www.dcvelocity.com MAY 2016 DC VELOCITY 29
ed. I started as a temp order picker.
QReally? Who was that with?
AEagle’s Eye. They have since closed, but hey actually operated in the same distribution center where I work today. They sold ugly
Christmas sweaters, although that’s not what we
called them back then. But that was their main
business.
QHow have things changed in distribution since you first entered the profession?
AIt is amazing what technology has done to change distribution. In a way, I guess, it is
true that everyone’s job has changed, but distribution is so different and the skill set needed
across all levels of distribution is really different
than it used to be. So, thankfully, as the consumers began demanding faster, better service, we
have been able to deliver that.
QCould you expand on what you mean by a different skill
set?
ABefore, if you were a temp warehouse worker, all you
needed to be told was “Here’s a
piece of paper, and you’re going to go look
for a size small and when you get it, mark
an X next to it.” Now, when you need a
temp, you have to show him or her an RF
gun and explain how to scan a bar code.
The job of DC manager has really changed
a lot too. It isn’t necessarily only knowing
how to manage people; it has now become
how can I use whatever warehouse management system I
have and understand that system so that I can leverage my
people better. The job has really changed across all levels.
QWhat does that mean in terms of finding the talent you need?
AIt has made it that much harder to use temp labor to supplement what we are doing and to address peak
season concerns.
QAs you mentioned, customer expectations have changed. How have their expectations changed and
how have you at David’s Bridal met those challenges?
AOur business has always been time sensitive. But we’ve seen more and more of a desire on the customer’s part
to make things more personal. In a cookie-cutter assem-bly-line world, the customer still wants her dress to be very
personal. So we are working on ways to expand our offerings so that it is her dress, and her bridesmaids are in her
color, and yet do that in a way that’s still manageable from
a supply chain execution perspective. That has been really
hard to do in a way that still keeps costs down.
QRight, because you’re talking about customization for almost every order then.
AYes.
QLet me ask you to talk about the technologies that enable you operate more efficiently but still meet these
very high customer demands.
AWe have a warehouse management sys- tem that has been great for us. Between
that and the distributed order management
solution, we truly have a single pool of
inventory, so we’ve been able to cut our
inventory carrying costs and focus on putting dollars in other areas. If you buy something in a store or you buy it online, it can
come from any piece of inventory in the
DC, so that has really helped us. And we
have been able to leverage the warehouse
management system to pick as efficiently
as we possibly can regardless of whether
the customer is ordering online or in our
stores. Then, just in the last six months or
so, we’ve started using our stores to fulfill
online orders as well.
QTell me a little bit about your omnichannel strategy and how you’re implementing it.
AA bridal gown is a huge purchase, so there is some hesitancy there to spend that kind of money and order
online. However, when it comes to our bridesmaids’ dresses
and our accessories, online purchasing is a really good fit.
So we are trying to offer every dress we have. Most every
dress we have comes in 50 colors and 13 sizes (our bridesmaids’ dresses, anyway) so it becomes very hard to offer
that regardless of where a customer wants to shop. We have
really focused on utilizing our entire network as fulfillment
