Earlier this year, a group planning to rescue luxury affordable fashion brand L.K. Bennett from administration, turned to ASCG for a more effective and efficient inventory management solution.
The group, Byland UK Ltd, was led by L.K. Bennett's Chinese franchise partner and included senior business leaders who had worked with ASCG previously. As part of their proposed acquisition of the well-renowned fashion brand, the group consulted a number of trusted logistics companies as they quickly sought a solution that would provide the foundations to return L.K. Bennett in the UK to its former glory.
ASCG outperformed competitors during the tender process due to its excellent retail knowledge. L.K. Bennett CEO, Darren Topp, explains: “During the proposed acquisition, we needed to move quickly to determine whether we could find a way of not just acquiring the company, but also pinpointing processes that would improve it as a successful business with long-term growth potential.
“Stock management was a critical part of this. We were looking at moving tens of thousands of items of clothing across the globe to the UK, and then distributing these to a nationwide store portfolio as well as selling direct to consumers via our online store. The ASCG team approached the clothing stock as though it’s a perishable good. They truly understand that fashion has a short shelf-life on par with food, and how much of a significant impact this has on profitability. It was this knowledge that stood ASCG head and shoulders above the other logistics providers.”
Byland UK Ltd went on to acquire L.K. Bennett in April, with ASCG immediately appointed to roll-out an inventory management system including ecommerce returns.
Linda Davison, operations director at ASCG added: “Our first conversations with the Byland UK team were all about the importance of being able to keep pace and ahead of consumer trends. Whether it’s seasonal fashions or the latest must-have colour or print, clothing needs to be always readily available for sale. The clothing really needs to be in the right place at the right time. Our software and solution proved exactly how we can achieve this, enabling L.K. benefit to maximise sales opportunities to drive prime value from stock and minimise margin dilution.”
The ASCG team is now working with L.K. Bennett to look at other opportunities to drive sales growth.
Darren Topp concludes: “Since day one, ASCG has been agile and supportive, realising the need to move quickly, but also effectively to find ways of streamlining our supply chain. They continue to do this, never standing still and working with us to help explore just how we can realise ambitious growth plans.”
