Moonpig partners with Balloon to implement Körber WMS to ensure stock visibility.
We’re thrilled to announce a new client partnership with the leading ecommerce destination for greetings cards, gifts, flowers and experiences: Moonpig,which has chosen Balloon to implement its new warehousing and supply chain software.
About Moonpig.
Moonpig Group is the leading international gifting platform, with a rich history of innovation and growth since its launch in April 2000 when the brand started as the UK’s first online card retailer.
The vision was simple: to create a better card than customers could find on the high street by combining digital printing with the power of the increasingly dominant internet. As time went on, the Group expanded its offering, adding a wide range of gifts, flowers, experiences and balloons to its range.
Twenty one years later, Moonpig was listed on the London Stock Exchange, enabling the brand to unleash further potential in new markets and expanded the offering to Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia and the US. More recently, the Group’s growth has been further bolstered by the acquisition of several well-known gifting and experience businesses, Red Letter Days and Buy A Gift, which have further helped to establish Moonpig as a prominent player in the gifting market.
Moonpig Group continues to innovate with new technology initiatives and product offerings, including video and audio messages, Smart Text AI software, Moonpig Plus subscription service and digital gifting.
In 2023, Moonpig opened a new, state of the art 120,000 square foot warehouse in Tamworth, Staffordshire, its first in the UK. The site, which is capable of handling more than 9,000 cards per hour, also operates as a distribution centre for the gifting arm of the business, housing its entire gifting range of more than 1,500 SKUs.
During off-peak periods, thousands of gift orders are taken per day, but during peak times – Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentine’s Day and Christmas – this can increase to tens of thousands of orders a day. The warehouse usually operates from 6am until 10pm, but during these surge periods it’s open 24 hours a day in order to meet the more than seven-fold increase in demand.
Stock visibility issues of the existing warehouse system.
Despite only implementing new WMS software 18 months ago, the current system hasn’t offered Moonpig the flexibility it requires to meet its unique needs.
Richard Johnston, Moonpig’s Senior Engineering Manager, comments: “We have faced challenges with the system not being sufficiently configurable or customisable, making it ineffective in helping us scale. Another issue we have faced is that it doesn’t integrate well with our other software and has left us feeling as though we are conforming to a system that doesn’t meet our needs, rather than making it work for us.”
Iain Swinton, Director of Operations and Supply Chain and the project sponsor for the change of WMS adds, “From an operations perspective, the old system did not allow us to have good visibility of where our stock is, which subsequently has led to us writing off stock that is out of date or missing.”
Richard says that, together, the configurability and visibility issues were causing “problems with picking and reconciliation.” He adds, “We couldn’t understand what stock was in process, meaning we were unable to accurately report stock levels to the website.”
Over time, the WMS system was proving to be financially non-viable. In addition to a number of product lines being written off, more staff were employed to better manage the stock as a means of coping, and it was at this point a business decision was made to put better controls in place.
Körber WMS will eliminate unnecessary stock write-offs.
To address these challenges, Balloon will implement a comprehensive solution for Moonpig. This will include: Körber WMS; Springboard Server – Balloon’s proprietary middleware that allows us to build a seamless integration with Moonpig’s ERP system; SAP By Design; and a carrier integration to Royal Mail.
To assist in choosing the right supply chain partner and technology, Moonpig engaged the Supply Chain Consulting Group. Iain says, “They have guided us through a methodical RFI, RFP and RFQ process where we went from 30 original vendors down to a shortlist of six, then down to a shortlist of three.”
After on-site workshop sessions and classroom demonstrations from all three, and with the involvement of more than 20 Moonpig staff, the company chose Körber as its WMS.
Iain explains, “It’s been a thorough process, but everyone has been invested in making sure that we get the right solution to make sure it improves on our existing system.”
Richard adds: “Körber and Balloon stood out due to their level of knowledge. They could answer any question we had and could pull up a screen and show us how it could be done. Some of the other systems would need more customisation, but it was clear Körber WMS was not going to hold us back.”
Iain adds: “We’re really excited about the system and the flexibility it will give us. We are a tech company with lots of technically minded employees who like to improve and change things to make them work better for us, so we’re excited about the opportunity this new system will provide and where it will take us in future.”
Working with Balloon.
After a kick-off session, the implementation team has now completed the blueprinting for the new systems. Moonpig’s aim is that everything will be up and running by the end of October – in time for the Christmas peak.
The team is finding Balloon supportive to work with. Emma Whitehead is Delivery Lead for Moonpig and is supporting the project side of the implementation. She says: “Everyone at Balloon is really communicative. They’re easy to get hold of and will jump on a call when needed.”
Richard adds, “The overriding feeling within the business is that we are confident this partnership will provide an effective solution for our needs, which will allow us to work more efficiently and seamlessly across multiple teams within the business.” Iain concurs, “It feels like a safe pair of hands.”
Ed Napier-Fenning, Balloon’s Sales and Marketing Director, comments: “We’re excited to partner with Moonpig and to support them in their quest to become the ultimate gifting companion. We look forward to enabling them to scale efficiently, have complete visibility into their stock situation and to eliminate unnecessary stock write-offs.”