In this first post in reference to my experience working for Decathlon’s wholesale chain I will talk about the current logistics situation.

As a long-term worker I was able to see how things were done in the chain on a daily basis as well as on a large movement level due to seasonal changes or removals. So I will talk about two elements

First of all, the daily logistics management of the company. The company’s storage policy is to store those products it intends to sell in a short period of time and replace those that have been sold more abundantly. The supply of products takes place at two times a day. The first one arrives at the opening of the store through a transporter, which deposits the pallets in the warehouse so that the operators through forklifts take them to an area where other operators open them and distribute them by departments. Normally each pallet is grouped by department but even so the operators must divide the contents of the pallets into smaller groups to facilitate transport. Once the products have been placed in a kind of container, they are moved through the use of wheels towards their departments where the facing employees place them in their position facing the customer.

In conclusion, logistics is grouped into three steps. First, the truck is unloaded by the transporter, then a first group of employees opens the container and performs a first unstacking according to some codes. Next, another group of employees divides it by departments and transports them to each section where the picking group places them.

As I said this is done twice daily, at opening and at closing so that there is a constant supply. The system works in such a way that the products exhausted throughout the morning can be ordered from other shops since there is a process of transport of products between shops and within the same space, it guarantees you transport in less than 24 hours. So if a customer is looking for a particular size can come to the store the next morning and have it.

In addition, the system changes completely and the transport of goods varies according to weekly and seasonal demand. Seasonal products are gradually replenished.