Case Story: XXL Sport & Villmark

Optimizing E-commerce logistics for seamless deliveries

Discover how XXL Sport & Villmark, renowned for its strong e-commerce and omnichannel service, faced the challenges of a dynamic retail market. With daily shipments of 6500 parcels and a surge in online purchases, find out how they leveraged technology to meet fast service expectations.

E-commerce accuracy and precision at XXL Sport & Villmark

XXL Sport & Villmark is the largest and also the fastest growing sports retailer, by revenue, in the Nordic region. The company today boasts more than 50 department stores and ships 25,000 parcels each month from its Oslo distribution center to stores and home addresses.

XXL Sport & Villmark enjoys a reputation of strong e-commerce and omnichannel service, but the increasingly complex e-commerce environment, coupled with customer demands for fast service, makes the retail market ever more challenging. And XXL Sport & Villmark is growing at a rapid pace. The company ships 6500 parcels each day, all routed through the company’s Oslo distribution center, and 800 to 900 are online purchases in which the buyers wants to pick up their goods at the store.

For these e-commerce orders, says Kim Nilsen, XXL Sport & Villmark’s Logistics Manager, “it’s necessary to have high quality and tight control of the shipments,” to prevent shipment errors. XXL Sport & Villmark wanted to automate its processes to ensure goods moved quickly to customers, correctly, even as it grew.

"RFID simplifies our processes and make it visible for all, where the parcels and packages are in the process. The savings are realized in customer service, at the warehouse and in the stores."

Kim Nilsen

Logistics Manager, XXL Sport & Villmark

The Challenge:​​

Automate processes to ensure goods moved quickly to customers

XXL Sport & Villmark enjoys a reputation of strong e-commerce and omnichannel service, but the increasingly complex e-commerce environment, coupled with customer demands for fast service, makes the retail market ever more challenging. And XXL Sport & Villmark is growing at a rapid pace. The company ships 6500 parcels each day, all routed through the company’s Oslo distribution center, and 800 to 900 are online purchases in which the buyers wants to pick up their goods at the store.

For these e-commerce orders, says Kim Nilsen, XXL Sport & Villmark’s Logistics Manager, “it’s necessary to have high quality and tight control of the shipments, to prevent shipment errors." XXL Sport & Villmark wanted to automate its processes to ensure goods moved quickly to customers, correctly, even as they grew.

Our Solution:​

Accomplish automated logistics management

At the center of its efforts is a solution from Lyngsoe Systems and Consignor that brings visibility and automation to XXL Sport & Villmark’s e-commerce shipping and delivery processes. The innovative RFID-based solution is currently in place at the Distribution Center (DC) and one store in Oslo, Norway, with more in the pipeline. The retailer can accomplish automated logistics management both at the point of shipping and receiving. XXL Sport & Villmark are considering to expand the solution with even more touchpoints in their supply-chain.

Our Automated Validation Station at XXL Sport & Villmark - step by step:

Step 1: RFID label is coded, printed and placed on each package. Destination and label id are associated in consignors backend.

Step 2: Packages are placed in cages or on pallets.

Step 3: Cage or pallet with packages is placed under portal..

Step 4: Start destination validation pressing start in the app. The app will show read label-ids grouped in designated destinations, based on data from consignors.

Step 5: Any misplaced items can be removed while pallet is placed under portal. App screen auto refreshes to show actual status.

Step 6: When content is correct the user closes shipment in app pressing ‘OK’. The shipment is then moved to load bay. Data is send back to consignor for track & trace purposes.

Step 7: Shipment is pulled under a gate with a mounted RFID portal. RFID labels are automatically read.
If the destination encoded in the labels matches the actual destination, arrival registration is done. RFID labels encoded with other destinations will be caught and therefore be registered as incorrect.

The Benefits:

Immediate notification to customers

  • Shipping accuracy with automated validation
  • Reduced labor as shipping data is captured automatically
  • Immediate notification to customers that their order has arrived
  • Improved customer satisfaction

Further Results:

Ability serve customers at a lower cost and greater efficiency

XXL Sport & Villmark has boosted its shipping and receiving efficiency – eliminating the need for manual barcode scans – with the deployment of Lyngsoe Automated Validation Station.

As a result, XXL Sport & Villmark has been able to reduce manual handling and shipping errors to nearly zero. Shipping is accomplished more efficiently, and customers receive a faster notification that their parcel has arrived at the store. That means greater satisfaction for the customers. The company is now preparing for a roll-out to other stores and is also intending to adopt the system to track the other 70 percent of goods that are replenished to stores based on store orders. That means not only are customers satisfied, but XXL Sport & Villmark can serve those customers at a lower cost and greater efficiency.

But that’s only one part of the gains: the company has also achieved automatic documentation of each item shipped and received. XXL Sport & Villmark’s focus is on boosting customer satisfaction, and that means ensuring that customers buying their products get what they want, where and when they need it. XXL Sport & Villmark have achieved this by implementing Lyngsoe Automated Validation Station. additionally they saw the following results: 50% reduction in customer complaints; 80% less handling of shipments per month; 50 seconds saved on arrival and departure per parcel; and a Return On Investment (ROI) just shy of 1 year. 

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Contact us and discover how we can optimize your supply chain through real-time tracking and traceability.

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