Ship from Store: Getting Products to Online Shoppers Faster and More Effectively
The Exchange is revolutionizing the way it delivers shopmyexchange.com orders to service members and their families.
Under the Ship from Store program, brick-and-mortar Exchanges fulfill online orders. This means items that were once only available in-store can be ordered at shopmyexchange.com, expanding the Exchange’s online product assortment by 20 percent.
“Ship from Store allows us to bring hundreds of new prestige cosmetics to customers on shopmyexchange.com from name brands such as Estée Lauder, Shiseido and Lancôme,” said Sandie Egger, prestige cosmetics senior buyer.
Getting assortment consistent
Other new categories the program will enable the Exchange to carry household, diapers, pet, baby, cleaning, and health and beauty care items online.
“We’re working to get our online assortment consistent with what the stores are carrying,” said Kye Corn, divisional merchandise manager for health and beauty care.
The effort saves the Exchange unnecessary freight costs, allowing us to retain more dividends to fund military Quality-of-Life programs such as Army Child Development Centers, Youth Services and fitness centers, Air Force Outdoor Recreation services and other programs critical to force readiness and resiliency.
“From a business standpoint, Ship from Store can increase a store’s profits and work-force productivity, using participating stores’ existing labor forces to turn a larger number of products in each given sales day.”
—David Lemons, vice president, eCommerce Merchandising
and Operations
The Ship from Store program is active at 14 stores; by September, the program will be expanded to more than 50. Locations are spread throughout the continental United States, meaning CONUS customers living long distances from distribution centers and in geographically isolated locations will see shorter delivery times of two to three days for small packages. These shorter times also mean less potential for damage to be incurred by the carrier.
Allowing stores to sell inventory online means slow-moving items that otherwise may have been taken out of the assortment can now justifiably be kept on shelves, benefitting both online and brick-and-mortar customers, said David Lemons, vice president of eCommerce Merchandising and Operations.
“From a business standpoint, Ship from Store can increase a store’s profits and workforce productivity, using participating stores’ existing labor forces to turn a larger number of products in each given sales day,” he said. “These additional sales also speed up inventory turnover, meaning fewer items stagnate on shelves only to be written off as losses.”
