The American 5.11 Tactical began its logistics operations in Mexico with a new warehouse in the State of Mexico run by Onest Smart Logistics , which will support all the company’s activities.
With 20 years in the market, it is part of the clothing and footwear industry, with suppliers in the United States and Asia, and 12 years ago it arrived in Mexico through distributors who imported from their warehouse in California.
Felipe Ramírez, Director of Operations for 5.11 Tactical in Mexico, pointed out in an interview for T21 that the strategy the company is following is towards growth in new channels , so logistics plays a relevant role.
Vania Imán, Marketing & E-commerce manager at Onest, explained that they began talks with 5.11 five years ago, as they were looking for a strategic partner to help them implement the digital channel in the country.
“Due to the pandemic, it was put on pause, but it helped because we could rethink the strategy to better bring the entire business and operate from Mexico,” he added.
In this sense, Felipe Ramírez explained that with this operation they are going to bet on e-commerce , with their online store, in addition to entering the main marketplaces and joining stores such as Liverpool and Palacio de Hierro .
“The Mexican market is one of the most important in Latin America, being a neighbor with the United States creates synergy in regional growth. The growth that Mexico has had has been and will be one of the main pillars for which many companies are investing, it is a great country to do logistics,” said Felipe Ramírez.
5.11 Tactical will import directly from suppliers in the United States and Asia and will place the merchandise in the warehouse in the State of Mexico.
This infrastructure consists of two thousand square meters (m2) , 1,400 rack positions and 1,200 assortment positions; in addition to six stations for the labeling process, platform crossing and a warehouse management system (WMS) .
“We are going to do all the tax payment processes and we are going to label it so that it is available for sale, they will no longer have to go to the United States to acquire them,” said Ramírez.
The American company will import its products from Asia through the port of Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo , as well as products from the United States will enter through Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo, so the manager pointed out that its main logistical challenges will be transit times and container availability.
For this reason, they do not rule out that a project could be implemented by 2026 so that some products can be manufactured in Mexican territory.
“The 3PL is a strategic partner. We chose Onest for its reliability, we hope that with this new alliance we can achieve the expected growth and generate a positioning in Mexico for the following years,” he concluded.
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