Cargo Crew: How hospitality uniforms got smart

Target your market

Cargo Crew has a knack for keeping its brand close to its market. For instance, it supplied vouchers for hospitality uniforms and work wear to winners of Time Out magazine’s food and pub awards in exchange for advertising. That helped bring hospitality heavyweight Merivale Group on-board as a client. But that wasn’t all.

“[Furniture chain] Freedom Australia contacted us after seeing our ad in Time Out Sydney,” explains Narelle Craig.

“We have just successfully rolled out staff uniforms for Freedom stores nationwide. And the new Cargo Crew uniforms have been received so positively that Freedom New Zealand are now keen to get on-board.” 

No-sweat technology lets you do more

Cargo Crew has embraced technology to meet growing demand. While the business can’t afford to employ tech experts full-time, it gets around this by engaging contractors with specialised knowledge for shorter periods.  

Craig says one of the business’s smartest decisions was investing in a warehouse management system (WMS) that connects with the accounting software. They upgraded the whole system to also integrate with the online store, so orders and shipping notifications upload automatically. Previously they had to be updated manually, which was both tedious and time consuming.

“The investment in our systems has enabled us to productively manage our growth to successfully service well over 1000 orders per month,” Craig explains.

And she is proud that they have been able to do it with their current staff.

“Although our business has tripled in the past three years, we have not had to bring new people in to manage expanding roles and responsibilities. Our team has continued to meet the challenges a more complex business places on them,” she says.

Other benefits of the upgraded WMS are real-time viewing of warehouse stock and improved day-to-day cash flow management.

They are also planning to launch an online shop for business clients, similar to the current consumer site. The website will be integrated into the WMS to show a client’s previous ordering history, invoice management, and access to stock.

The advantages of mobile broadband for business

Mobile technology from Telstra is also helping the business. “We do a lot of work from home on the weekends,” says Paul.

“And when we go away we have our white 4G mobile internet dongle that we take with us so we can go into our servers and see our reports, jump on our social media sites and monitor traffic.”

It’s all about the convenience of integrated digital communication, such as the apps on their smartphones that link through to sales.

“Our current social media consultant is based in South Africa, and through the power of our phones and laptops we can keep in contact with her,” adds Felicity.

“When we were featured on reality show The Block, she was able to, in real time, get pictures up on our social media. It’s amazing. Everything these days seems to make the world so much smaller.”