Bringing Fulfillment In-House for Greater Control
The Challenge
As simplehuman's UK and European business expanded, its outsourced warehousing arrangements could no longer provide the control, speed, and flexibility needed to support increasingly complex customer requirements.
The company decided to bring fulfilment in-house, investing in a purpose-built distribution centre to manage its own B2B and B2C operations. This transition required a configurable warehouse management system capable of integrating with Sage 200 ERP, supporting diverse retailer requirements, and improving productivity without a substantial upfront investment.
The Solution
simplehuman selected SnapFulfil for its cloud-based architecture, configurability, and ability to support the company's evolving distribution requirements.
Working collaboratively, the teams established new warehouse processes and resolved initial operational challenges within two to three weeks of implementation. Subsequent picking reconfiguration, including a dynamic pick-face initiative, helped improve productivity.
SnapFulfil also introduced real-time inventory visibility, performance monitoring, and flexible reporting capabilities, enabling simplehuman to refine its operations as customer requirements changed.
The Impact
Bringing fulfilment in-house with SnapFulfil delivered substantial improvements in order processing speed and operational control.
E-commerce orders that previously took two to three days to process were being actioned within hours, enabling a 24-hour order-to-pick service in most cases.
The company also gained real-time inventory visibility, improved performance monitoring, and greater flexibility to accommodate different customer requirements. SnapFulfil's configurable workflows and intuitive interface helped simplehuman establish a more responsive distribution operation capable of supporting continued business growth.
