A 15% increase in imports in 2007, thanks to the TMS system developed by DDS Logistics, with goods labelled at the source for the first time, to optimise logistics management and tracking.

La Redoute, a brand subsidiary of the Redcats Group, has been using DDS Shipper since 1998 to manage all its import flows: 20,000 references, 160,000 stock codes, 10,000 sea-borne 20-foot containers, 7,500 tonnes of airfreight and 1,500 lorry loads per year. Each year, this long-term partnership has enabled the home-shopping specialist to improve the flow of imported goods, mainly from Asia and North Africa, as well as improving load optimisation.

The logistics for this considerable increase was carefully planned by La Redoute: for the first time, its five or six hundred suppliers, most of whom are linked to and trained to use DDS Shipper, can print out La Redoute barcodes (rather than their own ‘supplier’ barcodes, as is usually the case), with information about the supplier, quantities, references, colours, clothing sizes etc. This allows all the players involved in the La Redoute supply chain, from manufacturers through to the Group’s distribution hub, to identify merchandise easily and rapidly and to track it from start to finish.

How does it work? DDS Shipper software is linked not just to La Redoute’s internal ordering program, to its order-tracking and reception-acknowledgement tools, but also to La Redoute’s suppliers and shippers via a web interface.La Redoute purchasing orders and the contact details of the chosen shipper are relayed on to the supplier via DDS Shipper. The supplier prepares the order, enters the packing-list through the DDS Shipper web interface and prints the appropriate La Redoute barcodes, for labelling the prepared package. The supplier then informs the shipper chosen by La Redoute that the merchandise is ready for pick-up so that he can make an appointment with the La Redoute distribution hub.

For air and sea transport, La Redoute makes use of its partner shippers, already integrated into the DDS Shipper system according to criteria of quality, cost and proximity. For sea transport (60% of its imports), La Redoute works directly with shipping lines. The new barcodes mean that everyone is aware of the exact nature and quantities of merchandise being carried: the information is thus more reliable. This facilitates paperwork and customs procedures, also handled through DDS Shipper.

The goods, which are for mail order customers in Europe, are transported port to port or airport to airport and transferred to La Redoute’s fully automated main hub (250,000 m2), located in the “La Martinoire” industrial zone in Wattrelos (Nord-Pas-de-Calais).The packages are unloaded at the depot, the barcodes are read by camera or laser and, based on this information, the goods are directed via automated conveyor belts to their appropriate storage areas.

Here is what La Redoute’s Principal Import / Transport Manager has to say:
”DDS Shipper is a major part of our import-flow management system. With it we can both increase the volume of our imports (while anticipating and optimising our loading plans) and track the merchandise from end to end. DDS Shipper has helped us reduce data entry significantly, particularly for transport details. Having barcodes printed by suppliers fluidifies and speeds up stock entry downstream. In the near future, DDS Shipper will make it possible to rank orders for shipping in terms of urgency and space available, particularly for goods coming from China, where transport is very congested.”

Alongside DDS Shipper’s TMS Import-Export module, La Redoute also uses the Control and Invoicing module, allowing pre-billing by suppliers and shippers and invoice checking by La Redoute. La Redoute was among the first of DDS Logistics’ customers to adopt Microsoft’s .NET framework in 2005 and to benefit from its greater user-friendliness and easier access to information.