We led an accelerated savings delivery programme for Studio Retail Limited, streamlining their procurement and supply chain function, and revolutionising their performance, quality and cost savings.
Rising costs and unpredictable supply chains
Studio Retail Limited is a multi-channel retailer offering home shopping services through a combination of direct catalogue marketing and online shopping. When Covid-19 hit, the increased demand for online goods, combined with a shortage of drivers and higher delivery costs for certain suppliers proved to be a real challenge for the organisation. Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic and resulting instability of markets, a data-driven solution was needed to uncover better insights that would enable the group to work more efficiently and strategically.
Maximising potential through advanced analytics
Studio was looking for an integrated solution built on Microsoft’s business analytics Power BI software which was specifically tailored to their needs, and could ultimately be managed by themselves on an ongoing basis. As a result of our consultation and collaboration, we:
- developed and incorporated customised management information (MI) dashboards specific to the requirements of their business
- extracted, cleansed and categorised their invoice data using our unique in-house spend categorisation tool
- simplified and standardised supplier names for improved identification purposes
- reviewed and cleansed contracts, registers and workplans, mapping these against spend to gain a complete picture of procurement activity
- ensured that all improvements would allow for self-management and independence for Studio’s future.
Delivering cost savings and informed decision-making
Since the completion of the project, our dashboards have enabled Studio to make better business decisions by providing full visibility across their procurement and supply chain functions. Critically, these insights have enabled the identification of clear savings opportunities, specifically across IT, marketing and logistics. In fact, by the summer of 2022, our service had ensured a savings delivery of more than £4m for the organisation.
Streamlining operational and compliance processes
As part of our service, we implemented several governance rules to guide Studio in their daily operations, manage risks and deliver on their quality and financial objectives. Following the incorporation of our procurement strategy and policy, we were able to deliver training and support them in transitioning to a new operational governance. This has helped to create stability for the business, as well as the future security of the group.
Our analytics team also identified a need to change their system usage, so we embedded new systems to drive compliance to policy and generate MI for better performance management. As a result, compliance is now closely monitored and continues to improve.
Discussing how our services have transformed their operating model, Studio Retail commented: “By harnessing the latest technology and putting in place robust processes for the team to continue using, we’re looking forward to a more effective and efficient procurement function with the confidence that we’re achieving best value in our buying decisions.”
Find out how we can help transform your procurement processes:
