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Crafting Success
Realising a niche in the market for top quality storage for small pieces of craft equipment, Yvonne Cavalier designed a series of cases to hold small boxes, which would securely hold tiny craft items such as beads. This was a brand new product on the market offering a compact, organised, portable and space-saving alternative for storing craft materials.
In 2002, Yvonne set up The Craft Kit Company Limited to sell her products globally. The cases are sold directly to the customer via the internet, mail order and TV shopping channels, as well as to retailers and wholesalers across Europe, the US and Australia. The international craft market is huge, with the US worth in the region of $29bn (£15bn) and the UK some $1.7bn (£880m). With 75% of her sales coming from the US, Yvonne needed reliable logistics to deliver globally and handle the level of flexibility she required.
The logistics back end is frequently not considered early enough by many companies in development strategies, yet it is one of the factors most likely to suppress growth, brand image and customer satisfaction if poorly executed. Many organisations underestimate the cost of putting in place a global logistics network and fall down when it comes to actually getting the goods to the customer. Therefore, outsourcing logistics to third party firms with the scale and facilities to cope with demand is often vital in the early stages of a high growth enterprise.
Accordingly, in 2003, The Craft Kit Company partnered with logistics and fulfilment specialist Crossflight. With its track record in international and domestic courier services, its flexibility and best-cost routing, Crossflight was an appropriate partner. It could handle individual deliveries alongside the larger deliveries to wholesalers and retailers in a timely, tracked, and professional manner.
But Yvonne's needs did not stop there. She also needed brochures sending to customers and channel partners. And, as the organiser of the five largest bead fairs in the UK, she needed to distribute information to exhibitors and delegates. With its experience in Global Collateral Management services, which store brochures and other collateral and then deliver quantities on demand, she could assign this task to Crossflight as well.
Yvonne comments: "The delivery of my products needs care, attention and delicate handling so that packages arrive at their destination in pristine condition. Partnering with Crossflight proved early on to be a sensible commercial choice to fuel growth at The Craft Kit Company. Collateral management services mean that users like us can have our campaigns processed, and can ensure that resellers always have up-to-date sales support material, in manageable quantities."
In the overall logistics arrangement, Yvonne also decided to include picking up her product from the manufacturer in France and delivering them to her for assembling. "When the manufacturer was shipping the product to me, a percentage of cases would be broken on arrival. In this situation, neither the manufacturer nor their shipper would admit responsibility for the damage, and the affair was costing me money. With Crossflight now shipping them to me, every case arrives intact. That's the kind of responsible service I needed. I don't even have to worry about paperwork as they do it all for me", Yvonne adds.
"There is huge potential for Craft Kit Company products in other markets such as fly fishing, scrapbooking, stamp collecting, and sewing, so having a reliable and scaleable logistics operation provides the support we need to grow sales in these areas."
"Having a killer product is one thing. But if you cannot get it to your market and ensure customer satisfaction (both wholesale, retail and direct customers), then a business idea will fall flat on its face. Fulfilment is a cornerstone of our operation. Choosing the right logistics partner has been vital to our success, and will continue to be as we scale up into our full market opportunity in 2007 and beyond."
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