Implementing a Rate-Cost Optimization System to Fuel eCommerce Growth with Boscov’s

The current situation has accelerated many businesses’ adoption of e-commerce practices. How does a company that’s over 100 years old adopt digital transformation and take advantage of a pandemic-driven acceleration? For Boscov’s, it’s all about treating e-commerce as the be-all and end-all of their business.

In our podcast episode with Boscov’s Director of Corporate Transportation Dallas Foard, we discussed how the company’s implementation of a rate-cost optimization system helped fuel their e-commerce growth.

Prior to the pandemic, the majority of Boscov’s business was in their brick-and-mortar stores, with a 65-35 or 60-40 split. Now, it’s a 50-50 split.

As with all transformation, ensuring that customer experience remains at its best is at the core of Boscov’s operation. By implementing a rate-cost optimization system, they’re not only able to give their customers better service, they also end up saving money and removing all human factors in the process. The system allowed them to automatically streamline the back-end operations: from assigning the order to a store and minimizing shipments to choosing the best carrier and setting up the pickup.

Foard also shared how it took them a long time to go through the selection process as part of the initial phase of rolling out the system. Finding the right partner is key to which they chose Pitney Bowes. “Pitney Bowes was not the only company we spoke with. We did settle on them because we felt their system, a, gave us the best opportunities; and b, was the most expandable for us to give us a place to move forward as well.”

When asked what their advice is for companies looking to implement a rate optimization system, they shared: “I think the biggest advice I could give anybody is look at your physical operation, see what fits best and then go to the market and see who has the software that fits what your needs are. But even more than that, look at what your needs are going to be not now but 5, 10, even 15 years down the road. None of us want to replace software in a year or two. We want something that is obviously going to work for us somewhere into the hopefully far distant future.”

As Boscov’s continues to expand and scale, they continue to explore new technologies and projects to implement. These include expanding their e-commerce capabilities, implementing regional carriers and zone skipping, and expanding their footprint and hiring more people. While all of these are challenging, Foard said, “The more interesting it is, the more we work and the harder things are for us. But it’s a challenge and one that I and my staff look to arise and defeat here.”

Tune in to Down to Freight podcast, where we sit down with transportation, logistics, supply chain, and warehousing subject matter experts to discuss the Digital Transformation Project.