Orvis Reels in Inventory Productivity Benefits

The Orvis Co. has been outfitting its customers for sporting traditions since 1865, and offers a lifestyle brand focused on "distinctive country living."

With a broad assortment across multiple categories -- men's and women's apparel, pet products, kids products, fishing, hunting and many others -- inventory productivity was a tremendous challenge for this direct marketing company.

According to Mark Holmes, vice president of IS and Liquidations for Orvis, "We had a ton of inventory that we were treating the same way. We looked at it every week and reordered without knowing our true sell-through and how future forecasts should affect order quantities."

Orvis selected Manhattan Associates' Advanced Planning suite of solutions to address its "X-channel" inventory planning and its replenishment system to optimize retail store replenishment. Holmes explains, "We were seeking a single partner for all of our supply chain solutions."

According to Holmes, the replenishment system's inherent best practices were rapidly adopted across the organization and the learning curve was "relatively painless." This was critical because Orvis' core competencies lie more in the consumer direct channels, so care was taken to not re-invent the wheel or rationalize retail practices to fit the catalog legacy.

The solution integrates with Orvis' fulfillment system so when looking at the selling velocity in its retail stores, Orvis knows what's on hand in the warehouse, when items will be out of stock and when they'll need to ship them, including the lead time to determine when to place an order to the fulfillment systems to replenish the stores. 


Proof is in the Productivity

Orvis has witnessed a decrease in inventory flowing to its stores for slow-moving products and has identified overstocks of approximately 40 percent in all stores, setting goals to drive that number down.

Holmes explains, "Just the identification of the overstock is perhaps the most significant benefit. Soon after we started using the solution, we identified dozens of items that we may never have to order again. Instead of ordering more for a particular store, we now have the visibility to transfer units from another store."

Holmes also believes that simply broadening the visibility of what Orvis has and what it really needs is starting to generate the right behavior -- employees are starting to think about the supply chain as a whole. "We've saved money not making some of the large purchases we would typically make at the beginning of a season simply because we can now see what we have on hand."

Holmes concludes, "Replenishment is just one part of an integrated suite of solutions from Manhattan that will give us the supply chain planning and execution capabilities we're looking for to move us toward our goal of being a true world-class multi-channel retailer."