Paper Island Has Something to Celebrate
Greeting card and giftware manufacturer Paper Island Ltd transformed the replenishment of store-level inventories from a traditional and manual process into one that has enabled the company to optimize inventory and increase sales by more than 30 percent.
Historically, Paper Island’s primary customer replenished its greeting cards using the traditional stock notification ticket placed behind the cards in the greeting card pocket. When stock levels reached a certain point, store staff manually pulled the stock notification ticket and replenished the card pocket with more greeting cards. However, Paper Island discovered that tickets were becoming misplaced or lost and not being pulled in time to replenish cards before stocks were exhausted. Thus, Paper Island launched the auto-replenishment project to guarantee its greeting cards would remain on its primary customer’s shelves.
Because Paper Island already utilized two of Demand Solutions supply chain management systems, Forecast Management and Requirements Planning, implementing Demand Solutions Retail Planning was a natural fit for the company to address its store-level inventory planning problem.
Demand Solutions ability to optimize store-level replenishment using point-of-sale (POS) data was just what Paper Island needed to streamline and automate the inventory replenishment planning process. Paper Island implemented Retail Planning in just 10 days. After experiencing overwhelming success at the initial 10 pilot stores, the company continued to deploy the software in additional stores. Today, the program is fully functional in 350 of the major UK retailer’s branches.
Since implementing the new software, Paper Island has achieved substantial results. Most notably, the company has reached its goal of reducing stock outs and increasing sales.
“During the initial phase, like-for-like sales of the Fizzy Moon brand were 44 percent higher in the auto-replenished stores than in the non auto-replenished stores,” says Phil McNulty, director of operations, Paper Island.
Sales for seasonal items have also increased: “Sales of cards and gifts for the Christmas season were approximately 34 percent higher than previous years,” says McNulty. “Although the quality of designs and products were improved, we believe that the sales increase was largely because of Retail Planning.”
With the help of Demand Solutions, Paper Island has also been able to refine its operations within its manufacturing and distribution center in Rotterdam.
“After implementing Demand Solutions Retail Planning our ability to schedule and manage work through our warehouse has significantly improved,” says McNulty.
Overall, Paper Island has created a mutually profitable relationship with its primary customer and has gained a significant competitive advantage.
“Our decision to invest in the auto-replenishment process with Demand Solutions Retail Planning software has not only redefined our supply chain but has allowed us to reinforce our position as a first-class supplier,” closes McNulty.
FAST FACTS
Company at a Glance
Paper Island, a subsidiary of History and Heraldry,designs and produces creative greeting cards and giftware for all occasions and seasons.
Award-Winning Supply Chain
Managing Automation magazine recognized Paper Island as a best-in-class manufacturer with a model supply chain.
Words of Wisdom
“When we realized the stock outs were resulting in lost sales for both our company and our customer, we decided to evaluate the entire replenishment process from start to finish.” — Phil McNulty, Director of Operations, Paper Island.
Historically, Paper Island’s primary customer replenished its greeting cards using the traditional stock notification ticket placed behind the cards in the greeting card pocket. When stock levels reached a certain point, store staff manually pulled the stock notification ticket and replenished the card pocket with more greeting cards. However, Paper Island discovered that tickets were becoming misplaced or lost and not being pulled in time to replenish cards before stocks were exhausted. Thus, Paper Island launched the auto-replenishment project to guarantee its greeting cards would remain on its primary customer’s shelves.
Because Paper Island already utilized two of Demand Solutions supply chain management systems, Forecast Management and Requirements Planning, implementing Demand Solutions Retail Planning was a natural fit for the company to address its store-level inventory planning problem.
Demand Solutions ability to optimize store-level replenishment using point-of-sale (POS) data was just what Paper Island needed to streamline and automate the inventory replenishment planning process. Paper Island implemented Retail Planning in just 10 days. After experiencing overwhelming success at the initial 10 pilot stores, the company continued to deploy the software in additional stores. Today, the program is fully functional in 350 of the major UK retailer’s branches.
Since implementing the new software, Paper Island has achieved substantial results. Most notably, the company has reached its goal of reducing stock outs and increasing sales.
“During the initial phase, like-for-like sales of the Fizzy Moon brand were 44 percent higher in the auto-replenished stores than in the non auto-replenished stores,” says Phil McNulty, director of operations, Paper Island.
Sales for seasonal items have also increased: “Sales of cards and gifts for the Christmas season were approximately 34 percent higher than previous years,” says McNulty. “Although the quality of designs and products were improved, we believe that the sales increase was largely because of Retail Planning.”
With the help of Demand Solutions, Paper Island has also been able to refine its operations within its manufacturing and distribution center in Rotterdam.
“After implementing Demand Solutions Retail Planning our ability to schedule and manage work through our warehouse has significantly improved,” says McNulty.
Overall, Paper Island has created a mutually profitable relationship with its primary customer and has gained a significant competitive advantage.
“Our decision to invest in the auto-replenishment process with Demand Solutions Retail Planning software has not only redefined our supply chain but has allowed us to reinforce our position as a first-class supplier,” closes McNulty.
FAST FACTS
Company at a Glance
Paper Island, a subsidiary of History and Heraldry,designs and produces creative greeting cards and giftware for all occasions and seasons.
Award-Winning Supply Chain
Managing Automation magazine recognized Paper Island as a best-in-class manufacturer with a model supply chain.
Words of Wisdom
“When we realized the stock outs were resulting in lost sales for both our company and our customer, we decided to evaluate the entire replenishment process from start to finish.” — Phil McNulty, Director of Operations, Paper Island.