Stocklists / Ordering & Delivery of Stock to Boutiques/Stores.

[cbdas]

This is a question to buyers/people working behind the scenes of brands/designers.
Iv been really curious lately of the process behind deliveries to stores.
Say in London there are 2 stockists of Jil Sander.One gets their shipment in at a certain time and the other store doesnt get theres until maybe a month later.
Dont they all place orders at the same time ?
Another thing is stores saying ''oh yeah,its been shipped should be here next week'' .. yet it probably doesnt show up for another 3 weeks..Is the process of delivering clothing in bulk a lot longer than regular mail ?
It seems when dealing with high end designers/labels the delivery process seems really erratic.

PS:Mods if this is the wrong forum move it,I thought about putting it into careers/education but it didnt seem to suit it.

 

[Prudence Pureheart]

Um, I'm not and expert in fashion though I do supply goods. Generally, stores tend to have their own distribution channels if they are not part of a franchise and something that can take up a lot of time is the paper shuffling to create the order... as well as delivery/settlement terms. For example, a shop may have a distribution for a particular brand and are served very promptly as the bills can be settled from 30 to 180 days so all that would be required to order is pickup the phone and verbally order (kind of like a gentlemans agreement). On the other hand the store might have an account with a distributor which means there are two sets of order systems as well as stricter settlement procedures.

The other thing to keep in mind is high end labels (or products in generally) are difficult to deal in because the stock levels are generally very low and stock control (as a result of low stock levels) is extremely inefficient.

I hope that made sense, if it didn't just ask me to clear it up.

 

[Marvystone]

^why do they have such low stock levels?

 

[Prudence Pureheart]

There are a few reasons.

1. Fashion cloth (and buttons etc) is very expensive... some of the cloth i sell goes for $USD200+/m
2. High fashion runs on short cycles... fall, summer etc and every year is new. They don't want to produce so much that they would have a lot to liquidate at seasons end.
3. It's high fashion because it's exclusive. Not everyone is meant to have a $USD60,000 handbag... and would you (as the owner) be pissed that their are 50,000 of the exact same bags around the world at any moment ready to be liquidated for $10?
4. The less stock they have for their products, the more room they have for their coke supply.

 

[gius]

This is a question to buyers/people working behind the scenes of brands/designers.
Iv been really curious lately of the process behind deliveries to stores.
Say in London there are 2 stockists of Jil Sander.One gets their shipment in at a certain time and the other store doesnt get theres until maybe a month later.
Dont they all place orders at the same time ?
Another thing is stores saying ''oh yeah,its been shipped should be here next week'' .. yet it probably doesnt show up for another 3 weeks..Is the process of delivering clothing in bulk a lot longer than regular mail ?
It seems when dealing with high end designers/labels the delivery process seems really erratic.

PS:Mods if this is the wrong forum move it,I thought about putting it into careers/education but it didnt seem to suit it.

We use a fast mail service so it gets to the destination within 3 or so days
And a lot of shipping gets stopped at customs so that's one of the main reasons for delay

 

[Prudence Pureheart]

Well, yeah, if you order international that's going to take time. Air freight is outrageously expensive.

 

[gius]

Nah it's also to do with what you're sending
Especially the States can be picky about what comes in. Has to do with the economy. For example, a lot of foreign fabrics get imported, it would threaten America's own fabric companies.. unemployment, companies shutting down, etc. especially if the foreign fabrics are cheaper.

We ship often from Canada to the States.

 

[dazzling85]

I know a buyer for a famous boutique in town who stocks ODL, CH, G Valli, Ellie Saab etc. As for Elie Saab she says that they have people who advice buyers on what to buy and quantity, when she buys ODL, she buys the dresses on a piece or buys two in different sizes so they are one off pieces.

Boutiques depending where get their stock before other places depending on the demand. If the demand is low then they get them abit later. Not all boutiques order the same stuff, depending on their clients size and taste thats what they order for. If not, then they wont sell.