Fashion retailers Coast, Karen Millen, Oasis and Warehouse have awarded Ceva a ten year contract worth £261m ($400m) to provide warehousing, store deliveries, e-commerce fulfilment, international distribution and 4PL services.
Ceva will manage a newly-acquired 25,000 sq m shared-user facility in Oxfordshire, handling around 20 million units a year across 30,000 SKUs. The site, which employs 330 people, is semi-automated, and handles the processing and storage of hanging and boxed garments, as well as fashion accessories.
The site operates on four floors, and will serve the four brands’ 752 stores and concessions in the UK, and 29 international markets across Europe, Middle East, Russia, Far East and Latin America. Ceva will handle all relevant Customs clearance activity as well as having 4PL responsibility in North America and Hong Kong.
Ceva will also manage reverse logistics activity and customer returns for the four brands, and carry out essential end of season de-stocking activity.
The four brands were all part of the Aurora group which has been going through a complex restructuring process. They now form three stand-alone businesses: Oasis and Warehouse; Coast; and Karen Millen.
Andrew Skinner, managing director of Coast said: “We’re looking forward to reaping the benefits of partnering with Ceva to innovate and progress our supply chain performance.”
Andy Ware, CFO of Karen Millen said: “I’m confident that through use Ceva’s domestic and international networks we’ll see a real advancement in our ability to reach and serve our expanding consumer base in both our emerging and developed marketplaces.”
Sanam Soufipour, CFO of Oasis and Warehouse said: “With Ceva’s culture of operations excellence and quality management expertise, we’re in no doubt that the team will manage a smooth transition ahead of peak season as well as optimise the overall performance of our supply chain operations.”
Ceva, will co-ordinate around one million orders a year for the four brands, as well as an eBay sales and fulfilment operation for Warehouse’s end of season stock.
