Success story Travelbags

Conduct an online search for travel luggage, a school bag or a work bag, chances are that you will end up with Travelbags. The company from Hardenberg has been in existence for 12.5 years and has worked hard on specializing in its field ever since the company was founded.

Another peak in sales was waiting to happen for the summer, when Corona put a stop to it. So Travelbags then decided to optimize a number of operational and financial processes. We spoke with Niels Veltman, Business Controller and part of the Travelbags management team. Read on and discover how Travelbags started working with Optiply and increased its service levels within weeks.

The Challenges of Corona

Travelbags is always innovating and optimizing. This was accelerated due to the impact of the Coronavirus. Niels explains: “Normally, the second quarter brings our first annual peak in sales, mainly in the field of travel luggage. However, this became a completely different situation due to the consequences of the Coronavirus ”.

In March and April a lot of work was done on an adjusted working capital for Travelbags: suitable stock levels due to lower market demand. Internally, guidelines and working methods in this area have been streamlined. n addition, we have been looking for objective and smart tools to determine stock levels for each individual product. Until recently, Travelbags buyers ordered daily on the basis of sales data, internally set up supplier and product assessments, a forecast at brand level and the gut feeling of the relevant buyer. “For that gut feeling in particular, there had been a need for objective standards for a long time, and that had to change,” says Niels.

Solutions from Optiply

To meet these challenges, Travelbags started its search for a suitable solution. Niels explains: “We first sought advice from a number of parties in the industry, and eventually Optiply emerged. The functionalities most closely matched our needs. In addition, the Optiply package provides us with functional and detailed information, but not too much to be totally overwhelmed”.

After an agreement was reached, the implementation was a quick switch. The integration with the Picqer logistics system was completed within minutes and the entire environment was up and running within a few days. This allowed Travelbags to make a flying start with Optiply. “The process went quite smoothly, and we were very satisfied with that. In the beginning it was mainly a matter of gaining confidence in the system. After a call with Optiply in which we received tailor-made advice, it was clear how we could get the most out of the system. Moreover, it soon became clear on the dashboard that Optiply immediately added value ”says Niels.

Better product availability with less stock

The effects of Optiply were clearly visible within two months. Service is of paramount importance at Travelbags and the Service level has already increased by 20% within a few weeks. Where the service levels have increased, the stock value (£) has decreased by more than 22%.

Niels explains: “We really have the feeling that good things will come out of this, especially with the advice of Optiply. We are already seeing the effects of Optiply, which gives confidence and motivation to continue this upward trend. In addition, it is in line with our strategic choices, as we still believe the most important factor is our service levels. It is great that we now have an objective tool to measure and optimize this. Stocks are now classified in categories A, B or C based on basic data such as sales and margin realization. We are able to get items in category B or C to category A (best category), which ultimately impacts our performance and service of the company ”.