Case: Fristads Kansas Group

Ground-breaking e-commerce solution

Fristads Kansas Group

Europe’s leading provider of workwear Fristads Kansas Group has in cooperation with Hesehus developed a unique webshop solution in which all of Fristads Kansas Group’s customers, mainly comprised of large international companies, have their own customised webshop with specifically customised products and order options.

With an annual turnover of more than DKK 4 billion and a product portfolio containing some of Europe's leading brands such as Norwegian workwear brand Wenaas, the Belgian B&C, the French Bragard & Lafont, and in Denmark the well-known Fristads Kansas brand, Fristads Kansas Group is among the absolute largest players in the market for workwear. For an organisation as Fristads Kansas Group that do business in workwear, it is alpha and omega that the large companies, that represent Fristads Kansas Group’s customers, have the selection presented in a simple way allowing only the specific products manufactured for the individual customers to be displayed in the webshop.

Ground-breaking e-commerce solution for Fristads Kansas Group

150 webshops on the same platform developed by Hesehus

Numerous webshops in one platform

The e-commerce solution is actually not just one webshop but more than 400 webshops with half a million users on the same platform. This means that many of the companies, which are Fristads Kansas Group’s customers, have their own personal webshops containing only the products that are manufactured specially for them and this has been positively received by the end-users. Another positive aspect of the ambitious webshop solution is that the solution has turned out to be crucial to several large concerns’ choice of Fristads Kansas Group as their supplier. In other words, the webshop is a strong differentiation factor from competitors.

Innumerable options

Besides sorting filters such as brand, area of the body, and work type the solution provides the possibility of entering body measurements of each individual employee which helps the customer to always order the right size of clothes for all employees and this results in fewer returns which is normally a large challenge within e-commerce involving clothes. When placing a new order, the customer can indicate which employee the new workwear has to fit and in this way the correct sizes are automatically ordered.

Furthermore, it is up to the customer to decide which employees have access to order clothes from the webshop, e.g. if the individual employee is allowed to order or if it is the responsibility of the team leader or some one else in the organisation. It is also possible for the team leader to order the clothes but that the order has to be approved by a higher ranking manager. In short, the system is very flexible and the individual company may decide how to customise the system.

Size converter

As the sizes may differ in the various countries in which the solution is used, the webshop contains a size converter that can convert the sizes to ensure that the customer gets the correct size of workwear. The way it works is that the individual company can choose what size formats to use in the webshop. For example, the customer may choose that it will be relevant with an American and an Italian size converter. Accordingly, Fristads Kansas Group will adjust the sizes together with the customer based on how the Italian size is compared to the “raw” size based on which all the clothes are manufactured. It may, for example, be indicated that an Italian size 32 corresponds to a “raw” size 38 or 40. It is all done using an adjustable “ruler” allowing the sizes to overlap and be completely adjusted.

Webshop cooperates with ERP systems

One of the most unique features in the solution is the pre-ordering option. The customers are involved in the decision of how much to order for the next season. In this way the customers are sure that they have what they need and this makes it easier for Fristads Kansas Group to order the right amount of products. In other words, Fristads Kansas Group has “moved the demand forward in time” and has thereby optimised its supply chain. This is possible because the e-commerce solution is integrated with Fristads Kansas Group’s various ERP systems.

Special webshop for distributors

In addition to the described B2B webshop solution, the solution has also been launched in a B2P version – Business to Partner. This system is used by Fristads Kansas Group’s dealers. Where the B2B version is good at handling a large number of employees and a complex budget system, the strength of the B2P version is to handle large volumes of products, a larger selection, large orders and the system is also customised with the information needed by the distributors. Furthermore, the possibility of customisation of the products is expanded. The B2P version as well as the B2B version provide the possibility of pre-ordering which is a huge advantage for Fristads Kansas Group due to the very large amounts of clothes that the distributors often order in the webshop.