Innovative Approach to Stockroom Storage from Avanta UK Helps AllSaints
17 August 2010
An inventive approach to stockroom storage taken by Avanta UK has helped one of the UK’s leading fashion retailers enhance the efficiency of its operation
An inventive approach to stockroom storage taken by Avanta UK has helped one of the UK’s leading High Street fashion retailers enhance the efficiency of its retail operation. The project, undertaken for AllSaints in a number of the company’s stores nationwide, has addressed a key requirement which many in the retail sector will recognise – how to maximise storage capacity in often very limited or constrained areas. To date the programme has seen the Avanta approach produce a remarkable average increase in capacity per store of some 174%. Two key factors have contributed to the stockroom solution with the resultant benefits now being enjoyed in a number of AllSaints outlets. The installations have centred on use of the ‘Just’ shelving range that not only offers simple, versatile construction, but also provides a choice of standard or heavy duty shelving as well as a dedicated garment hanging option. Importantly, each location is now also gaining from the dramatic space saving advantages that arise from shelving installed in a ‘mobile’ configuration which, as Andrew Chipp, Sales Director at Avanta UK explains, has been further enhanced by highly innovative thinking – “The ability of mobile shelving to maximise capacity within a given footprint is well understood,” he says. “Because it only requires one access aisle to be open at a time, the remainder of the mobile shelving facility can remain in a closed position, thus maximising the density of the ‘storage cube’. However, with garment hanging, there can be a risk that, where products overhang the edge of the bay, tangling could occur – which is not only inconvenient but, far worse, could lead to product damage. “Our designers have addressed this by incorporating a simple buffer mechanism on each mobile base that prevents aisles from being completely closed while still providing sufficient benefit from the mobile shelving concept,” he continues. “It is a simple approach but one which we believe has played a central role in enabling AllSaints to address a key storage issue, and one which is becoming increasingly significant across the organisation.” It is the success of the AllSaints operation in the last two or three years – both in the UK and internationally – that has seen greater demand placed on stockholding at each of its store locations around the country – the range of shoes alone, for example, has seen a 40% increase over the period. The highly competitive nature of the industry means that access to a range of product sizes and choices on site is clearly vital, and it is this need that the approach taken by Avanta has addressed head on. Andrew Chipp also adds emphasis to the suitability of the ‘Just’ shelving concept in this type of application – “Its simple tap together and highly adjustable design offers unrestricted access to both sides of each shelving run – very useful in a mobile configuration such as at the AllSaints sites. With beams simply slotted into the uprights, the structure can hold either chipboard shelves or can be fitted with the purpose-designed garment hanging system – both of which we have used extensively as part of the AllSaints project. “We are delighted that a highly respected and growing retail organisation such as AllSaints has been able to gain from our system,” he adds. “We are confident that everybody involved in the clothing retail industry will recognise the issues that have been addressed and the benefits that are now being enjoyed by the product used and the Avanta solution.”
