European fashion manufacturers who design and fabricate high-end premium clothing and accessories indeed have a disproportionate amount of their warehousing on the East Coast of the US . This is particularly counterintuitive as Los Angeles has some of the highest demand for it in the world. Los Angeles being the world’s main entertainment capital means it is also a mecca for the fashion industry. But with little warehousing of highly sought after French dresses and Italian leather shoes and suits, there is inefficiency in the sector that this article will explain how bringing more of their warehousing to Los Angeles will reduce.
More Demand
Los Angeles is the home to Hollywood and the entertainment industry and is crammed with some of the most elite entertainment moguls, business people, old money and famous public figures. Along with this extreme wealth is a voluminous demand for luxury clothing hence famous shopping destinations like Rodeo Drive.
Most of the imports from Europe are shipped directly to the East Coast where most of, if not all, the warehousing is located. With a comparative demand from East Coast cities such as New York it is still suboptimal considering half the demand is on the west coast, mainly California. Instead of holding the merchandise on the East Coast and shipping at high costs when needed, direct bulk shipments to Los Angeles destined for warehousing should be more prevalent. Warehousing third party logistics firm’s (3PL’s) such as Westset Logistics not only own and operate ample warehousing storage but also deliver the inventory to retail stores as required.
Seasonal shipping costs
Shipping has its costs. And often it fluctuates seasonally with Peak Season Surcharge’s (PSS). With a bit of planning ahead garments can be warehoused on the West Coast and distributed as needed at little cost as Westset Logistics has it’s own distributing arm. Although high-end fashion is often updating, clothing from Europe is more often than not still re-stocked in a four-season rotation. That’s why when leading up to the busy shopping seasons like winter and Christmas it would be more economical to have stock stored locally and delivered piece-by-piece as necessary at a low cost than estimating how much stock will go out the door and over ordering from the east coast at surcharged shipping cost. Los Angeles is not the only huge market on the West Coast either; San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix are other close-by examples of large markets within Westset Logistics extensive network.
eCommerce B2C
With eCommerce striding ahead surpassing all predictions of its prevalence, bigger hubs of inventory are required to be on hand region to region. By making this hub Los Angeles, Westset Logistics is economically able to pick and pack one or two or more items at a time from their warehouse and ship Business to Consumer (B2C). Anywhere in the western states such as Seattle, Boise, Honolulu and smaller towns along the way like Bend, Oregon or Gallup, New Mexico are going to be much more accessible and economically viable lowering Transaction Cost (TC) when shipped from a West Coast located 3PL like Westset Logistics taking advantage of our regional networks. Costs will also be lower for the consumer – although they are buying expensive clothing, nobody likes high shipping costs. Shipping time will also be decreased if more warehousing was situated here than if it was to ship from a hub on the East Coast or Midwest resulting in increased customer satisfaction.
In summary
It is quite clear. Only a percentage of European clothiers actually store inventory in warehouses on the West Coast – most export direct to the East Coast and there it remains until on shipped as required to the West Coast. With more demand on the West Coast from large western cities, in particular Los Angeles, a mecca for fashionista’s in the entertainment industry, avoiding peak season shipping costs and being a western regional distribution hub for B2C eCommerce transactions it makes utter sense for more European fashion manufacturers to warehouse with Westset Logistics.
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