The benefits of shortening fashion retailers "time to market"

Time is always of the essence, especially for an industry such as fashion. Designed around a traditional seasonal model, the time brands and retailers spend on design, product development, production, shipping, and sales is vital. Take too long to bring a certain product to market, and you could potentially miss out on your selling window. In addition, the fashion industry is also inherently linked to emotions and is an emotion-driven sector. Beautifully made garments trigger an emotional response in consumers, triggering them to make a purchase. However, when it comes to shopping online, consumers still expect the same emotional response and sense of instant gratification - they'd rather have their order arrived yesterday. If they need to wait extended periods of time for their purchases, they can lose interest and desire for their garment, leading to cancelled or returned orders.

In order to avoid these pitfalls, leading fashion companies around the globe invest in ensuring their time to market is as short as possible, which includes having the best logistical and fulfilment solutions in place. Global fashion fulfilment expert Modexpress aims to ensure its fashion merchants have access to the best tools and solutions needed to shorten their time to market. Cor Noorlander, Chief Commercial Officer of global fashion fulfilment provider Modexpress, highlights some of the key benefits of working with a shorter 'time to market' and the provider’s solutions to help brands and retailers alike.

Rapid Order Fulfilment
When consumers make a purchase online, especially during a sale or discount period, the majority of the time, it is due to an emotional response. Consumers are excited and want their products now. To support fashion merchants, Modexpress offers rapid order fulfilment. As we operate from warehouses in key locations, we can offer late order picking options. We receive process and pick orders from our merchants up until 10 pm each day before sending them to the last collection from the last-mile carrier. This way, we can ensure local next day delivery or international shipment. In addition, we can also arrange same-day delivery options and weekend deliveries for our fashion merchants who wish to go the extra mile. By offering flexible solutions, we help retailers respond faster to any market changes.

On-Time Delivery Options with Local Carriers
To better serve our fashion merchants and their consumers, we offer a range of delivery options with local carriers. We also provide tracking options, so consumers can keep track of their orders, regardless of which country or warehouse they are coming from. This helps create a sense of trust between fashion merchants and consumers and strengthen the overall shopping experience. When the buying experience is positive from start to finish, consumers are more likely to make another purchase with the same retailer again, which is beneficial for our clients.

Speedy Return Solutions
The average return rate for most fashion retailers is 30%, but this can increase indefinitely, especially during sale periods. In order to streamline the return process, local carriers consolidate returns in bundles, which we then handle at our warehouses. This ensures we can swiftly and speedily handle all returns and book in as many as possible the same day they arrive. We also offer additional options for returns, such as grading and quality checks, to ensure our clients have a quick, efficient and accurate overview of their stock each day.

The Last Mile Express Services
We offer a broad range of last-mile services for our fashion merchants both in the Netherlands and abroad. Operating our own fleet, with GOH and flat-pack solutions to our customers across Europe, Modexpress also works closely alongside selected local carriers. This ensures that our fashion merchants can choose from definite delivery options, home deliveries and pick-up from store deliveries. Fashion merchants can change delivery options last minute as we work with diverse carriers, offering their consumers even more flexibility. We pride ourselves on working efficiently with the best parcel carriers.

Additional Support During Peak-Periods
As we are fashion specialists, we coordinate busy sales and purchasing periods with our clients. Suppose a fashion merchant is having a sale and expects a large peak in orders over the weekend. In that case, we are in the position to scale up our labour force overnight by using our in-house labour agencies. This helps us avoid any constraints in receiving, order processing and returns handling while streamlining the entire process.