OFFICE SHOES
About This Project
OFFICE shoes is an international footwear retailer with an established online presence and over 150 brick-and-mortar stores globally. As one of the UK’s leading high street retailers, OFFICE prides itself in its large selection of popular footwear and accessories brands.
Challenge: Client concerns
OFFICE wanted to find an effective, and long term solution that would monetise the build up of defective and end of line stock, but required support to develop and implement a suitable framework. The key challenges were in assessing the current quality control processes, existing in-house stock and order management capabilities, analysing suitable selling platforms, whilst evaluating the volume of defective stock in the business.
Approach: How we worked
After a sizeable market research and scoping exercise, we compiled a proposal for launching a new channel on eBay that would specifically sell damaged and end of line stock.
Taking on full responsibly of launching the new channel, we coordinated a series of internal workshops to raise awareness amongst colleagues in the merchandising, buying and operations departments of the opportunity to monetise previously unsellable stock. In addition, we liaised with the warehouse management team to provision suitable storage and floor space, and oversaw the recruitment of a warehouse supervisor and six warehouse operatives to manage the day-to-day operations for the new channel.
We worked closely with a developer to scope and implement a channel-specfic stock management system that would provide all capabilities for assessing, uploading, locating and reporting on, the defective products. Integration with an existing third party channel and order management system allowed the process to be streamlined and manageable.
We also scoped and supervised the set-up of a dedicated photography studio to capture images and text-based descriptions of each individual product to be sold. This was essential to minimise the potential for negative feedback by providing the consumer with relevant and detailed information about the product.
In addition, full on-site training was provided to the eCommerce channel team, customer service advisors and warehouse operatives, while also implementing channel-specific KPI ’s, forecasting and goal setting.
Results: Benefits delivered
By utilising a lean and iterative development process, we took the channel from concept to launch in less than 4 months. Results were extremely encouraging as the new eBay channel went from zero to a seven-figure annual revenue in its first year, achieved a customer satisfaction rating of 99.9% and removed c80,000 units of stock from the business. This allowed OFFICE to achieve the results they had hoped for and provided them with a sustainable and long term solution, while maximising their product lifecycle.
After the success of the eBay channel, a second proposal was implemented to launch an outlet website for selling defective ‘eBay excluded’ and higher end brands. The new framework allowed OFFICE to create an additional web platform for selling imperfect and surplus stock, while increasing its consumer base and maximising revenue streams.