Case Studies

Customer Profile

Skincare experts for babies and mothers-to-be since 1950, Mustela offers a complete range of specially formulated skincare to best address the changes in the delicate skin of newborns, babies, children, mothers-to-be and new mothers.

Market:

U.S.

Industry:

Skin and personal care products

Challenge:

Provide large scale distribution capabilities along with specialized “boutique” services such as hand assembly of kits.

"The MAI team displays a high degree of flexibility in working with Mustela to meet our customer’s needs. This has been a contributing factor to our success in growing in both the US and Canada. Active and forward thinking by MAI has resulted in not only money and time savings, but in fostering great customer relationships with our retail customers. We’re pleased to have such a proactive partner working with us to grow our business.”
Amie Youngs, Senior Logistics Manager, Mustela USA

MUSTELA CONTINUED USA

SCENARIO

Expanscience Laboratories dba Mustela USA was looking for a partner to serve as the distribution center for its infant and mother-to-be skincare products in North America and Canada. The selected partner had to be large enough to handle the growing volume of shipments to Mustela customers, yet flexible enough to provide specialized services such as hand assembly of gift assortment kits that are unique to individual retailers such as:

  • Babies ‘r Us
  • Nordstrom
  • Buybuy Baby
  • Saks
  • Sephora

APPROACH

Working closely with Mustela USA, MAI developed the protocol for receiving and storing Mustela products. MAI’s responsibilities encompass:

  • Receiving and warehousing Mustela products
  • Inventory rotation by lot code (expiration dates)
  • Pick/pack/ship orders for US and Canada
  • Managing Canada-specific packaging requirements
  • Hand assembly of various retailer gift pack kits
  • EDI customer transactions

On average, MAI ships more than 1,200 packages to Mustela customers per month via UPS and FedEx, as well as additional LTL and FTL shipments.

RESULT

  • Efficient, accurate order fulfillment –MAI fulfills Mustela customer orders within 24-48 hours. Stringent quality control procedures ensure order accuracy.
  • Lower shipping costs, faster deliveries – MAI’s strategic Midwest location minimizes shipping costs and time to market, both within the US as well as Canada.
  • Lot code management – MAI’s first-in-first-out (FIFO) stock rotation system ensures product date code requirements are met and helps minimize spoilage.
  • Custom kitting capabilities – MAI provides Mustela with the flexibility to offer pre-kitted product assortments to its retail customers.