BIFA judges bowled over by ‘The Clubhouse’ initiative from Woodland Group (Ireland)

At Woodland Group, your CONNECTA Partner in Ireland, they are still feeling incredibly lucky to have won the BIFA Freight Service Awards 2016 in the Supply Chain Management category in January and wanted to share an insight into how they came to find a niche in the Sports Logistics market with their initiative ‘The Clubhouse’.

No stranger to the BIFA Freight Service Awards, the team at Woodland have a track record of success, winning the special services award in 2010 and scooping the training and staff development prize in 2007.

They had heard that the BIFA Supply Chain Management award was looking for companies providing a customer-focused innovative solution enabling a more efficient supply chain and they jumped at the chance to talk about their unique offering – The Clubhouse. A members-only buying consortium for sports clubs, the Clubhouse initially focussed on the cricket industry. Sourcing merchandise material from overseas suppliers to be sold in fan shops, online and at cricket grounds in the UK, the aim of the service was to simplify the supply chain for the clubs, allowing them to focus more resources on increasing sales and profitability.

Such was the success of the Clubhouse, they quickly realised it had grown legs and wanted to share their achievements to date with BIFA and they are pleased that they also saw the potential in their offering.

Woodland was chosen as category winner for the innovative approach of simplifying the supply chain within the sports industry. Being recognised as having identified a clear gap in the market, the Woodland Sports Logistics division was formed within the Woodland Group. Offering customers, a one-stop-shop, from sourcing ethically-produced products to managing the shipping, storage, and fulfilment process, the service simplifies the supply chain for the clubs and adds real value to their business.

To give you a direct insight, the Sports Logistics division ships the manufactured items to Woodland’s UK fulfilment centre, where their team quality check and re-pack the products before distributing them nationally. Woodland staff also make factory and site visits in order to ensure the highest standards of safety and legal protection are in place for workers.

“It is so rewarding that BIFA’s judges were won over by our Clubhouse submission and our goal now is to extend our services Globally to all sports clubs. What a fantastic start to the year! Understanding the sporting market and negotiating rates within the relevant factories and countries for sport around the world has helped us very quickly become a main player within the cricket, rugby, and football industry. We have recruited ambassadors such as Paul Pritchard for Cricket and Clive Allen for Football who can help us understand their sport from the inside. There is no sport we are not looking at and with new Ambassadors for fishing, baseball, cycling, and hockey to name a few we should be the first stop for any sports manufacturer”, comments Deborah Smith, Sports Logistics Global Sales, Woodland Group.

Pls. visit https://www.woodlandgroup.com/ for more information