The challenge
The customer retails in over 10 countries and sources most of their total volume from China. For an operation of this magnitude, consolidation was a persistent challenge. A few years ago, the company embarked on a journey of internal transformation, spanning all the countries hosting their stores.
The company started looking for a partner who had the expertise in simplification of supply chains
Before the planned transformation, the customer’s ocean volume was decentralised and complicated. Each of their market locations were interacting with multiple freight forwarders for various requirements. They worked with this decentralised model for several years, but it had started consuming far too much time, money and resources.
The company started looking for a partner who not only had the expertise in simplification of supply chains but could also implement a solution without curbing their scale and speed.
The solution
As a top retailer, speed is paramount for the customer. Every week they have items that need to be in stores within a specific time. Being one of their key direct contract partners, Maersk understood the time sensitivity of the project.
Maersk conducted trial shipments to all the destination countries so that any potential issues could be detected and fixed at the time of the final implementation.
Centralising the ocean freight has yielded results for the customer and the collaboration
To make the test run a success, the dedicated sales and customer service teams were in close contact with the customer, to take continuous feedback and implement corrective actions wherever necessary. Once the trial concluded, Maersk implemented the solution simultaneously for all the locations.
The result
Centralising their ocean freight has yielded great results for the customer and the collaboration. Within three years, their ocean FFE with Maersk has grown more than a hundred times, and destinations have expanded to more markets across the globe.
In 2020, the customer also commenced utilisation of the air freight and intercontinental rail service from China to Europe. In the future, the association is expected to grow further to include many more efficient solutions.
