Cole Haan supports direct-to-consumer sales with dropshipping
Lifestyle footwear brand Cole Haan is fulfilling online orders through third-party brand partners.
The retailer has implemented a direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy that provides online North American shoppers with endless aisle access to products that are not in stock. Cole Haan utilizes the Jesta I.S. cloud-based Vision Merchandising ERP and Vision Endless Aisle solutions.
The new endless aisle/dropshipping technology implementation follows Cole Haan’s decision to shift its distribution focus in North America toward a frictionless DTC model. Orders for out-of-stock items are fulfilled by leveraging inventory from global suppliers.
The strategy allows Cole Haan to expand its product offerings without needing to purchase and store additional inventory to reach more customers. Utilizing Jesta technology, the retailer captures ship-to-customer orders across channels to be fulfilled by third-party vendors.
The technology also enables Cole Haan to perform order orchestration, routing to suppliers, tracking, booking into financials and invoice matching. The retailer implemented the solution with a headless architecture to enable seamless connections with supplier networks.
Cole Haan is building upon an existing implementation of the Jesta cloud-based merchandising ERP suite which drives its inventory management, including vendor and item management, purchase order management, allocation, replenishment and price management across its global markets.
"Jesta’s Vision Merchandising ERP plays a critical role in propelling the Cole Haan organization toward growth," said Bob Lowe, VP of IT, Cole Haan. "As the brand continues to expand its banners and product offerings, Jesta’s partnership and retail technology ensures reliability and scalability, ensuring Cole Haan is always there for its customers."
[READ MORE: Cole Haan links all channels in-store with unified commerce]
Launched in 1928 and based in Greenland, N.H., Cole Haan operates more than 90 direct-to-consumer stores in the U.S. and Canada, as well as over 300 international store locations and an e-commerce site. The company also sells its products within department stores and specialty retail partners.
