
Fashion retailer reduces
cost and improves
performance with Control Tower

Case Study

43%
Reduction in
average freight
cost

40+
Late arrivals
avoided in
2018

90%
Lower CO2 by
using less air
freight
Summary
By using a control tower setup, a fashion company reduced late arrivals and improved transportation planning, thereby reducing cost and environmental impact while optimizing inventory management.
Customer
A leading fashion retailer with over 100 stores and strong e-commerce business serving customers in the EU. Primary suppliers located throughout Asia and Middle East, leading it work with multiple freight forwarders.
Problem
Underdeveloped internal
transportation planning and lack of
visibility led to inventory issues and
overreliance on last-minute air freight. Made worse by suppliers struggling with purchase order fulfillment accuracy.
Solution
Improve transport planning by identifying bottlenecks and key areas and
translating these into a control tower setup focused on KPIs and milestone
tracking. This transparency allows better monitoring of performance of
existing carriers and shift to ocean, rail, and road to replace airfreight.
To address purchase order fulfillment issues and related inventory impact,
implemented PO auditing to identify and resolve costly fulfillment errors prior
to shipping.
Results
Reduced dependence on air freight led to 43% lower freight cost/shipment and a drop of up to 90%
in CO2 output.* Overall improved inventory efficiency and avoided over 40 late arrivals in 2018 alone.

*Based on International Chamber of Shipping emission factors