Case Study - J. Crew

Introduction

J.Crew began in 1983, when the first catalog was launched. Since then, the business has expanded to become an iconic American brand known worldwide for its sophisticated, fun clothing and accessories for work and play. The first J.Crew store opened in 1989 at the South Street Seaport in New York City. Since then, J.Crew has expanded to 227 retail and 175 outlet stores across the world, with a robust online business and new stores opening regularly.

The Concern

Prior to partnering with IST in 2014, J.Crew had been outsourcing its mailroom support services with another facilities management company. The results were less than stellar.

• J.Crew end-users were not getting a timely response to email requests
• Issue resolution was delayed
• Slower than necessary package deliveries

Put simply, their FM staff had become complacent and lacked the knowledge to act quickly to resolve issues J.Crew end-users were experiencing.

The Solution

When J.Crew expressed these concerns to IST, we acted quickly. Along with creating site-specific SOP’s and incorporating industry best-practices during implementation, IST staffed a front desk employee to monitor emails and dispatch service requests for resolution. This level of direct service and response had not been experienced by J.Crew staff and made an immediate impact on trust and adoption of the services provided.

Partnering with IST to handle outsourcing procedures immediately saved Chanel time, money and hassle.

• Setting up efficient staging processes for each floor and adhering to SLA time standards for service provisions such as 2 hour minimum mail and package delivery times to maintain a consistent level of package delivery service.
• We built in accountability to these standards by implementing IST-Suite software and systems designed to track and record mail and package delivery routes and times, ensuring no run is ever missed and no piece of mail or package is ever lost.

The Partnership

Since implementing services at J.Crew, we have enabled them to focus on their core competencies and expanded our support roles into other areas.

IST employees are incentivized to seek out cost savings in every aspect of their workday, which is how we were able to reduce outside messenger costs by assuming local messenger delivery using our mailroom staff. This was provided at no additional cost to J.Crew and resulted in faster delivery times of 30 to 60 minutes, which resolved a major need for client. We go to great lengths to ensure our employees are always engaged and excited to support our customers and the best way to resolve issues at an account.