Jewellery chain Lucardi professionalises coordination

With 132 physical stores and two web shops, more and more consumers are finding their way to jewellery chain Lucardi for their jewellery and watches. Further growth is planned. Working efficiently is therefore becoming increasingly important. Thanks to Yellowstar's Star Flow Supply Chain, the company is now handling all order communication with its nearly 100 global suppliers within a single portal. Annually, that saves tens of thousands of e-mails. "During busy times, I was spending as much as a day a week on e-mails."

Lucardi is very unlike traditional jewellers. The stores are approachable, with inviting display cases and open presentations, and offer something for everyone, young and old alike. Founded in 1988, the company is growing steadily. With 126 of its own stores, Lucardi is the biggest jewellery chain in the Netherlands. Belgium now also has two Lucardi stores and Germany four. New stores are added regularly. Separate web shops focused on the Netherlands/Belgium and Germany serve consumers who prefer to shop online. In all, Lucardi offers customers around 10,000 different models. In response to the latest trends, the jeweller refreshes its range frequently.

All Lucardi’s activities are managed from its headquarters in The Hague. Product manager Denise Jelderda is one of the buyers here, while Urmilla Jharap, as logistics coordinator, deals with the transportation and correct processing of all incoming goods, including booking in the new stock for the finance department.

Single central system

Lucardi came to Yellowstar for a solution to the purchasing department's intensive e-mail exchanges with its nearly 100 global suppliers. All correspondence with them took place by e-mail: from order placement and confirmation to sending label files, receiving waybill numbers, invoices, etc. All of it in an unstructured manner. Denise: “Arranging cover during illness or holidays was difficult. It involved giving my colleagues the password to my computer. Instead, we wanted to move to a single central system. We chose Star Flow Supply Chain from Yellowstar.”

Linked to ERP

At Lucardi, the Purchasing, Logistics and Finance departments can all log into Star Flow Supply Chain. The same goes for all the suppliers. After an order is created, verified and released, it goes from the ERP directly to Star Flow Supply Chain. From there, the appropriate supplier automatically receives an e-mail that they have an order waiting. The entire subsequent process from acceptance and final approval until the supplier finally sends out the order then proceeds centrally via the Yellowstar application. Instead of countless separate e-mails, all the correspondence and exchange of documents takes place transparently in one place. Denise: "One week before the agreed shipment date, the supplier automatically receives a reminder. That gives them time to communicate any discrepancies if necessary." At the time of shipment, the supplier adds the waybill number and official invoice to Star Flow Supply Chain. "Urmilla in the Logistics Department also sees that and is able to prepare for what will be coming into the warehouse." 

All the documents at your fingertips

“In the past, when goods came in, I often had to go through all my e-mails for the right documents”, Urmilla continues. “We get 50 to 75 deliveries every week. Some days I would spend an hour trying to find all the documents. Now I enter the order number and waybill number in Star Flow Supply Chain and I have all the documents at my fingertips.” Urmilla also cites the improved visibility of partial deliveries as an important benefit. "One order can easily include 300 to 400 different items. It is common for suppliers to deliver in parts. In Star Flow Supply Chain, we can now keep track of that very effectively. Previously, that also required separate e-mails."

Benefits for Lucardi and suppliers

The new way of working thus has numerous benefits for Lucardi. Denise: "Using Star Flow Supply Chain is going to save us a lot of time. It now takes just two clicks to add documents to an order directly from the ERP. All the information is available in one place. That is also helpful for the annual audit." Suppliers also benefit. Urmilla: "Instead of having to send lots of different e-mails, people can see which orders are open in the system for themselves. That will definitely contribute to fewer partial deliveries as well. Plus, I will have a much better idea of where delays occur."

Future-proof

With more new stores on the way, Star Flow Supply Chain is further future-proofing the Lucardi organisation. Denise: “We want to start holding less inventory. That means the frequency of orders and hence the number of documents will only continue to increase. Star Flow Supply Chain gives us much more control of that process."