We all know that a seamless logistics operation is crucial when it comes to delivering an excellent customer experience. But as a growing fashion and lifestyle business, it can be a headache to make sure your logistics can keep pace with growing volumes. What you need is a fulfilment solution that saves time, offers optimised costs, and gives customers the exceptional service that will keep them coming back for more…
A FastTrack to growth
FastTrack is a standardised package of warehousing and transportation solutions designed specifically for small and medium-sized fashion and lifestyle brands. Quick to implement, and offering a fully integrated end-to-end solution, FastTrack is your partner for agile and low-cost logistics, putting your business in the express lane for streamlined growth!
FastTrack’s all-in-one, “plug-and-play” logistics solution helps you hit the ground running with a modular toolbox of expert Bleckmann solutions. And because you only pay for what you need, it’s more cost-efficient and lower-risk than starting up and running your own logistics solution – with no major initial outlays required! It’s also fully scalable, flexing to meet your brand’s growth needs. And you’ll always benefit from the best of our in-depth expertise, exactly when and where you need it.
“While some companies in the industry predominantly focus on finding customers for the services they already offer, at Bleckmann, we do it the other way round: The FastTrack solution is built on defining how we can become a truly valuable and value-adding partner to our customers.”
- Erik Janssen Steenberg, Business Development Manager at Bleckmann Logistics
So, when you need an expert third-party logistics (3PL) partner in your corner to support your business’s growth ambitions, Bleckmann is ready to step up and deliver. And we can even set up your entire solution in as little as five weeks after the initial consultation! So, read on to discover what Bleckmann FastTrack can offer you.
Why choose FastTrack?
Thanks to Bleckmann’s expertise in omnichannel fashion and lifestyle logistics, you’ll be in safe hands from the word go with FastTrack. Specially tailored for growing fashion and lifestyle brands with an e-commerce-focused or omnichannel business model, FastTrack offers you a proven solution for all your logistics operations: from inbound to storage and inventory management, and fulfilment to returns.
Alongside the standard FastTrack solution, we can also offer an array of value-added services like packaging, quality checking, reconditioning, personalisation and more.
Omnichannel fulfilment with Bleckmann FastTrack
Bleckmann FastTrack offers you a scalable, modular, and proven omnichannel logistics solution that flexes to meet the needs of your business. We’ll put our decades of in-depth knowledge and experience at your disposal to deliver exceptional customer satisfaction, growing to meet the needs of your brand with our agile test-and-learn capabilities.
Building on our strong record of e-commerce excellence, Bleckmann FastTrack allows you to deal with whatever the market throws at you with ease – offering low implementation costs, reliable, no-maintenance operations, and a fully transactional model, meaning you only pay for the services you need and use.
The solution is ideally suited to the specific requirements of fashion and lifestyle logistics, so there are no limits to how far your ambition can take you!
With FastTrack, you’re on the right track
How does Bleckmann FastTrack work?
Getting started with Bleckmann FastTrack couldn’t be easier! Once we’ve had an initial consultation with you to work out your needs, we can typically get your Bleckmann logistics solution up and running within five weeks! So, all you have to do is tell us your logistics needs and we’ll handle the rest.
We kick off the process with an onboarding session so we can get to know your business and introduce you to Bleckmann’s complete range of logistics capabilities. These include, among others, fulfilment, worldwide carrier solutions, real-time data reporting and full end-to-end visibility, as well as our one-stop-shop integrated returns portal.
Project lead times
Once we’ve got all the information we need, we’ll get started on preparing your FastTrack solution. This typically takes up to two weeks and includes solution verification and validation, followed by pricing and approval of the proposed solution. We’ll then take you through our recommendations step-by-step and, following any necessary adjustments, we’ll move forward with the implementation stage.
This phase will include securing warehouse capacity, setting you up with the correct IT solutions for your needs, and connecting you to our global network of Local Hero carriers. This stage of the process can take between two and four weeks, depending on the scale of the operations required.
Finally, it’s time for the go-live! We’ve had decades of experience in first-time-right implementation, so you can be sure you’re offering your customers the best possible service from day one! We’ll monitor operations closely for one week after the go-live date to ensure everything is running smoothly and that your customers are always getting the excellent service they demand.
We’ll then continue to maintain short lines of communication with your Operations team to give you complete oversight and check if you need more support.
“FastTrack takes the pressure off growing companies, so they don’t have to worry about the enormous list of choices to be made, volumes to be picked, packed and shipped and all the customer support that comes with running your own logistics operation. Instead, FastTrack allows you to focus on building your brand and growing your business, while we take care of delivering on your promises to customers.”
- Erik Janssen Steenberg, Business Development Manager at Bleckmann Logistics
FastTrack’s advanced key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring gives you full visibility and real-time data reporting so you can see exactly where your spend is going. Our metrics include inventory, processing times and delivery performance – allowing you to optimise the solution according to your requirements.
Optimal IT solutions for “plug-and-play” connectivity
As well as offering flexible warehouse space and optimised carrier solutions, Bleckmann knows that a key part of a successful logistics operation is a sturdy backbone of IT systems to support your operations.
And thanks to our integrated warehouse management system (WMS), there’s no need to worry about lengthy optimisation or integration processes. That’s why we offer an intuitive range of standard IT solutions that ensure we can get you set up as quickly as possible with maximum efficiency, requiring less testing for a much faster setup.
With our experience implementing integrated IT solutions for our clients over the years, we offer out-of-the-box connectivity with several of the most popular e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Patchworks, Itsperfect, and Zedonk. We also offer in-depth, real-time tracking of volumes as standard, for effective 24/7 visibility of your logistics operation.
To ensure seamless integration and data flow between Bleckmann and our clients’ systems, we use a solution that’s known as “integration platform as a service” (iPaaS). This provides flawless data integration between Bleckmann’s internal systems and enables a streamlined data flow.
To achieve this, we offer three options for IT interface integration: 1) API, 2) XML format connectivity, and 3) Manual data transfer.
| Option | Description |
| API | An application programming interface (API) enables the sharing of data between two digital platforms. For instance, it would allow data (catalogue content, order management, pricing information and customer data) from an e-commerce platform like Shopify to be used by other applications, such as Bleckmann’s Warehouse Management system (WMS). This facilitates seamless integration between customer purchase data and logistics provision – ensuring that as soon as a customer clicks “buy” on your web store, the correct logistics resources will be allocated instantly by Bleckmann’s smart automated systems. What’s great about the API option is that it allows you to hit the ground running thanks to our fast, standard API integration process between your front-end systems and Bleckmann’s own platform. So, there’s no need to worry about managing the flow of orders, because it’s all done automatically! |
| XML format connectivity | A standard XML interface between your systems and Bleckmann’s WMS, enabling a straightforward and cost-effective solution with no additional IT development required. Conversion of your data is carried out by our middleware message broker tools (Boomi). File transfer of messages is facilitated using several advanced protocols. |
| Manual data transfer | Manual transfer of order data into the Bleckmann WMS is also possible, but we charge a manual handling fee for this option. We would only recommend this if the other two options are not possible. |
“Our key goal with the Bleckmann FastTrack offering is to take the stress of handling logistics operations away from SMEs so they can fully focus on business growth. When you come to Bleckmann, you can be sure that the logistics behind your brand is in experienced, capable and collaborative hands.”
- Erik Janssen Steenberg, Business Development Manager at Bleckmann Logistics
Tailored flexibility for optimised business growth
FastTrack is focused on giving you the flexible, intelligent operational capacity you need so you can fully focus on taking care of your business and your people. It offers you the ideal solution for developing your omnichannel business model without the stress of running your own logistics operation.
With complete, data-enabled oversight of all processes, parties and goods from one simple “control room”, you’ll be in the perfect position to focus on growing sales. Our data-optimised solution allows you to effectively manage all aspects of your logistics operation. So, you always get products to customers on time, in perfect condition.
Our innovative solution allows you to seamlessly manage your stock and returns, always deliver on time, and – most importantly – always meet and exceed your customers’ expectations.
In short, FastTrack is for businesses that are ready to take their implementation and logistics to the next level, without next-level costs. Get in contact with Bleckmann today to discuss your business’s needs and discover how FastTrack can help you.
“Without losing the flexibility to fine-tune our customer’s fulfilment operation to their most specific needs, we leverage our standardised and road-tested solution to minimise development and implementation costs and lead times.”
Erik Janssen Steenberg, Business Development Manager at Bleckmann
