Firm helps customers cut costs and control inventory
As soon as JC Penney's non-iron shirts and washable-wool trousers come off the sewing machines at TAL Apparel factories in Dongguan, some of the company's 6,000 workers get them ready for store racks in the United States without going through time-consuming unpacking and repacking logistics after they leave the factory gates.
Another team of workers keeps close track on client inventories for prompt replenishment while helping them forecast demand and orders in the coming seasons.
These are part of the supply chain management services TAL initiated about 10 years ago aiming to help clients cut costs and manage inventory amid fickle demand in the US, where it supplies every one in six dress shirts sold for more than US$50.
Offering what the 60-year-old garment maker called 'value-added' services is a crucial strategy, which not only helps some clients lower inventory by as much as 36 per cent and grow sales by up to 19 per cent but also allows the firm to retain clients and spur sales.
'Clients were sceptical about this idea in the beginning because they have to pass their trading data and merchandising power on to us,' said TAL director Roger Lee, the third generation of the Lee family that founded the group in 1947.