Planet Connect case study

Planet Connect Limited is a Jersey incorporated Company and is a leading web and mail order supplier of brand name contact lenses such as Cibavision, Acuvue etc. They operate under multiple websites. They are a contact lens replacement centre and sell contact lenses online that already have a valid prescription. Their aim is to supply contact lenses to customers at the cheapest  possible prices, combined with excellent customer service for the best possible shopping experience. They do this by passing on the discounts they get from their suppliers to their customers. Arun Narayanan, beneficial owner, provided his thoughts on why the Company outsourced its B2C fulfilment to ProFS.

What led Planet Connect to consider outsourcing its B2C fulfilment?

"The primary reason was that we did not have any warehouse/storage facilities in the Channel Islands. This would have meant having to remote-manage this part of our operation, in our experience usually a recipe for disaster. Cost was an additional factor. For an SME operation such as ours, it did not make commercial sense to rent warehouse space."

What were the criteria Planet Connect looked for when choosing a fulfilment partner?

"Competitive rates, operational flexibility and information technology were the key factors. Also a willingness to listen and understand our issues that are always specific to individual customers depending on so many factors unique to each business model."

Why did Planet Connect eventually choose PFS?

"Their rates were competitive, they were approachable, they listened and understood what the Company needed and were willing and flexible enough to customise the solution for us. They used information technology effectively and processes were automated as much as possible."

How does the solution deliver value?

"ProFS performs what is probably the most important process of any B2C business - delivering the product to the customer, correctly and with as few processing delays and errors as possible. For a product such as contact lenses, errors are easy to make, given that each box looks exactly the same but actually has different powers and other parameters. The company has worked closely with ProFS to minimise errors by moving to a bar-coded system. It also helps that they are continually on top of things and keep us informed of any potential postal delays or any change in postal regulations / documentation."