Logistics: a key factor in Sézane’s success

Founded online in 2013, Sézane quickly achieved phenomenal success. So much so that, ten years later, the brand has established itself as Paris’s leading ready-to-wear label, opening six stores in France and around twenty worldwide, including in London and New York. On the brand’s website and in its stores, new collections sell like hotcakes. The recipe for success? Quality clothing, affordable prices, compelling storytelling, a community of subscribers (3.9 million on Instagram), and… efficient, tailor-made logistics.

Although Sézane has opened stores, the company is, and remains above all, digital. 85% of the brand’s revenue comes from online sales, while in France, 80% of fashion is distributed through stores. Serving e-commerce, the supply chain is therefore driven by a need for speed and operational excellence that is far greater than in physical retail. Indeed, in retail, it takes several days for a logistics platform failure to have a significant impact on revenue. In e-commerce, by contrast, it is measured in hours. Warehouse responsiveness is decisive. Logistics plays a key role.

Sézane therefore relies on demanding logistics, with control over all warehouse operations to ensure clients receive unfailing speed and efficiency. This setup enables the brand to provide fast delivery worldwide (three days on average) and equally efficient customer returns. This is the key to success in e-commerce, where customers have very high expectations regarding responsiveness and delivery times.

This responsiveness must also be reflected in production, requiring a high degree of industrial flexibility. Sézane is thus able to adjust its production according to a product’s success. If it performs well, production is accelerated. 69% of production takes place in Europe. Otherwise, production is slowed. This industrial flexibility ensures both customer satisfaction—customers can order their favorite item—and the company’s financial performance, as it limits unnecessary inventory. On this point, digital offers a major advantage: decisions can be made at the last minute about which items go on sale, or inventory can be updated. The strategy is paying off, as Sézane sells virtually everything it produces—an excellent performance built on efficient logistics.

The company currently has a single 36,000 m² warehouse—45,000 m² including mezzanines—located in Châtres, in the Paris region. Two new warehouses are planned to open, one in Europe and one in the United States. Here again, Sézane is using the e-commerce logistics model to anticipate its growth. The idea is to have warehouses in several locations around the globe in order to be as close to customers as possible—and therefore able to guarantee ever-faster delivery and return times.

Transportation is therefore another key issue. True to its commitment to ethical fashion (80% sourcing in Europe, the “Demain” program, which gives part of its profits to organizations working in children’s education, etc.), Sézane is seeking to limit its carbon footprint. To this end, the company favors the least-polluting options: rail, sea, and road transport. Likewise, the company handles 100% of last-mile deliveries in Paris and in more than 40 cities in France using electric or natural-gas-powered transport and cargo bikes with Chronopost. Sézane delivers to nearly 90 cities in Europe using electricity or gas. This is a figure the company will work to multiply in the years ahead.