An upgrading of the supply chain to localise manufacturing ahead of Brexit, and the restructuring of warehousing and distribution to consolidate deliveries, have been contributing factors in Eve Sleep delivering 2020 results ahead of expectations today.
The company has localised mattress manufacturing, which is outsourced to third parties, in the UK for the UK and Irish markets and in Belgium for sales to the French market. It says that concentrating manufacturing within end markets helps speed of delivery to customers as well as lower warehousing and delivery costs.
Eve has also implemented Shopify in the UK, allowing orders to now be consolidated into a single delivery. The service, which is now live in the UK and Irish markets, will be extended to France this year.
Historically the company has worked with a selection of carriers in each of its three markets, which would depend on the size of the product being delivered. This would mean that customer orders would often be delivered separately by several carriers. By contrast shipments can now be consolidated into a single delivery, leading to lower costs and a better customer experience.
Eve has also introduced a new ‘remove and recycle’ delivery service which allows customers to have their old mattress removed and recycled when their new one is delivered. The company has seen a 30% uptake of the new service.
In 2019 Eve also consolidated from three warehouses in the UK to one. Improved efficiencies from the warehouse, which is run by a third party, led to further improvements in 2020, according to Cheryl Calverley, CEO of Eve, with the need to hold less stock and take up less warehouse space as a result.
