For fast-growing fashion brands, it’s essential to ensure that rapid expansion doesn’t mean overstretched resources. And that’s a real possibility when it comes to managing your logistics operations: as your brand gains in popularity, do you have the capabilities to handle increased sales volumes while still delivering a superior customer experience?
One person with a deep understanding of the obstacles faced by emerging fashion brands is Maxim Sion, Global Sales and Business Development Manager at Bleckmann. As a fashion entrepreneur, he co-founded the Belgium-based sustainable fashion brand Studio Anvers. Drawing on his on-the-ground experience and his work with a wide range of brands at Bleckmann, he shares his insights on the challenges of scaling your brand.
Challenge #1: Scaling in line with demand
Scaling your fashion logistics capabilities to fulfil more orders isn’t just about hiring more staff and moving to larger warehouses – which can be challenging in themselves. It’s also about having the ability to scale up your operations when required. Logistical scalability should, therefore, be a key consideration when it comes to expanding your operations.
This is particularly true given the seasonal nature of the fashion industry, as Maxim explains. “Many brands will sell much higher volumes at certain times of the year, such as Black Friday or the festive season,” he says. “This means you need more space, resources and transportation capacity to accommodate the increased volume. However, it wouldn’t make sense to pay for that extra capacity all year round. That’s why many brands choose to work with a third-party fashion logistics provider to simplify scalability.”
By providing flexible capacity temporarily, a dedicated fashion logistics provider can help to ensure that a spike in sales doesn’t result in delays or errors – and dissatisfied customers. This allows brands to protect their reputation and maintain business-as-usual operations while looking ahead to the next peak period with confidence.
Challenge #2: Optimising the customer experience
Another key challenge for emerging brands is maintaining a high level of customer connection as they scale up. “When your sales volume is small and you’re handling logistics in-house, you can afford to put more effort into each order,” Maxim explains, “whether it’s custom adjustments to the product itself – such as leather embossing – or tweaking the packaging, such as by adding a handwritten card to the order.”
However, as your sales volumes grow, such personalisation becomes increasingly difficult to achieve on a larger scale. Sometimes, outsourcing your fashion logistics further complicates matters – especially if you’re working with a non-specialist partner. “It takes a logistics provider with deep expertise in the fashion industry to provide the type of customisation that can transform the customer experience,” continues Maxim. “Unboxing is a key brand engagement moment, so you can’t afford to compromise.”
Challenge #3: Onboarding with a 3PL
As we’ve discussed, working with a specialist fashion logistics partner can help your brand streamline growth and provide a superior customer experience at scale. However, onboarding with a 3PL comes with its own challenges. Onboarding with a logistics partner typically involves multiple teams, weeks of setup, and custom IT integration to link your e-commerce platform with the 3PL’s warehouse management system.
If not managed properly, this process can cause delays that in turn can eat into your profits. Therefore, when you’re looking for an apparel 3PL provider, be sure to ask about the length of their typical IT onboarding process. “When you start with a 3PL, it’s generally a good idea to begin with a pilot region to see how the partnership works in practice,” adds Maxim. “That way, you can work out any issues and ensure a smooth transition.”
Challenge #4: Outgrowing your 3PL?
Let’s imagine that everything is going well for your brand: you’ve moved from handling logistics in-house to a small-scale outsourcing arrangement with a dedicated fashion logistics provider. Your products have been moved to a larger warehouse, your IT systems have been integrated, and you’re good to go. But what if you outgrow the capacity of the small-scale warehouse and you need to move to a larger location?
“At this stage, a brand would typically move to contract logistics with their 3PL, where they agree to a set of terms for a period of 3 to 5 years,” Maxim explains. “Most 3PLs separate small-scale and contract logistics, which means a brand would have to switch facilities as they grow.” This means that much of the onboarding process would need to be repeated. However, with Bleckmann’s Bscale solution, brands can transition smoothly from one service level to the next, thanks to our advanced AutoStore capabilities.
In addition, Bscale clients benefit from access to the same expertise, advanced tools and networks enjoyed by Bleckmann’s more established clients. This means you can get preferential rates with our carrier partners, as well as dedicated services to power your cross-border expansion. This makes it much more achievable for smaller brands to compete with their larger peers, helping your brand to accelerate its growth journey.
Bscale: A future-proof solution for brands of all sizes
Growing a small-scale fashion brand comes with a unique set of challenges and requires a careful balancing act: you need to have enough capacity to meet growing demand (including seasonal peaks such as Black Friday), but you need to keep your operations cost-effective. In addition, brands need to improve operational efficiency without compromising on the customer experience – or they risk losing hard-won brand loyalty.
Working with a fashion logistics provider with deep industry expertise can be a huge advantage in helping you meet these challenges. However, many smaller brands find themselves unable to access these services due to restrictive minimum volume thresholds. That’s why we developed Bscale: our new plug-and-play logistics concept designed for brands of all sizes. With Bscale, brands can benefit from flexible, easy-to-integrate fashion logistics outsourcing – helping to remove many key barriers to growth.
Want to find out more about accelerating your growth journey with Bscale? Check out the Bscale solution page today or get in contact with one of our experts for a free consultation.
