House of Fraser

September 2005 - Spectrum Enterprise Online Trader launch for House of Fraser

Starting at the end of September 2005 in a joint initiative with Freeway, House of Fraser is launching a brand new initiative to ensure electronic trading takes place with all of its suppliers.

In addition to the Spectrum SE and Professional products that are already used by many of their suppliers, Freeway has developed an on-line solution as a low cost entry-level solution that can be used by even the smallest supplier to House of Fraser. The only requirements for suppliers will be an email account, web browser and Internet access. Costs for suppliers will start from as little as £280+VAT per annum, including full use of the system and all messages, telephone and email support.

Spectrum Enterprise - Online Trader has been configured to automatically email orders from House of Fraser to suppliers in PDF format. (Adobe Acrobat
version 7 is required for use of House of Fraser On-line Trader click here to download)

On-line Trader will also allow suppliers to create Advanced Shipping Notes (ASN's) and Invoices using the original order information to reduce the amount of re-keying required.

These messages will initially be used in parallel to paper documents, but after confirmation of receipt of electronic versions, the paper documents will cease to be sent and an entirely electronic trading relationship will exist.

Over the coming weeks, House of Fraser will write to all suppliers currently receiving paper orders and ask them to switch to electronic trading. Freeway will be providing project management to drive supplier adoption and assist with the take-on process.

To order Spectrum Enterprise Online Trader you can either complete an order form and send payment by cheque to Freeway, or to order on-line and pay by credit card please click here.

Once your order has been received, Freeway will contact you with details of your username and password for Online Trader and arrange for House of Fraser to send electronic versions of orders to be sent in parallel to paper ones. ASN's and Invoices will need to be created and sent back to House of Fraser in parallel until live trading has been approved.

For any queries please contact the House of Fraser sales team at Freeway on 01772-646060 or email

Cross Docking Suppliers

House of Fraser has used EDI to exchange electronic orders and invoices with its suppliers for some years, and has now extended the business model to handle cross-docking. In close working partnership with Freeway, a supplier side cross docking application has been successfully developed and deployed to suppliers across the UK.

Freeway's Spectrum range fully supports House of Fraser's EDI requirements and recognises the importance of being compliant with those of all other department stores and retailers with whom a House Of Fraser supplier might also trade. This is a key point in delivering a truly Value Add solution to suppliers - 'one solution for all'.

Chris Mills, supply chain manager in House of Fraser's London office commented...

"House of Fraser is committed to implementing improvements in our supply chain to enhance efficiency and reduce overall costs. One of the major projects embarked upon recently has been "Pure Cross Docking", i.e. suppliers delivering pre-labeled store bundles to a single drop-off point at our NDC in Milton Keynes. The project has proved to be an enormous success for House of Fraser as it speeds up the whole logistics process, and for our suppliers, who can now send deliveries to a single location.

A couple of years ago, the rate of take-on of suppliers to the project was slow, not because it was a bad idea, but because of a lack of supplier systems which were capable of handling the electronic orders, invoices, advanced shipment notification and bar coded labelling necessary to get going. We then got together with Freeway Commerce who developed a "House of Fraser - Cross Docking Package" as part of their standard suite of programs. This system is now used by many House of Fraser suppliers, improving supply chain efficiency and also leading to a much closer working relationship."

Off-the-shelf simplicity

"Whereas some of the initial Cross Dock suppliers who developed the interfaces themselves took as long as 18 months to complete testing with us, users of the "Freeway Pure Cross Docking Module" solution were up and running within 6-8 weeks, providing them with a simple economic route into Cross Docking with House of Fraser. Furthermore, we are already talking to Freeway about upgrading the communications element of the system to replace the "EDI" element with an FTP link, to reduce suppliers' costs even further. Throughout the project we have developed a very close working relationship with Freeway and I am sure this will grow even stronger as more suppliers are brought on this year."

House of Fraser is Britain's leading department store group, selling designer brands through 51 UK outlets including well-known names such as Dickins & Jones, Rackhams, Binns, Army & Navy and Dingles. More information about their electronic trading requirements can be found on their website at www.hof.co.uk/b2b.

For more information please email or call +44 (0) 1772-646060.

Over the coming weeks, House of Fraser will write to all suppliers currently receiving paper orders and ask them to switch to electronic trading. Freeway will be providing project management to drive supplier adoption and assist with the take-on process.

To see a demonstration of the Spectrum 3 Online Trader solution please click here. (at this point there will be a turbo demo presentation they can view)

To order Spectrum 3 Online Trader you can either complete an order form and send payment by cheque to Freeway, or to order on-line and pay by credit card please click here.