The Progress Group has been intimately involved in the consumer direct retail revolution since our earliest days.  In the 1990’s we were instrumental in starting up some of today’s powerhouses of the Internet such as Gap Direct as well as up and coming companies like Bare Necessities and Soccer.Com. 

We understand the B2C business and the characteristics that make the design of a B2C fulfillment center different from that needed by other industries. We also understand how what’s needed in such companies changes as the firm grows from a garage outfit to a 1 million square foot behemoth.

Furthermore, we bring to the design process creative, unbiased insight because we don't sell equipment.  Consider, the parallel zone picking system we designed for Soccer.Com.  This system delivers near tilt-tray sortation efficiency at a fraction of the cost, but this idea won't come from an integration company or material handling firm who is biased towards solutions that they have either implemented before or concepts that involve hardware that they sell.  

But we also know how to operate these facilities efficiently, and we are forever researching ways to improve and reduce costs yet further in our clients’ sites.  TPG spends a good bit of time and money on research into the latest and best practices in direct fulfillment. Recently we have studied the physical characteristics of great packers, the efficiency of automated tape dispensers versus tape rollers in the packing process, and golden zoning versus random slotting of SKUs in batch pick environments for example.  We take great pride in being thought leaders in this industry.