Amy McNamara, head of operations at Boohoo has said that the retailer's approach to improving its supply chain-related processes started by "mapping the entire supply chain process end-to-end".

In 2021, the fast fashion brand came under fire after an independent review which found that there were “unacceptable” working conditions at some of its suppliers' facilities, including cramped factories that sometimes had no open fire escapes.

Speaking at the Retail Systems Show in London, McNamara encouraged retailers to “build in adaptability” when implementing supply chain transformation.

She also told them to accept that changes such as volume spikes will always happen.

The head of operations added that an agile approach to systems and processes can mitigate resource wastage while having a plan B further alleviates the pressure when unexpected occurrences arise throughout the supply chain.

“Keep interrogating the way in which you are doing things,” she advised. “From there, you can often realise efficiencies and eliminate areas where time and resources are effectively being wasted.”

While Boohoo did recently take the decision to spend £150 million on fully automating its Sheffield warehouse, McNamara hastened to add that such large investments are not consistently possible and that starting small, looking at what is cost-effective can lead to considerable efficiencies and this should be a priority.

“One good example is our deployment of automated picking vehicles in some of our warehouses,” she said. “Such implementations have become cheaper in recent years, and they are also adaptable; they can be brought in as volumes spike and then taken away as necessary.”

Visibility

Addressing the topic of visibility, McNamara again cited small actions which can help retailers understand where the pain points within their supply chain setup may be.

“Look at data that already exists,” she said. “We started with the likes of data from our carriers, and this has proven a lot more immediate and efficient than spending time on integrating systems across our existing supply chains to glean data.”

As an example, McNamara said that by looking at carrier data, Boohoo attained a better understanding of why and when more parcels were likely to be returned – such data, she said, that retailers have but often don’t take the time to look at, can offer up genuinely useful information that can be applied to the overall supply chain strategy.

The Retail Technology Show is taking place at Kensington Olympia, London on 26 and 27 April 2023.

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