INTRODUCTION

ALDO Group, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Aldo Bensadoun. It is

one of the leading shoes and accessories retailers globally.
The company promises to Always up-to-date with the latest
trends from the fashion capitals of the world, and with an
emphasis on quality and craftsmanship, Aldo is a brand for the
conscious, self-aware shopper.
Target Customer Both Male and Female: 16 to 35 years
Qualities of the ALDOMan and Woman: chic, trendy, bold fashion
sense
Spending of the ALDO Customer: Medium to High Purchasing
Power and To Spend On Their Appearance

CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF ALDO

ALDO Group, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is based in Montreal,
Canada. This company engages in the production and distribution
of footwear, leather goods, and accessories for men, women,
boys, and girls worldwide.
ALDO Group also franchises its retail stores. The company has a
strategic alliance with Sears Canada Inc. They also have several
retail stores in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom,
Ireland, Malta, Senegal, Libya, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion
Island, Cote D'Ivoire, Honduras, Spain, Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Cyprus, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Romania, Venezuela,
Panama, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ukraine, Mexico, Chile, Aruba,
Thailand, Taiwan, the Russian Federation, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan,
Australia, India, Portugal, Denmark, Malaysia, Lebanon,
Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and Poland.
Along with their many flagship stores pop-up shops are operated
within leading international department stores like Galleries
Lafayette in Paris and Selfridges in London.
There major competitors are:

Bata Brands SA
Pedro
Nine West
Charles and Keith
Steve Madden

BRAND PYRAMID

The ALDO pyramid on Salience, Performance, Imagery, Judgment,

Feelings and
Resonance

SUPPLY CHAIN
The ALDO Group's distribution network is fast, tight and agile.
Their network enables maximum and efficient flow. In order to
serve our stores worldwide, we have set up offices and
distribution centers around the globe. Should this statement be in
quotation marks?
ALDOs main distribution center is located in Montreal Canada
which has up to one million square foot of space. They employ
two shifts to supply 1,000 retail stores in North America. ALDO
has suppliers all around the world globe. Seventy percent (70%)
of its products come from China, with an additional 20 percent
arriving from Italy. Brazil contributes another eight percent of the
company's inventory, and the remaining two percent is sourced
from other global locations.
A flow-through warehouse in China ships sourced products to

ALDO's distribution center in Montreal.

BRAND POSITIONING
Aldo high awareness, brand reputation, and overall brand image,
giving it proprietary knowledge and power over the market.

ALDOS LOGISTICS AND STRATEGIES

The ALDO Group's distribution network is fast, tight and agile. The
agile systems focus is on flexible, efficient response to unique
customer demand. Although ALDO sources its merchandise from
Chain, it is not without its disadvantages and advantages.

DISADVANTAGES
Delays in shipment from major suppliers
China sometimes delayed product shipments for up to three
days
(3) three days = equals an eternity
The team is unable to maintain visibility of shipment location until
arrival. Therefore they have to wait for the arrival of merchandise
before making any needed preparations to ship the shoes to the
stores.

ADVANTAGES
One advantage to avoid late shipments would be to sources
closer to home. ALDO should use their suppliers from Brazil more
rather than their Chinese suppliers who will have delays in
shipment. However a better relationship between ALDO should be
achieved to obtain more efficiency.
CDC Supply Chain solution
More Stores
More Customers

ALDOs USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ASSOCIATED STRATEGIC

ADVANTAGES
ALDOs move to the use of technology was due to the lack of
space. The company's collection of disparate in-house systems
could support a maximum of 600 storesless than half of what

ALDO envisioned. After devising expansion plans that required a

new warehouse and distribution facility, ALDO decided the time
was right to invest in a scalable logistics technology platform.
ALDO was experiencing growth that significantly increased its
product volume. As a company the ALDO team decreased the
number of human touches in its supply chain. In order to succeed
in this ALDO employed technology within their supply chain
operation. This helped with the tracking stock in the planned
warehouse.Aldo has CDC Softwares CDC Supply Chain, order
management, warehouse management, CDC X-alert and supply
chain event management software.

CDC SOFTWARE/ CDC SUPPLY CHAIN

CDC supply chain management is the solution with high

transaction volume capacity that allows ALDO to synchronize their
business operations to the needs of their customer. This software
gives more control over the logistics of the companys supply
chain.

Demand Chain Planning

Advanced Order Management
Warehouse Management
Transportation Management
Trading Partner Collaboration
Activity Monitoring
Performance management
Collaboration Services Framework

In 2004 ALDOs Montreal distribution center went live with CDC

Supply Chain followed by their United Kingdom facility 18 months
later, and the facility in China went live one year after. This helped
with the delays of merchandise from the China warehouse. The
staff of the China warehouse created an advance shipping notices
(ASNs) in China, giving the Montreal-based staff insight into arrival
times for specific products and eliminating guesswork. ASNs
prepared in China also allow stock to flow directly to the
company's stores on the U.S. West Coast instead of traveling the
China-Montreal-West Coast route, saving considerable time and
transportation costs.

BEFORE CDC SUPPLY CHAIN

Before CDC there delay in delivers

Over stock
Error in delivery of goods to the accurate store
Staff not motivated to check good manually

CDC SUPPLY CHAIN ADVANTAGES

By implementing the new system they are able to confirm what
merchandise arrives at the store as ALDO had trouble confirming
product arrival at individual stores because store staff avoided the
time-consuming process of manually checking inventory. ASN tags
make checking inventory easier and quick. Therefore, goods that
are delivered to the wrong destinations are flagged and returned.

Store replenishment is also made easier by using store specific

sales data instead of estimates. ALDO's multi-channel capabilities,
another benefit of the new end-to-end system, allow customers to
order products not available in the store where they are shopping.
The order, which is sent directly to the customer's preferred
location, virtually eliminates lost sales due to low inventory. Since
instigating the system two years ago, ALDO has opened 440 new
stores. Employee productivity has increased 14 percent each year,
and product lead times have been shortened by two weeks.

Focusing on continual improvement has yielded a supply chain

operation that leverages global resources across ALDO's companyowned-and-managed stores, fulfills the needs of individual retail
stores, and extends the company's brand through a growing
network of franchisees.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion ALDO is a genius in what they do with technology
and developing themselves in the market they are engaging.
Another new trend in Aldos branding is how it focuses on giving
back. It is moving towards branding itself as an environmentally
and socially conscious brand.
They have also launched new services. Leading there knowledge
to new their clients like

Asos
Bank Fashion
Capezio
Debenhams
DSW
El Palacio de Hierro
Falabella
JCPenney
Kohls
Lane Crawford
L'Aubainerie
Level Shoe District
Little Burgundy
Lord & Taylor
Macys
Magasin
Nordstrom
Piperlime
Sarenza.com
Sears Canada
Selfridges & Co.

Shellys London
Sole Trader
The Hudson's Bay
Company
Urban Outfitters
Zalando
Zappos

ALDO is expanding rapidly by engaging in more in the

market, they have also launched ALDO Product Services
which is another would now gain a larger brand awareness.
The APS team works with a select group of retail clients to
create and develop brands, providing all the tools and advice
needed to help companies succeed.Partnership offerings can
be broken down into the following three key segments:

Branded wholesale
Private label
Brand management / licensing and distribution

Another new trend in Aldos branding is how it focuses on

giving back. It is moving towards branding itself as an
environmentally and socially conscious brand. In 2008, the
company launched its Next Step program aimed at going
green and becoming more environmentally conscious.

REFERENCES

http://sbmaldo.tumblr.com/History

http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/aldo-boots-up-a-new-system/

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/catalyst-wins-aldo-shoes-supplychain-execution-project-154166495.html

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/29/as-aldo-turns-40-footwearempire-seeks-to-expand-its-international-reach/

http://www.google.com/finance?cid=8914205

http://www.aldogroup.com/distribution-centres.html

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/29/as-aldo-turns-40-footwearempire-seeks-to-expand-its-international-reach/

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/29/as-aldo-turns-40-footwearempire-seeks-to-expand-its-international-reach/

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/catalyst-wins-aldo-shoes-supplychain-execution-project-154166495.html

http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/news/read/ALDO_Group_Inc__
33501

http://www.hoovers.com/companyinformation/cs/competition.Aldo_Group_Inc.9fb4d859574f5425.html

http://www.aldoshoes.com/ca-eng

http://www.vertexinc.com/PressRoom/PDF/2010/top-innovator-aldoapparelmag-may2010.pdf