Tibbett & Britten Launches Retail Logistics Support For Shopping Centres

Tibbett & Britten Group plc, launches a new local logistics service for shopping centers and retail parks that is set to assist the way retailers in such facilities manage their supply chains. The Group has invested an initial GBP0.5 million in setting up the first such operation at Bluewater in Kent.

Bluewater is Europe’s leading retail destination with over 330 stores, and was opened in March 1999. A 6,500 sq meter (70,000 sq ft) logistics operation has been established offsite within one of Tibbett & Britten’s 23,000 sq meter (250,000 sq ft) distribution centers (DCs) nearby, where merchandise is delivered either directly from suppliers/retailer regional distribution centers (RDCs) or via the Bluewater retailers.

The logistics specialist then warehouses, picks, consolidates and delivers merchandise into Bluewater’s stores – enabling in-store stockholdings and ‘back of house’ activity to be reduced so that the space and time released can be put to more commercial use.

The new service has been designed to provide flexible offsite storage and replenishment support for Bluewater and other shopping centers. Retailers also have a wide menu of specialized added-value/pre-retailing services they can select from, including packaging removal and recycling, flat-to-hanging conversion (of garments), product segregation, ticketing and tagging – all of which speeds the flow of merchandise on to the salesfloor and allows retail staff to focus on customers.

In addition, services can cover storage and replenishment of non-sales materials – e.g. carrier bags, stationery, display equipment, etc. – as well as merchandising support for store-builds, promotional preparation and sales activity.

Moreover, as the deliveries are consolidated, the service can also reduce the number of drops to the centers – resulting in fewer heavy goods vehicles and less congestion.

Replenishment deliveries are made at times agreed with the retailer, day or night, and delivery lead-times can be as little as three hours from receipt of order. Efficiency is enhanced as Tibbett & Britten delivers stock in, and then collects surplus stock, recovered packaging, etc., from the stores on a single round trip.

At the core of the service is a new technologically advanced, multi-site, web-based warehouse management system that allows the retail outlets to view and call-off stock using a PC equipped with just a browser and internet connection. This provides retailers with economical and secure visibility of their local offsite stock down to item (SKU) level and allows them to generate orders either manually or automatically from their own electronic point of sale (EPoS) data.

Tibbett & Britten has been piloting the service with selected retailers for some 15 months, and with the IT systems now proven the company is starting to market it to retail outlets in Bluewater, as well as to the management of other major shopping centres.

Alan Jones, Bluewater Marketing Manager, commented: “Bluewater takes an active interest in its retail partners’ success, and it became clear that they needed to optimise their storage and replenishment systems, and increase selling space.”

Mike Arrowsmith, Tibbett & Britten Group Chief Executive Officer, added: “The new offsite logistics service has been designed with all major shopping centres in mind and offers retail outlets significant advantages – including higher in-store product availability and reduced costs. This innovative approach to supply chain management generates higher sales by ensuring fewer out-of-stock items across a wider product range, while lowering retailers’ overall distribution costs.”