Holsted Company Profile
Holsted Marketing, Inc., founded in New York City in 1971, is a marketing services firm that has developed managed direct mail programs for major clients including Sears, Newport News, Blair Corporation, Swiss Colony, Texaco, Sunoco, Amoco, Citgo, Metris, and others. Holsted's distinction is its focus on selling a diversified array of merchandise programs, and additionally, offering these programs on a continuity basis. Each program is risk-free to the client and usually results in significant incremental revenues and profits.

Holsted also supplies wholesale products to companies like Blair, Sears and Home Shopping Network. Through superior customer service and high quality merchandising, Holsted recently experienced more than double its revenues over the same previous accounting period.

Challenge
Holsted was interested in growing one of its most popular and successful promotions, improving the package to the consumer while reaping the cost benefits of a recent US Postal Service (USPS) flats automation processing opportunity. In addition, Holsted was working to maximize the influence of its best fulfillment partners to obtain further cost and operational efficiencies by consolidation.

Consistent fulfillment performance, a seamless interface, and measurable cost savings from MDS enhancements to data exchange, order processing, picking, labeling, and shipping since its selection as a service provider, made the decision to consult with MDS an easy one for Holsted.

Successes
MDS started by initiating talks with the USPS. Recent changes in the USPS Domestic Mail Manual requirements for flats automation processing were confirmed. After specifying a newly designed carton for Holsted, MDS gained USPS approval to mail at the automation flats rate. Immediate benefits to Holsted at launch are over a 50% savings in postage, slashing one of single greatest fulfillment cost burdens to the program in half.

MDS is currently implementing further automation of pick-pack and data processing functions to enhance order and data management in concert with handling the newly designed fulfillment package. MDS has selected equipment, hardware, and software resources scheduled for installation into fulfillment processes to streamline order processing and product handling. In so doing, MDS will meet every USPS mailing and pre-sort requirement in support of the packaging change, while ensuring optimal efficiency, accuracy, quality, delivery, and cost savings to Holsted.

MDS continues to support the response side of Holsted's business, assuming a defining role in its unfolding plans to focus and consolidate fulfillment operations. With new packaging and automation, MDS will more than triple order throughput capability for Holsted from 250,000 orders to over 800,000 orders per year from a single location. Holsted will receive an equivalent increase in reverse logistics support from MDS, a further service benefit to round out a remarkable single-source solution to Holsted's quest for enhanced operational efficiency and quality at a reduced cost.