Process Selection

Aeropostale uses batch flow because they make their products in groups. They will make the same shirt in groups with different sizes. Same with pants, sweaters, and shorts.  They customize mass of products and they fall into the batch made to stock cell in the process characteristics matrix. Some factors that influence the process selection are market conditions, capital requirements, available cost of labor, and state of technology. Aero can not adopt any of the mass customizations methods discussed because it would cost more money to specialize in filling orders.

Inventory Management

After seasonal planning, Merchants place purchase orders with vendors.  The merchandise is made, and shipped via container ship to one of the distribution centers on either the East or West Coast.  The purchase order is then received and allocated to stores.  (Planning and Allocation is a department in NY that uses sales models to determine how much of a particular item a store should receive.) Using the warehouse management systems, the items are put in boxes and loaded on trucks to be consolidated at pool points.  Pool points are centrally located terminals around the country that take multiple truckloads of cartons, separate them to stores, and create a shipment ID # to then be delivered to the store. The shipment ID# is fed to the stores, so they are able to see in advance how many cartons they will be receiving the following day. The delivery driver then arrives at the store with the cartons and the bill of lading.  Stores sign off that the cartons agree with the total. Store then unpacks the boxes, and releases the product to the selling floor.

A few times a year, stores will take a physical inventory.  The purpose of taking an inventory is to get an accurate picture of what product is physically in the store. This assists the allocation department with replenishment, and identifies stores with shrink issues. 

Aeropostale uses a 3rd party vendor that travels to each store and scan each barcode on the ticket. The files are then uploaded and the new on hands are posted to the system.

Company Info

Aéropostale , Inc. is a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories, principally targeting 14 to 17 year-old young women and men through its Aéropostale ® stores and 7 to 12 year-old kids through its P.S. from Aéropostale (TM) stores. The Company provides customers with a focused selection of high-quality, active-oriented, fashion and fashion basic merchandise at compelling values. Aéropostale ® maintains control over its proprietary brands by designing, sourcing, marketing and selling all of its own merchandise. Aéropostale ® products can only be purchased in its Aéropostale stores and online atwww.aeropostale.com . P.S. from Aéropostale (TM) products can be purchased in P.S. from Aéropostale (TM) stores and online atwww.ps4u.com .

The Company currently operates over 900 Aéropostale stores across the United States and Puerto Rico, and Canada. The Company operates over 35 P.S. from Aéropostale stores.