Department store chain Belk thrives during the pandemic aided by ship-from-store capabilities supported by Logistyx Technologies

US department store Belk thrived as e-commerce orders surged during the pandemic by having ship-from-store order fulfilment facilities already in place across its 291 store locations with the help of parcel shipping software from Logistyx Technologies.

Belk, Inc., a private department store company with branches in 16 states, expanded its fulfilment options with ship-from-store functionality well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Logistyx TME, a Transportation Management System (TMS) for parcel shipping, was instrumental in providing the agility required to help Belk manage the shift in consumer shopping patterns, move its in-store inventory and provide greater omnichannel fulfilment capabilities.

Logistyx TME is a solution that provides stores with instant access to contracted carriers and services offering the best rates for each particular location. Seamlessly integrated with Manhattan Associates’ order management software, the solution supports multi-carrier rate shopping, shipment execution and label generation, real-time shipment tracking and delivery transparency.

Thanks to TME, Belk is able to use its stores as mini distribution centres without having to employ major process changes to get shipments to customers’ homes, a key advantage as the parcel count increased considerably due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When faced with carrier capacity limits, Logistyx helped Belk grow its carrier network by tapping into its library of more than 550 carrier integrations. This added greater capacity into Belk’s parcel delivery mix by introducing more options to use regional and speciality last-mile carriers, while also reducing transportation costs to provide a consistent level of service to customers.

To meet consumer demand driven by the growth in e-commerce, Belk has committed in recent years to investing in supply chain technology enhancements to better serve customers, including finding new methods to optimise fulfilment and shift more e-commerce delivery origins from distribution centres to stores. The Logistyx software also allowed Belk to:

- Meet increasing parcel shipping demands while controlling costs

- Streamline the pick, pack and ship process

- Improve efficiency and organisation around ship-from-store operations

- Decrease shipping time nationwide from its 291 store locations

Ken Fleming, President, Logistyx Technologies explained, “While simple in theory, executing store-level shipping presents considerable challenges for some retailers, including limited carrier selection and complex rate shopping. Our software is able to address these issues, providing retailers with the ability to move inventory from all locations whether in distribution centres, warehouses or stores and optimise delivery cost and efficiency to improve the customer experience.”