Up against the clock

For the most eager of online fashion shoppers, it’s a dream come true; buy something from one of Aurora’s websites at 11am, and by 12.30pm they will have their purchase firmly within their grasp.

Aurora is one of the latest retailers to have made its delivery options more sophisticated in order to outdo the competition and meet customer demand.

Its 90-minute delivery promise will first be launched for its Oasis brand next month, and although only initially available in London, the retailer plans to expand the service into 10 conurbations during the year. Stock will be sent out from stores, rather than a distribution centre, so that it is as geographically close to the customer as possible.

Aurora’s improvements to its deliveries have sprung from the success of its reserve-and-collect service. This was introduced into its Warehouse brand in September last year, Oasis in October, Coast in November and Karen Millen this month. This is not the only improvement it has made to its delivery options. Currently offering only standard and next-day delivery, from February, the service will also give same-day delivery within London and the M25, and selected-day delivery.

Aurora group multichannel director Hash Ladha says: “Multiple delivery options will become the norm for retailers. We’ve decided to be innovative in launching delivery slots.”

And Ladha insists customers will be willing to pay for it: “It’s a premium service and customers understand that you have to pay if you want product fast.”

The fashion retailer is to fulfil its delivery slot service using same-day courier specialist Shutl, which has a database of independent couriers it uses to deliver product from Aurora’s stores. Its systems will automatically select which courier to make deliveries

based on vehicle type, price, reviews and location.

Relying on independent couriers to provide a reliable service may seem a bit risky, but Ladha says: “They’re all vetted - otherwise they’re not in the Shutl. It’s no different to using another external logistics provider.” And Ladha is confident. He says Argos, which started using Shutl in August last year for the same 90-minute service, had a “better than 90% fulfilment rate”.

In fact, outsourcing is now central to Aurora’s multichannel strategy. Last month the retailer announced it is outsourcing its distribution to global supply chain solutions group WT, and moving 300 supply chain staff with it, and its IT to Retail Assist.

Race against time

But with the 90-minute delivery service, the retailer is relying not only on the logistics carrier but on store staff to ensure reliable fulfilment. Aurora’s store staff will have 30 minutes to fulfil the 90-minute order when they are alerted about the order at their tills. But its reserve-and-collect service means that staff are prepared, having been trained on the practicalities of order fulfilment.

Offering such narrow delivery slots so soon after the customer places the order relies upon an efficient integration of IT systems. This has already taken place at the retailer to make reserve-and-collect possible. Aurora group IT director John Bovill says this integration has brought about a single view of stock inventory. In preparation for the launch of reserve-and-collect, the merchandising system BT Mercatus was integrated with ecommerce platform BT Fresca and BT Expedite’s store systems product Store 6. These systems were also integrated into the WMS system.

Accurate stock inventory is achieved by stock data across all channels being automatically updated every 15 minutes, minimising the risk of failing to fulfil a customer’s order. But there are always risks. “There may be instances where a customer in store is buying stock at the same time as the person ordering it online,” says Ladha. He points out that Aurora doesn’t have the transparency of Argos, which holds all its stock in the stockroom.

Configuration of the stock system can minimise risk. “A filter could stop products from showing as being in stock if there are fewer than three units in a store. However, there have not yet been enough cancellations with reserve-and-collect to prove that applying this filter is necessary,” Ladha says.

Building a better service for customers is part of Aurora’s multichannel strategy. Its reserve-and-collect service is to be improved over the next two years by the introduction of multi-location fulfilment. Giving customers more options improves customer service and increases brand loyalty, and Aurora’s supply chain developments are showing the possibilities that can open up by focusing on improving multichannel.