Episode 64:
The importance of digitalisation within retail supply chain

Alex Hersham:
Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Freight To the Point. I’m Alex Hersham, and today I’m joined by Greg Tress, logistics operations manager at MATCHES. At Zencargo, we pride ourselves as a digital freight forwarder, but what does that mean? I get this question all the time. And more importantly, what does a good digital freight forwarder look like? And who better to join me than Greg, who joined MATCHES over two years ago and has helped the company set up the foundations for its inbound supply chain and has since moved on to grow his remit including inbound warehousing, compliance functions and more. Welcome, Greg. Maybe you want to give a quick intro on yourself.

Greg Tress:
Thanks Alex, and firstly, thanks for having me on the podcast this morning. To just introduce myself, so I’m Greg Tress, Logistics Operations Manager at MATCHESFASHION. I’ve been here for just over two years now, starting in mainly the inbound function, but growing into the other areas of the business, what you mentioned earlier. And yeah, digitalisation in a supply chain is something that’s been highly recognised to me over these two and a half years, so I’m looking forward to a conversation today.

Alex Hersham:
And a bit on your background before that, because you were in a role that’s really close to my heart, account management, but the operational element of account management. Maybe just touch on that for a second.

Greg Tress:
Yeah, of course. Yeah, so previous to my days at MATCHES, I was on the other side of the fence, a 3PL sitting in the account management team on a large European retailer who are based in the US but had a large European presence, so freight has always been something my career has been based around.

Alex Hersham:
Fantastic. You’ve seen different organisations on the freight forwarding side, both as a employee there, but now working with them, you’ve seen different organisations in terms of how they manage their supply chain, so let’s jump right into the topic of digital freight forwarding. Maybe you can explain to the audience what digital freight forwarding is and how it differs from more traditional forwarding.

Greg Tress:
Yeah, sure. Current digitalisation for me within a supply chain is the autonomy and visibility piece of a supply chain, so having that digitalisation gives a retailer a platform to essentially see their shipments from end-to-end, which drives a whole heap of benefits from data, which is really important, but also to give them an online presence of ease of access to data and to shipment locations.

Alex Hersham:
And when you first joined MATCHES, maybe paint a bit of a picture for what the supply chain looked like back then.

Greg Tress:
Yeah, of course. When I first joined MATCHES, we had a very much DAP client base, so the majority of our supply chain was built up of brands delivering to our UK facility, and as I joined in the January of Brexit, straight on the line of Brexit, which was an interesting learning curve-

Alex Hersham:
Fun times.

Greg Tress:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the business was going through a change of changing a lot of them brands through to XWorks and that obviously gave us a whole heap of control, so one of the first things that we did was we went out to market to have a look at what are forwarders doing at the minute, what are they doing differently to what the DAP forwarders are doing and how can we excel ourselves ahead of the competition in terms of getting in a strong supplier network? We probably hosted 30 to 40 different 3PLs and muddled them down to the final 10, and one of the real key things that we were looking for from them carriers was end-to-end visibility, online platform, online booking tools, data, as much data as we could possibly ask for, because ultimately businesses need to be making strong supply chain decisions based off strong data.

And they were the kind of things that we were looking for, so moving away from the traditional freight forwarding of paper files and paper folders, we wanted to go to the online track and trace, full paperless inbound process, but also given our customers, almost the suppliers, giving them an opportunity to get a real customer feel of how do they book on the platform, how do they use the systems and integrations. And that integrated with our own vendor platform, which we can touch on, really helped create that digital supply chain.

Alex Hersham:
I didn’t realise you met as many as 30 to 40 players. That must’ve been quite tiring, to be honest, to meet so many, but that’s a real landscape that you got to see.

Greg Tress:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so certainly coming from a background of only working for one business beforehand, as soon as I hit the ground at MATCHES, it was, “Right, let’s get out and let’s get meeting people.” Of course that was during COVID as well, so everything was online, everything was Zoom calls, phone calls. There was no face-to-face, which for me, relationships are really important in terms of my style. Doing that via Zoom was certainly a challenge.

Alex Hersham:
It’s a challenge, yeah. And actually you came from a really strong organisation, it’s got a really deep history in upstream visibility and order management, so going wide and seeing many I’m sure was very interesting.

Greg Tress:
Yeah.

Alex Hersham:
You mentioned there in terms of digitisation, you mentioned a few things that are really interesting. You mentioned everything needs to be digital just purely for digital sake, you mentioned the access to data, you mentioned the UK/EU trade agreements around the time of Brexit. You mentioned being able to look at that data, but you also mentioned treating your suppliers like customers and trying to be incredibly easy to do business from their perspective as you’re making this DAP to XWorks or FOB transition depending on supplier. What of those were super important for you? What of those were nice to have? And then thinking about the journey of looking at players versus now the journey of working with some players, what have you found to be some of those interesting learnings?

Greg Tress:
Yeah, sure. I think as we know, MATCHESFASHION is a luxury brand and we like to pride ourselves on creating a luxury supply chain, so to create a luxury supply chain starts right at the start, so inbound is crucial to that and to making a slick and efficient supply chain starts right at the beginning. We wanted to make sure that we had a best-in-class setup and that came from right at the start when the vendors are making bookings. If we can make that process as smooth as possible, that gets us off to a good start by having, again, an online platform they can go in and book the shipments or having that one-to-one relationship with the origin offices to make sure that the vendors get that smooth transition of getting their shipments collected.

That really gave us a really positive foothold, certainly in the latter stages of the Brexit first year, because it just eases it. And then relationships are really critical to our growth and to MATCHES entirely, so if we make sure that we treat them with a lot of respect and giving them a really solid collection base, that then really helps us in terms of moving that forward, not just through the inbound supply chain, but also through the rest of the business, ultimately delivering to our customers, which are the most important.

Alex Hersham:
Yeah, 100%. I think there’s quite a few businesses, let’s call them omni-channel businesses that have mix of own inventory and sometimes even partner inventory, which maybe isn’t exactly the same for MATCHES, but there’s some comparables there, where I hear this over and over again, treating our suppliers like partners, and incredibly easy to do business with them is actually a key ingredient to the success of that business, so that’s really cool. You were doing this, you met 30, you whittled it down to 10, you probably had a scoring mechanism. What were some of those things that you thought about? What were the qualifications requirements that you looked at when thinking about which partner to work with?

Greg Tress:
Well, absolutely. For me, I like to keep things really simple. I know in the freight world and certainly in the supply chain world things can get incredibly complex when you start looking at certain import channels, methods, forecasting. All that kind of stuff can add a whole heap of complexity to a supply chain, so for me, I thought let’s strip it right back to what we believe are the five key fundamentals of a supply chain and then we can build off that with our suppliers as part of that tender process. Just give you a couple of examples. Of course price is something that everyone is considering, but certainly in the more recent times, but when we’re looking at the actual supply chain piece, we’re looking at quality, so in terms of quality of the freight, making sure our freight’s moving secure. Fast. Of course speed to market’s really important, but one of the things that we really keyed ourselves on was visibility, so making sure that we had that end-to-end full milestone availability, that’s what gives almost the leading edge to what we do, but how we manage that data then can then support that.

When we’re looking at further upstream, like now we’re in a place of how we’re operating now, looking at opportunities and what can we do better, quicker, cheaper, having strong data really, really accesses that. We’ve now got two years of really, really positive data. The one shows the progress we’ve made, which is fantastic, but also gives us leverage to say, “Right, what can we do better? What can we do sooner? What can we do with consolidating?” All that kind of stuff. Having that really strong data, that really gives a great case for our business cases we send into our exec to push through some really positive change.

Alex Hersham:
That’s fantastic. I want to talk about that a bit more before we move on some other topics because you talked there a bit about a business case, actually using that data. I think I’ve always tried to say within Zencargo we’re not selling visibility, we’re not selling access to data. What we’re selling is a partnership that allows outcomes. I think that’s crucial and that’s a combination of technology and service, although I believe over time technology will play an increasingly predominant role in that which will elevate the service capabilities. But can you talk a little bit about that business case and how you’ve used some of that data to find opportunities or work with us or your other partner to find opportunities?

Greg Tress:
Yeah, absolutely. The account management side of our 3PL relationships is something that we make sure is solid as a rock. It’s really important that we have that strong foundation at relationship level so then we can have them open conversations on what’s working, what’s not working. I think 3PL account management works both ways, so as much as we hold you guys accountable for what you’re doing, there’s also that coming straight back to us, so if we’re not doing necessarily things that are going to benefit the supply chain, then we want to hear them. We always have these open regular MBRs, as everyone does, but also having that free two-way conversation to say, “Look, hey, what can we do better here?” And we give the freedom to our carriers to go away and say, “Look, you’ve got the data, go and have a play with it. Go and help us understand that data a bit better.” Because in that way then plenty of forwarders have come back with ideas based off the data that again can further enhance our supply chain.

Alex Hersham:
And have you found, when you were going through that process and you were thinking about data, you’re thinking about visibility, you’re thinking about supplier portal, how did you think about some of the other things that businesses like us position? Streamlined communication, document management, but also that one place to communicate to the network. Was that an important factor for you? Was that something that you’ve since grown to appreciate? Was that something that you really felt was going to be a huge and important part, the proforma world? How did you think about that?

Greg Tress:
Sure. I think the main priority for us was having that end-to-end visibility and then having a platform that not just us and the logistics team can access and manage, but also the wider MATCHES business. If the merchandisers need to find out where our shipment is, they can log into any of our carriers portals and find out where that is, or we can centralise that data and they can just use it for an internal platform to find that, to give that visibility. I think that internal communicator piece we’re yet to explore. I can see it works from a analytical brand 3PL triangular relationship, but I think myself personally, I haven’t dug into that too much, but I feel there’s loads of growth within that and I can see the benefits. Obviously talking to the team who deal with that day in, day out, it gives them a one point of contact, don’t have to worry about multiple inboxes. It’s just a singular point they can go into and they know it’s going to be picked up.

Alex Hersham:
I think the thing that you mentioned there though, that’s absolutely key and I want to double click on is how you work within your business better. Supply chain is complicated for a whole host of reasons, we all know them. One of the reasons obviously is that there’s so many external parties to coordinate, but a real challenge that I think sometimes isn’t appreciated enough or maybe is appreciated enough but not talked about enough is that challenge of coordinating internally. Because you have stakeholders internally that need that inventory, a merchandising manager, category manager, and all the way down to an individual item level, there’s a real need for intake to match demand and to be agile with that. And for me, if I was going to start a business on the consumer side, if I had a glutton for punishment because I know how difficult it is, if I was going to start that business, one of the key things I would really look at is how do we make sure that that demand team that sees what’s going on, that understands the trends and that supply team is working really closely together?

And sometimes they then peel that off and have a separate logistics business, which completely makes sense, but then you have multiple teams trying to triangulate and I think pulling that together, putting logistics and merch really close, feeding back into buying, all working together, trying to make decisions that are right for the business on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, it’s super important and also massively empowered by technology. At least that’s my view. I’d love to hear yours, but that’s my view around that.

Greg Tress:
100%. Stakeholder management is something that again, is incredibly important to me personally. My style is all about relationships and building positive relationships with people internally, externally. Again, personal life, commercial life, so how we manage that is something that I’d like to build the foundation of my role within the business. Something that we did quite early on is made sure that we built them positive relationships with all the key stakeholders within the MATCHES team, and we do that by having open and transparent conversations, holding people accountable, but also there’s times where you need to go above and beyond to make things happen, but also setting the bar at what our expectations are and what our standards are of our supply chain. That’s something that’s really, really positive. Ultimately, they all build into trust, and I would like to say that we have a really… Again, me with my 3PL carriers, but then also with internal stakeholders, trust is something that is almost like the number one piece that we have, so when we say we’re going to do something, we go and deliver on it and we make sure that expectation is through the business.

And then if it’s something that’s not possible, then we’re upfront and we’re honest about it and say, “Look, that might not be possible, but have you thought about this?” And then that over time builds that rapport up within the business and then people know what’s come to you about, what they need your advice on. And again, it builds that really positive foundation, having that triangulation of relationships across the business, the internal stakeholders, 3PL carriers and the logistics team just builds that really solid base of being able to ultimately move shipments from A to B as quickly as possible for as cheap as possible.

Alex Hersham:
Yeah, and it’s funny how we went full circle there. It comes from ultimately what we’re trying to do is get stuff from A to B and make sure that we can then sell that inventory. Tool to doing that is having better visibility and a better way of working and a better single platform and an easier place for our suppliers and vendors to book through, but actually when it comes down to really building trust internally, is enabled by that, allows you to work closer, allows you to make some decisions sometimes where you accelerate inventory, sometimes where you decelerate, make decisions that are right for the business and it’s built on that foundational layer of trust, which comes from doing what you say you’re going to do, which in turn comes back through some of the technology and the account management. And I love that because it brings to life that supply chains are complex. It’s not tech by itself solving every problem, but it’s a really important foundational layer, can transform supply chains and to bring teams closer together.

Greg Tress:
Yeah, absolutely.

Alex Hersham:
And so looking back on that journey that you had, what you set out to do, who you met, how you ran a scoring mechanism, what you felt needed to be, and then now the improvements and the observations you’ve had since making those changes, what have you seen from the adoption of digital freight forwarding?

Greg Tress:
Yeah, I think for me, digital freight forwarding is the enabler for all of that because again, the digital freight forwarding gives the visibility, gives the data. Again, just supports that, being able to have that positive relationship with the stakeholders internally and externally. I think without that, without digitalisation within a supply chain, I’ve been quite fortunate that through my career I’ve always had an arm in digitalisation, but I can imagine pre the digital world of freight forwarding, I can imagine that account management side of things, that 3PL management side of things, that whole supply chain management would’ve been a whole different ball game in terms of how do you get that strong effective supply chain, but without the tools to give you the data for all them enablers that we’ve just spoke about.

Alex Hersham:
I need to have you on the show more if you’re going to talk about digital freight forwarding being an enabler for change. I so believe in that, and I’m really glad that you’re seeing that as well. Let’s look forward now a little bit, trends, what you see coming, because I still think we’re very early in this journey. We’re still chipping away. What do you see down the pipeline?

Greg Tress:
Yeah, 100%. I think the elephant in the room in this one is AI. I think that’s something that is starting to come through in conversation now in terms of how is AI going to change freight forwarding? How is that going to change supply chains? How’s that going to help us in customs, in actual physical movement shipments? I’m really interested to hear more and start digging into how that’s going to benefit. I think the next step in terms of the game changing side will be AI in customs because as we know, customs is very rigid, there’s lots of strict processes that we have to go through involved with good data and enabling that to ultimately move shipments through borders and utilising FTAs and all that kind of stuff, so how is AI going to help that and help that become much more streamlined and cost-effective?

Of course, there’s a lot of cost that goes into managing customs, so how can AI support that? Excited is probably a slight over enthusiasm, but I’m really interested to see how AI is going to come into supply chain world in the next, I don’t know, two, three years. It’s difficult to put a time on it, but we’re seeing the kind of work that ChatGPT does and how that works, so I don’t know. I’m really interested is probably the best way to put it, to see how things are going to change over the next couple of years certainly with AI.

Alex Hersham:
To have an AI strategy, you have to have a data strategy and businesses that have been built on foundations of good data model, understanding what’s going on, etc., can really now and accelerate, take advantage of it. I guess I’ll just leave you with my thoughts, which is that I don’t think we’re going to see one day to the next, but I think we’ll see one year to the next or two years to the next where things dramatically change, and I think our roles honestly will look very, very different by 2030. And I think they’ll be different in a good way. They’ll be different in a way where we’re enabled, where some things that feel a bit like arts, like, oh, we think we’re going to need this or we think that might happen, you’re able to streamline with data and better prediction and better forecasting.

I think it’s going to massively elevate businesses and hopefully the whole industry moves in that trend. I’m not necessarily seeing it as much yet, I’m seeing obviously businesses like ours push forward and others as well, but not the whole industry, but hopefully the whole industry does because I think the benefits from a consumer perspective, from a globalisation perspective, from an environmental perspective are going to be absolutely huge. But listen, totally agree that customs is a huge area in itself, which will be good for importers, good for lead times, good for the government, frankly, and a real case study in terms of how to leverage technology, how to leverage AI to make things better and to make lives better in general.

Greg Tress:
Sure, absolutely.

Alex Hersham:
Listen, I really enjoyed this convo. We’re running to time, so I just want to say thank you very much for joining us for another episode of Freight to the Point. Greg, thank you so much. I thought it was a really interesting conversation. Looking forward to having you back on over the next year or two and we can look at whether your customs prediction was right, but we can also look at that internal team building, that trust building, the outcomes you can drive for the business. I thought that was all fascinating and looking forward to learning more. If you’ve enjoyed this, please like or subscribe on Google, Spotify, etc., and if you have any questions for Greg or myself, just ping us a message over LinkedIn or email us at Zencargo. Greg, thank you so much. Thank you all very much indeed and see you all soon.