The Boohoo Group is one of the world’s fastest growing companies, having built an impressive stable of industry leading brands including household names such as PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, MissPap, Karen Millen, Coast, and most recently Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burtons, in addition to the original boohoo and boohooMAN brands.
When the group acquired two labels – Oasis and Warehouse – in the middle of 2020’s ecommerce boom, they needed to onboard an online delivery network as quickly as possible to take advantage of a peak season set to break all records and ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction. It was also essential that this network be a global one, capable of supporting the group’s international business.
Boohoo Group required a partner that could keep up with the group’s fast-paced and flexible operations with 100% reliability.
“Delivery Manager helps us offer a wider range of delivery options which reflect how our customers want to receive their orders all over the world,” explains David Parsons, Head of Delivery Solutions at Boohoo Group.
The Boohoo Group selected Metapack’s Delivery Manager platform to bring agility and scalability to the fulfillment process of its two new brands. The software allocates carriers, generates labels and prepares shipping documentation instantly, helping Oasis and Warehouse maintain swift and efficient operations.
Delivery Manager allocates the most intelligent and cost-effective shipping options, drawing from the world’s largest library of 350+ carriers and 4,000+ delivery services. This is especially important to help Boohoo Group serve its growing international market. Because the software integrates directly with carriers, different services can be added effortlessly via a single API.
“As we develop in different countries, we try to take a more localized view of delivery. And as our brand set extends, we also need to cater to different types of customers. Within our brands, a customer could buy a coat for £150 at Nasty Gal, or one for £1500 at Karen Millen, and customers of each of these brands are going to expect a different type of delivery experience. With Delivery Manager we know that we have the choice available to meet the demands of our diverse customer base.”
The speed and scope of the platform become especially important in periods of high demand. Delivery Manager can easily switch to different services if the existing fulfillment ecosystem gets overloaded, allowing Boohoo to deliver on its customer promise when it matters most.
What’s more, the Boohoo Group’s existing brands already used Metapack Delivery Manager software. Selecting Delivery Manger for Oasis and Warehouse allowed the group to maintain consistency, transparency and efficiency throughout its entire global fulfillment network.
Metapack onboarded Oasis and Warehouse onto the Delivery Manager platform in 6 weeks. The two brands secured direct access to an international fulfillment network of 53 carrier services. The rapid onboarding put the overall group in an excellent position to start building returns from the acquisition, ahead of a peak season which did indeed break all records.
“Our warehouse operations rely on Delivery Manager in peak times to deliver on volumes as they rise. Even if it only goes down for 10 minutes that really puts us at risk,” David says.
“And in order to deliver on the volumes we see during peak, we need speed and flexibility. A couple of seconds to print a label doesn’t sound like much. But with peak volumes, a delay like that would have a massive impact. If one carrier can no longer take volume, we need to be able to dive into our delivery management system and switch that volume somewhere else. It’s absolutely vital.”
Delivery Manager is capable of allocating orders at breakneck speeds of less than 300 milliseconds, much faster than competitor systems. This allows Oasis and Warehouse to keep up with demand even in the busiest periods – such as those experienced in the 2020 peak season. It also enables the brands to grow rapidly in international markets as the group’s global customer base continues to expand.
Delivery Manager supports the processing of up to 5 million parcels per month for the Boohoo Group overall, and it has done so with an uptime of 100% for the past 12 months.
“The integration of the two brands was expedited as usual in a seamless and timely manner. Our partnership with MP is built on trust, agility and reliability.”
