DFS is building The Sofa Delivery Company, a group-wide supply chain platform that it hopes will improve customer service as well as reduce the group’s environmental impact. It is hoped the plans will allow it to achieve annualised savings of more than £3 million by the end of its 2022 financial year.
The group has already completed the IT systems integration needed and says it has also made significant progress in the implementation of its Stockwise inventory management systems across its showrooms and customer distribution centres. The rollout is now close to completion for the DFS brand and will be followed by Sofology in the second half of the year.
The Sofa Delivery Company’s 7-day, extended hours delivery model was trialled in the last financial year and should be rolled out across the group towards the end of this financial year. The new branded division will deliver and install items from the group’s DFS, Sofa Workshop and Sofology brands.
The Sofa Delivery Company branding will be rolled out over the coming months and will be included on vehicles across the customer distribution centre network. Over half of the network has already been rebranded.
The extended hours delivery model will lead to a reduction in miles driven, said the group, thanks to tighter delivery radials, as well as a reduction in the number of DFS Group delivery fleet vehicles needed as the result of the introduction of new shift patterns.
