24


Issue 1 2019 - Freight Business Journal


///CLOTHING & APPAREL


Brexit - will fashion be a victim?


As if the internet and the uncertain outlook for many of the mainstays of the British High Street weren’t enough, the fashion industry faces a further dilemma – Brexit. Customs clearance in this segment of the freight market is already complex – and could be set to become even more so if a border is imposed between the UK and the rest of Europe. Fortunately, though, logistics providers in the sector are an adaptable and enterprising lot and will no doubt continue to win through, whatever the diffi culties.


SEKO seeks out global markets


Brian Bourke, vice president of marketing at SEKO Logistics - a major player in freight


e-commerce – says that online ordering has had a profound eff ect on international supply chains,


including sector. fashion –


SEKO’s most important cross- border


Seko moves


fashion goods for both traditional retailers and the new breed of e-tailers on trade lanes including Asia to Europe or UK to US, for example. UK


fashion producers in


particular are very savvy about global markets, he says, whereas


for


US ones tend to concentrate on their huge domestic market – which could ultimately be to their disadvantage, he believes. “UK retailers tend to go international from Day One,” he explains, opening up markets in the Middle East, North America and China. Part of the explanation, of course, is that the UK has a high cost base, and so clothes manufacturers need to seek out higher-end consumers – and as the number of consumers in this country willing to pay £1,000-plus for a suit is limited, that means seeking out wealthy


buyers in other parts of the world. Clothing has the reputation for


being tricky from a supply chain point of view, given the myriad number of size and colour permutations, not to mention the fact that it all changes every few weeks with the seasons. Customs regulations in many parts of the world can also be very complex. However, there have been


some welcome simplifi cations lately, says Bourke. One is the introduction of very generous ‘de mimimus’ customs levels in Australia and the US, which means


that individuals can


import goods with a value of up to US$800 in the US or AUS$1,000 (US$720) in Australia without paying duty, which greatly simplifi es matters as far as private individual buyers are concerned. Modern IT systems have also


made the business of shipping individual items to hundreds of thousands of consumers much simpler – in fact, it’s something that you wouldn’t have dared contemplate in the past with the legacy computer systems that were available. Returns are the other issue


that make life interesting for the fashion logistician, and again modern IT systems have made what would have been impossible a few years ago eminently practical. ‘Bracket shopping’ whereby the customer buys a whole range of colours or sizes, chooses just one and returns the rest, has become quite commonplace. “It requires a level of


sophistication to support it,” as Bourke explains. Seko’s network of regional


logistics centres is a boon here, he adds: “For example, if a


customer in, say, France wants to return an item, we can take it back to our centres in Milton Keynes or Amsterdam, take a photo to verify that it has been returned and then we can pay the customer much faster than would have been possible previously.” The consumer may well be able to print their own return label at home, which again speeds up and simplifi es the process. Items can then be consolidated


up at the regional centre and returned to origin relatively


25 >>


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28