S African logistics company wins international award

Cape Town-based integrated point-of-sale (POS) logistics solutions provider Butlers POS+ Logic received global recognition for being the most innovative warehousing and logistics solutions brand at the seventh yearly Global Brands Magazine Awards held at Emperors Palace, in Johannesburg, last month.

“Achieving brand excellence is quite a major accomplishment and Butlers POS+ Logic is honoured to receive this award. This was the first time that the Global Brands Magazine Awards ceremony was held in South Africa,” says Butlers POS+ Logic CEO Johan Slabbert.

Global Brands Magazine Awards director Shiva Kumar says these public accolades honour excellence in performance and long-term client satisfaction. Companies across different sectors are rewarded for performing exceptionally well in various fields, including finance, education, hospitality, lifestyle, automotive and technology.

“The awards create an awareness about the significance of exceptional service delivery and reward companies “rising above the rest”.

Slabbert delivered the keynote address during the awards, titled ‘Global brands for global transformation: The importance of brand authenticity in a world that desperately seeks purposeful and meaningful lives within everyday existence’.

POS logistics is increasingly regarded as a “crucial element” of brand owners’ success, as it supports marketing initiatives, increases in-store visibility and is vital to achieving increased sales, brand loyalty and enhancing customers’ in-store experience of the brand, he explains.

“Butlers POS+ Logic provides logistics solutions for diverse clients, ranging from international brand leaders in sports gear and apparel to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumes and energy providers.”

He adds that the finance aspect is only one area where an experienced and committed supplier can make a huge difference. However, time is the biggest saving a third party supplier, such as Butlers POS+ Logic, can offer clients.

Further, an experienced and committed POS logistics provider can transform the way their clients do business and positively affect individuals by relieving them of stress and helping them to proactively create solutions. He explains that Butlers’ leadership undergoes intensive, ongoing coaching towards development of their authentic leadership brand. As product life cycles have dramatically shortened over the last five years, large brands are preoccupied with the kinetics, or energy of movement, of their brands, rather than focussing on their brand potential. Butlers integrates with their clients in such a way that they move from being a third party supplier to becoming part of the brand, operating side by side with the client’s trade marketing and brand managers. Leadership coaching strengthens managers’ emotional intelligence, thus dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity in a much calmer, grounded way.

A strong POS third-party supply chain solution enables customers to spend their time and creativity on developing their brand potential to its fullest, while the logistics or supply chain operator takes care of brand kinetics, says Slabbert.

Meanwhile, he highlights that, currently, the biggest challenge for logistics and warehousing companies globally is keeping up with the rapid advancements in digitalisation and automation.

“Owing to the large variety of different products and campaigns we work with on any day, POS logistics, by its very nature, is a difficult and complex operation. It is, therefore, almost impossible to standardise and automate processes and a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be followed.”

Not being able to follow a one-size-fits-all approach causes high levels of stress and anxiety among the marketing team members and business leaders, and is almost always at the cost of creativity and brand authenticity, Slabbert adds.

Further, Butlers POS+ logistics paired with global technology partners and developed its own technology platform and artificial intelligence application, called ZOLAH. This online portal enables clients to access the online Butlers POS+ Logic marketing material supply chain management domain.

“This technology is the only one of its kind globally and enables us to focus on areas of clients’ businesses that are often overlooked – saving them time and solving problems . . .”

Slabbert notes that operational savings achieved for clients are impressive, with a 30% saving through Real Time Stock Aging Reporting.

Moving POS promotional material to the store universe is a complex and multi-dimensional integral process.

He explains that large volumes of stock are being received daily and dispatched daily into the store universe, with as many as 300 brand and/or trade marketing managers accessing and placing demands on the trade marketing system.

“The ZOLAH system works on a first come, first serve basis by cueing and booking multiple demands/actions in real-time, highlighting any stock that has not moved to the store universe. This enables a client to eliminate unused POS through distribution to different channels or scrapping and/or recycling.”

Other savings include wastage and overspending being reduced from 19% to 4% through Live Campaign Exception Reporting. The success of campaigns is dictated by and a function of POS material reaching each and every retail store timeously. ZOLAH manages and monitors each of the focal points within this value adding chain and highlights any constraints that could potentially have a negative effect on expected sales of the campaign. Warehousing costs are reduced on average by 25% and there is a 94% improvement in POS material velocity in the store universe, with delivery efficiency improved by as much as 99%, according to Slabbert.

“When you achieve results such as these and receive reports from clients that you have literally transformed their business, you know you are onto something that is changing the market,” concludes Slabbert.