Fashion logistics in transition

The classic, European-style seasonal division into "spring/summer" and "fall/winter" is increasingly disappearing and making way for interim and special collections. Shoppers are finding their way into stores less frequently, but are increasingly ordering their clothes online. Every eighth present under the Christmas tree comes from the internet - clothing and technology are particularly popular. For online and mail order retailers, the 4th quarter around Christmas is the strongest time of the year in terms of sales. Almost 30% of annual sales are generated in these three months. E-commerce is further boosted by promotional days such as "Black Friday" and "Singles Day" as well as other discount campaigns. Big data evaluations by retailers support this with personalized offers and individual purchase incentives. Total sales in e-commerce are rising sharply, with the number of items per order decreasing: customers are buying less but more frequently. This is leading to an exponential increase in deliveries in distance selling. In 2016, the volume of parcels shipped in Germany rose to almost 2.5 billion items.

Retailers take logistics into their own hands

Ever smaller units with greater dynamism and complexity - these trends are having a major impact on logistics. Due to the enormous growth in and increasing relevance of e-commerce, retailers are once again taking logistics into their own hands. Previously, they preferred to outsource this to external service providers. After all, online and offline sales channels and inventories are no longer managed in parallel but in combination. In addition, both stores and end customers are supplied from one logistics center. Added to this is the need for efficient returns management: returned goods must be available again as quickly as possible. The average return rate in the sector is 40 to 50%. Another trend is the customer expectation of short delivery times of one to two days. Some large online stores already offer same-day delivery and deliveries with requested times. Accordingly, orders must be processed quickly in the logistics center in order to be able to ship late orders after 4 p.m. on the same day.

Solutions with an optimized degree of automation

E-commerce and the resulting increasingly dynamic internal material flow have changed logistics structures and pose new challenges for intralogistics providers. SSI Schaefer offers customers from the fashion industry products and tailor-made solutions with an optimized degree of automation according to individual requirements. The highly scalable system solutions ensure flexible, fast and efficient processes to improve productivity, transparency and ergonomics. This applies to in-house transportation, storage and order picking.

SSI Schaefer's latest solution comes from the field of overhead conveyor technology: With the extremely compact and versatile SSI Carrier System, goods weighing up to 3 kg can be transported, dynamically buffered and sequenced with high throughput. Bags or hanging goods can be attached to the overhead SSI Carrier. Furthermore, the system runs on maintenance-free rollers and enables a throughput of up to 10,000 load carriers per hour via a driven recirculating conveyor. The speed of the conveyor can be optimally adapted to the nature of the goods.

Another example for the transportation of containers and cartons or with an attachment for hanging goods on hangers is the Weasel automated guided vehicle (AGV). The in-house vehicle can be used flexibly, is scalable and can be implemented without complex installations on the ground - it does not cut through walkways, driveways or escape routes. In terms of capacity and performance, the Cuby single-level shuttle system is a flexible, scalable solution for storing flat-packed goods in containers or cartons weighing up to 35 kg.

However, the real challenge manifests itself in the increasingly complex processes in fashion logistics - induced by multi-channel distribution, among other things, but also by higher rates of returned goods. To meet this challenge, SSI Schaefer consolidated its IT expertise into a strong division of its own at the beginning of 2017. The newly created SSI Schaefer IT Solutions GmbH bundles the process expertise of around 800 IT experts who realize the implementation and integration of intralogistics projects as well as the development of new IT solutions. For global processing and servicing, SSI Schaefer IT Solutions GmbH is competently supported by a further 300 IT employees who are based locally at the worldwide locations. The logistics software Wamas, developed by SSI Schaefer, is used to control and manage the various components and trades from SSI Schaefer and to map the logistical business processes of the customers.

The high proportion of returned goods brings with it another special feature of fashion logistics. All sub-steps of so-called reverse logistics must be reduced in terms of operational logistics expenditure by means of software-supported processes - as far as this is possible. With these and other intralogistics solutions - intelligently combined into one system using Wamas - SSI Schaefer offers a unique product range for modern and efficient e-commerce as well as for multi-channel distribution in the fashion industry.

Franz Stöger, Vice President Fashion at SSI Schäfer

Franz Stöger, Vice President Fashion at SSI Schäfer

"Retail and automation - Let's talk: expert panel with competent representatives from Haribo and Zalando"

"Let's talk: expert panel on the relevance of industry expertise and the special challenges of the fashion industry"