built around a centralised data repository. This means that they are working in a real time environment that provides more accurate and timely information for the business and its customers.

Claire Scott, Finance and IT Director at The Co-operative Clothing, explains:

“What we have achieved, working closely with the team from Prima Solutions, is much tighter management of the supply chain, introducing costs savings, reduced delivery times and enhanced customer relationships through improved stock planning and product development.”

Wardrobe Management is key to Corporate wear business

Paramount to supporting their business is the PrimaNet® Wardrobe system used for managing Manpack allocation and employee allowances. The number of employees on their system is expected to double to 140,000 over the next 18 months with the new B2B channel.

Claire continues: “I am fully confident that the system can control the expected volume and complexity of orders. Corporate and Workwear customers are typically very budget driven.  We can provide meaningful reports to clients and manage their expectations for budgeted spend on staff uniforms.”

Having implemented a group-wide Manpack system, and with their strong workwear background, The Co-operative Clothing can now pro-actively pursue new business contracts outside the group, supported by efficient systems and processes.

Web Ordering Creates New Sales Channels

Following a successful pilot project to enable The Co-operative Bank employees to take direct responsibility for the replenishment of their own uniform, the system is now used to service wearers across The Co-operative Group, and has effectively created another channel from which to service customers. The system has further increased customer satisfaction within the group and reduced the time from an order being placed to fulfilment. Although the whole system is fully automated, contract customers can still have control over wearer entitlement.

“Feedback from The Co-operative Bank staff, who have just rolled out the web ordering system, is that it is so user friendly for putting through their orders and does exactly what it says it will do – they love it”, explains Claire. “It’s also great for managers to be able to see information at any time, such as stock availability, orders and history.”

The Co-operative Clothing continues to focus on a coordinated multi-channel approach whilst using Prima Solutions’ applications to support every facet of the business. 

The business has now set up specific departments to more effectively manage different types of customer – a trade accounts team manages independent supply customers, and a new B2B team will also leverage the Group’s 10,000 supplier relationships to promote staff uniforms

Sound Sourcing Policy

In line with the values and principles of The Co-operative Group, The Co-operative Clothing is committed to improving performance and pursuing best practice in labour standards and environmental management, and the business has recently introduced the FAIRTRADE Mark into the clothing range.

They only deal with audited partners who share the same ethical policy. Their Supplier Management Programme holds information on factors audited through regular spot checks. They build real relationships and have worked with most suppliers for 10 years or more. 

The PrimaNet® system supports their ethical supply chain policy by providing information visibility and control for stock sourcing and planning, which they can share with their overseas partners.

Partnership with Prima Solutions

With an ever increasing need to deal with suppliers offshore and, at the same time, successfully manage the expectations of multi-channel customers, The Co-operative Clothing recognised the need to partner with an IT provider that had the experience to support their evolving business and environment, as well as understanding their day to day business. 

Claire continues: “Prima Solutions’ industry experience meant that they already understood the complexities of our business and their Wardrobe Management module is designed specifically to meet the needs of the Corporate wear market. With PrimaNet®, we can offer our customers a really competitive, fully-managed service that covers the entire lifecycle of all customer garments - from specification and manufacture through to delivery and replacement.

As part of the project, The Co-operative Clothing performed rigorous system testing with the Prima team on hand throughout the process.

Claire concludes:

“From the outset we got a very good feel about their people and knew we could work together. Prima Solutions have really worked as part of our team, getting to know our business inside-out.  We have a very good, open relationship – they really listen to any issues and are very good at coming back with a solution to accommodate any changes required specific to our business."

“They have a clear capability to work with us on multiple, concurrent projects that successfully meet our business objectives and support our changing business, whilst minimising any risk to our day-to-day operation.  As an example, we recently achieved a 38% growth, even though we underwent a major relocation and system implementation. That’s what I call a real business partnership.”