40% reduction in packaging materials

The challenge

The Perfume Shop is one of the UK’s leading fragrance retailers, with a nationwide store network and a rapidly growing e-commerce business. As online demand accelerated, their manual packing and despatch processes were struggling to keep up, creating a bottleneck that threatened delivery performance and customer satisfaction.

The business had several specific requirements that made the challenge more complex than a standard fulfilment automation project. Product routing needed to accommodate value-added services, including engraving and personalisation, alongside standard despatch lines. Packaging had to handle multiple tray and carton sizes. And as a fragrance retailer, dangerous goods compliance was non-negotiable: every labelled shipment had to meet carrier and regulatory requirements.

The underlying goal was to future-proof distribution, consistently meet delivery promises, reduce environmental impact, and deliver a clear ROI. All without disrupting a trading business in a highly competitive market.

The solution

Breathe Technologies designed and delivered an integrated order fulfilment system built around the specific complexity of The Perfume Shop’s operation.

The system incorporates intelligent product routing that directs orders through the appropriate fulfilment path, standard despatch, value-added services (engraving, personalisation), or dedicated lines for subscription and store replenishment orders. Carton erection and closing systems support multiple tray sizes, automatically selecting the right packaging format for each order.

Dangerous goods compliance is embedded directly into the labelling process. Breathe’s identification and labelling systems, apply accurate, carrier-compliant labels that include the required dangerous goods classification information, removing a manual compliance step and eliminating the risk of non-compliant shipments.

The entire system is managed through the BreatheIQ WCS, Breathe’s proprietary warehouse software, which orchestrates order routing, throughput management and real-time operational visibility across the fulfilment operation.