{"id":461859,"date":"2026-04-22T17:29:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/?p=461859"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:37:14","slug":"matalan-albaray-and-exotec-cutting-hidden-supply-chain-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/matalan-albaray-and-exotec-cutting-hidden-supply-chain-costs","title":{"rendered":"Matalan, Albaray and Exotec: Cutting hidden supply chain costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

As supply chain disruption becomes the norm, and fashion businesses grapple with soaring oil costs and freight disruption, Palombella, Di Stazio and Jones shared how businesses can keep costs down where possible.<\/p>\n

1. Partner relationships<\/h2>\n

Di Stazio said that “relying and leaning on [manufacturing] partners a bit more” would help brands cut costs.<\/p>\n

“There can be difficult conversations but if you have strong partnerships with manufacturers and can have honest conversations, then you can find a compromise and a way to work together,” she said. “They will, more often than not, work with you to find a compromise.”<\/p>\n

For Matalan’s Palombella, working closely with franchise partners has been key: “We don’t want to be too reactive. It’s clear we can work with partners and not be too reactive.”<\/p>\n

2. Understand processes<\/h2>\n

“You need to understand every process,” said Di Stazio. “Spend time with 3PLs [third-party logistics] and manufacturers. If you can’t understand how that process works, it’s very difficult.”<\/p>\n

She explained that brands and retailers familiarising themselves with the duration of each process helps them to manage expectations.<\/p>\n

3. Warehouse automation<\/h2>\n

“It surprises me how many warehouses still do manual picking,” said Jones. “It’s about cutting cost but it’s also hard to get people to work in warehouses,” he said, adding that when businesses run a manual operation, this means temporary staff are needed to assist during peak periods.<\/p>\n

“It”s a fixed investment with automation,” he said. “Businesses buy for peak demand, and then have the ability to flex their automation and save a huge amount of cost.”<\/p>\n

4. Efficient returns<\/h2>\n

“Returns are the bane of our life but they are a fact,” said Di Stazio. “The biggest cost is not having the stock in circulation, so you’ve got to get that stock back in really quickly.”<\/p>\n

Di Stazio told delegates that as a young business, “reputationally it is really important how you handle returns”. Albaray<\/a> returns were often getting stuck at courier warehouses and delaying refunds, motivating the womenswear business to launch automatic refunds after three days, so far with very minimal negative financial impact.<\/p>\n

Palombella said Matalan<\/a> was “focused on speed” when it comes to returns and agreed that “the speed of getting the return available again” is paramount.<\/p>\n

He added that 90% of Matalan’s returns are walked back into store, and half of these are exchanged rather than refunded: “Our returns are low in comparison with competitors.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As supply chain disruption becomes the norm, and fashion businesses grapple with soaring oil costs and freight disruption, Palombella, Di Stazio and Jones shared how businesses can keep costs down where possible. 1. Partner relationships Di Stazio said that “relying and leaning on [manufacturing] partners a bit more” would help brands cut costs. “There can …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119055,"featured_media":461986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85685,962,76780,995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drapers-supply-chain-summit","category-news","category-subscriber-only-content","category-supply-chain","editorial-supply-chain"],"yoast_head":"\nMatalan, Albaray and Exotec: Cutting hidden supply chain costs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Delegates heard cost-cutting strategies from Tom Palombella, director of logistics operations at Matalan, Kirsty Di Stazio, chief commercial officer and co-founder of 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