Global Clothing Company AS Colour Rolled Out New eCommerce Solution During NZ Lockdown-PR Newswire APAC

SYDNEY, Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite being caught in the grips of a global pandemic, global clothing designer and manufacturer AS Colour ^[1] was the first company ever to implement Manhattan Associates ^[2]' Warehouse Management Solution (WMS) remotely under COVID-19 lockdown.

AS Colour Fitzroy Melbourne store

AS Colour's Auckland distribution centre (DC), was unable to operate during New Zealand's level 4 lockdown from March 25 to April 26, 2020. However, along with other retailers across the globe, AS Colour experienced a huge spike in online orders during this time. This motivated the company to push forward with its plan to roll out the Manhattan SCALE ^[3] WMS, as it would ultimately help them to better manage eCommerce orders in the future once restrictions eased.

"After we were forced into lockdown, more people were heading for the eCommerce space to buy goods. But, with many lines of distribution brought to a halt in New Zealand, we saw an overflow of orders once restrictions eased, which put a lot of pressure on our DC to catch up," said Lawrence Railton, Managing Director and Founder of AS Colour. "This fluctuation in eCommerce demand is exactly the type of situation that drew us to implement Manhattan's WMS technology in the first place, as it would prepare us for any future shifts in the market."

"We wanted our warehouse system to have the flexibility and agility necessary to adapt and grow alongside our business, which was the defining factor in choosing Manhattan for this project. When rolling out the new system, we really had to use remote working to our advantage, which in the end allowed us to launch the new system two weeks ahead of schedule and save plenty of money on travel and overheads in the process. Even under remote conditions, Manhattan's expertise, motivation, and ongoing support ensured that the project was running smoothly, and that any issues were resolved quickly and efficiently," added Lawrence.

In lieu of the usual in person deployment processes, AS Colour worked remotely with Manhattan Associates to successfully design, implement and deploy the Manhattan SCALE WMS. Manhattan SCALE is an advanced system designed to optimise operations by boosting warehouse productivity and employee engagement, as well as meeting changes in demand across all types of distribution including eCommerce.

"We were thrilled to see how well this project turned out for AS Colour, which is reflective of their decision to prioritise business innovation even during a pandemic," said Raghav Sibal, Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand for Manhattan Associates. "The ever-changing nature of eCommerce and consumer demands means that businesses need to have agility and scalability built into their systems and processes in order to seize new opportunities while still maintaining operational efficiencies. This is something our WMS works to achieve by being designed to meet consumer demands now and into the future."

With four other DCs globally, AS Colour plans to implement Manhattan SCALE to all other facilities in the future, the first being its new 18,000 square metre facility in Melbourne, which is set to go live and begin receiving inventory by mid-October, 2020.

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Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200825/2896248-1?lang=0 ^[6]

About AS Colour

AS Colour designs and manufactures quality basics aimed at consumers, wholesalers, and fashion retailers. We believe in taking our time with every product we make. We only design and produce premium apparel that will stand the test of time. For more information, please visit https://www.ascolour.com.au/^[7]

About Manhattan Associates

Manhattan Associates makes commerce-ready supply chains that bring all points of commerce together so you're ready to sell and ready to execute. Across the store, through your network or from your fulfilment centre, we design, build and deliver market-leading solutions that support both top-line growth and bottom-line profitability. By converging front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution, our software, platform technology and unmatched experience help our customers get commerce ready—and ready to reap the rewards of the omni-channel marketplace. For more information, please visit http://www.manh.com/en-au ^[8].