Drawing on a broader portfolio

The iForce CEO took over last summer, just after Eddie Stobart acquired The Pallet Network (TPN). iForce was acquired by Eddie Stobart in April 2017. 

iForce has long had a respected position as a fulfilment expert to UK retail. This has been reinforced recently by Aldi offering a new contract to the firm, which will extend the use of its online platform for non-food products. Aldi has been working with iForce since 2015.

The onus is now on using Eddie Stobart’s broader logistics capabilities to help build a more end to end supply chain offering, so that iForce customers, can take advantage of, say, the full-truck haulage offered by Eddie Stobart or the fast-growing one to six pallet module catered for by TPN.

“I spent 20 years with Norbert Dentressangle and since 2006, I have been involved in company integrations. What is important, is that you must have respect for the legacy and what you have acquired. You don’t change the DNA, you improve the DNA,” says Sebastien.

At iForce, Sebastien sees cross-fertilisation as key, combining the eCommerce expertise of iForce with Eddie Stobart’s wider capability, which includes a 9 million sq ft property portfolio and its own temporary labour agency – Logistics People.

iForce itself has nine sites in the golden triangle to provide the capacity needed by the market. The sites are close to the hubs of the major carriers, so they are in the most efficient location to push parcels to the carrier hubs and onwards to the consumer.

“You also need a simple, clear strategy,” Sebastien explains. “For iForce we need to leverage the benefits of being part of a wider group, for example on warehouse property. Scarcity of land is an issue, and retailers that work with us don’t have to worry about securing additional warehouse space.”

Another benefit of being part of a larger group has been the opportunity to expand abroad. iForce won its first deal in mainland Europe recently with a sports brand, and this came about due to cross-selling opportunities as part of Eddie Stobart.

End-to-end fulfillment

While Eddie Stobart seeks to offer end-to-end logistics, iForce has long focused on an end-to-end approach to fulfillment with delivery, carrier management, and returns all part of the capability. The Aldi contract illustrates much of this capability.

iForce was originally chosen by Aldi in 2015 to support the launch of its eCommerce platform for non-food special buys and wine products, an offering which is now being extended.

Operating out of the Corby campus sites, iForce provides Aldi with iForce Gateway – the fulfilment service powered by its proprietary software, SMART. iForce designed a bespoke fulfilment model for Aldi, due to its proposition of bi-weekly product launches. Aldi also operates iForce Pathfinder, the company’s carrier management solution that is supported by the Route Genie software. This ensures the retailer can pick and choose among carrier options according to price and service criteria.

Peak

Deep expertise and broad capability helps iForce during Peak periods. The firm has 1,200 permanent staff, and for Peak adds up to 2,500 agency workers.

Sebastien explains: “The scalability is 1:13, we need to be able to manage 13 times more volume during Peak. In March we start to prepare for Peak, working closely with clients on forecast, to predict volume and order profile. As we have years of experience and data, and are so intrinsically linked with clients, we can produce a formidable model, based on core workforce, additional agency workers on long term contracts, then flex with ad-hoc agency.

“At the same time customers are growing fast, so you are always on a rolling forecast. It’s about sharing data. We plan, we do, we review. Our customer profile is diverse, from John Lewis to Aldi. We have, therefore, unique expertise in managing complexity.”

As mentioned earlier, Eddie Stobart has Logistics People, its own agency labour firm, which adds resilience to the model and helps to deliver Peak.

“The aim is to be better on sourcing people, and better on retention rate. We are more in control of labour, but we are using some external providers. With these resources at our disposal and with our long history in fulfillment we expect this will be a significant year of growth.”