Bleckmann has launched an innovative self-service logistics platform for fashion startups under the name Bscale. Through this fully digital platform, startups and growing fashion brands can easily outsource their logistics. To handle this, the logistics service provider deploys its AutoStore system in Grobbendonk. The spiritual father of Bscale is Maxim Sion, business development manager at Bleckmann: "We like to use our knowledge to help startups grow, because then we grow too."
For nine years, Maxim Sion led Black & Gold, a fashion brand he founded with a friend in 2015. So from his own experience, he knows what a startup in the fashion sector needs in terms of logistics. "Like any startup, we too started in the garage. At some point the step follows where you have to make a choice: either rent your own premises or outsource to a logistics provider. Only at that point, most startups are still too small for a service provider, so they are forced to invest in logistics themselves."
Most logistics providers are not interested in a startup until it has an inventory of 20,000 to 30,000 items. No garage, basement or attic is big enough to facilitate the logistics operation until that point. "With Bscale, we offer the solution," explains Sion. "Once a startup has outgrown the garage, we can provide the necessary support with this solution. Not only with logistics, but also with selling via marketplaces, for example. In short: we help startups scale up."
Self-service platform
The market for startups and growing fashion brands is new to Bleckmann. Until now, the internationally operating logistics service provider was mainly focused on big brands such as Patagonia, Karl Lagerfeld, Superdry and Gymshark. Sion himself noticed this when he started working within Bleckmann two years ago. "To my regret, I regularly had to sell no to smaller entrepreneurs. We then asked ourselves how we could still offer this market the requested support without spending a lot of manpower on it. That eventually led to the development of Bscale."
Bscale consists of a self-service platform that entrepreneurs can easily link to their own webshop thanks to the standard Shopify interface. As a result, all webshop orders automatically end up in Bleckmann's warehouse management system (WMS), which takes care of the logistical handling of the orders. That handling is largely mechanised and robotised via Bleckmann's AutoStore storage system in Grobbendonk, thirty kilometres east of Antwerp. "We assume that more than 90 per cent comes from the AutoStore system. For hanging garments or products that are too big for this system, we have a manual operation behind it."
Error handling
Through the self-service platform, entrepreneurs can arrange much more themselves, such as personalising their logistics services. "Think about adding flyers or packing in silk paper. Especially for starting and growing entrepreneurs, these are important services. This is how they try to distinguish themselves from the established brands as much as possible," Sion says. "Via Bscale, every entrepreneur always has an up-to-date overview of his entire logistics operation with data on stock levels, order patterns and personalisation settings. Use of the Bleckmann Returns Portal is also included."
Bscale's set-up keeps implementation efforts to a minimum. "Onboarding takes place entirely online, with Bscale effectively acting as an 'error handling' platform. For example, if an entrepreneur registers new products without a barcode, he is instructed to go back to his Shopify environment and fix that error," Sion knows. "Then the entrepreneur can easily enter an incoming shipment via Bscale, so the warehouse knows what to expect. When the shipment is actually received, we feedback that via Bscale, so the entrepreneur can start selling."
Maxim Sion
Selling surpluses
There are plenty of ideas within Bleckmann about further expanding the service to startups and growing entrepreneurs. "In case of surpluses, we can put entrepreneurs in touch with online flash sellers such as Secret Sales and Showroomprive.com. Once every three or six months, we have a sale to such parties, which they can tap into," Sion explains. "In addition, we want to offer customers access to our Renewal Workshop via a standardised rate. We can then check and, if possible, repair a garment that is returned with a minor defect. So that we can put it back in stock or else sell it at a discount to a second-hand marketplace."
Why is the market for startups and growing entrepreneurs with a solution like Bscale now of interest to Bleckmann? "Because with all the digitalisation, costs are going down. Before, we had to deploy different onboarding teams for each new customer who had to create a new customer in different departments and systems. Now this is all done digitally. In addition, we do not have to make separate agreements with carriers for each customer, but use generic contracts. Implementing a new customer has become much more plug-and-play than before."
First four customers
For now, the logistics handling takes place from Grobbendonk, but Bleckmann is currently building a Bscale service in the Netherlands as well. Furthermore, the company is thinking of rolling out to other countries such as the UK, Spain and the US. "This allows entrepreneurs to easily test new markets and grow across borders," Sion explains. "Incidentally, with this concept we are not only targeting startups, but also major fashion brands from the United States, for example, who can easily take the step to Europe this way. If that step is successful, the time will naturally come when they make the switch to a customised logistics solution."
Four startups have now signed on to Bscale. "One of them is Wolk Antwerp, which designs and sells menswear based on merino wool. This brand was started by a young couple from Antwerp, who could only collect and pack their orders when the children were in bed at night. Wolk is now sitting on around 100 orders a week. We are happy to help them scale up, because as Wolk grows, so does Bleckmann. We make our knowledge and expertise available for that, even on issues not directly related to logistics."
