FILA Australia's e-commerce sales volume was growing fast. Just like a lot of merchants here in Australia, FILA operates a central warehouse (3PL) from where all orders are dispatched. For a large portion of those orders, that warehouse is located quite far from the end customer which creates long delivery delays, alongside the fact that 3PL providers can also take some time to pack orders.

However, FILA has stores all over Australia with inventory held within those same stores,

often unused.

What if we could tap into that inventory sitting so close to the end customer?

Shipping directly from stores would move product closer to the customer, speeding up delivery and concurrently open the opportunity for selling all inventory online.

The challenge was building a system that allowed stores to pick, pack and ship orders easily, without interrupting day-to-day retail operations - the solution was building out a Ship From Store infrastructure that decentralised inventory and turned retail locations into mini distribution centres.

Here’s how we made it happen:

• Real-time inventory sync between Shopify and their ERP (OsiPos) to make store stock visible online.
• Development of a Ship from Store portal for stores, allowing them to process orders quickly
• Automated label printing and national courier integration (AusPost/Star Track)
• A custom routing algorithm to find the best store for fulfilment purposes

The routing algorithm was the key to making this work.

It evaluates:
• Live inventory levels across all stores
• Customer shipping address proximity - the closest store is preferred, with split shipment intelligence built in for orders that require to be shipped from multiple locations
• Shipping cost efficiency based on all carrier integrations

Orders are routed to the right store, unlocking inventory that would otherwise sit on shelves or in stockrooms.

The result:
• Drastically improved stock utilisation across the network
• Faster delivery times by shipping closer to the customer
• True omni-channel capability

Orders went from being delivered in 3-5 days+ to being delivered within 24 hours. A perfect example of how powerful integrating systems can be.