St Pierre's unique customs set-up contributes to success
St Pierre's unique set-up with suppliers profits from AEB's hybrid customs approach combining self-filing options with broker services.
Challenge
St Pierre Groupe is a UK-based branded bakery supplier, specializing in French brioche. Like many other businesses, St Pierre Groupe was tasked with tackling newly established customs regulations following Brexit.
The business was working with customs brokers to manage the import processes, but an internal audit highlighted that this was not cost-effective and meant outsourcing customs management – giving control of a detailed customs process to a third party.
The company’s unique set-up, whereby it does not have legal entities in the countries from which it imports, posed additional challenges around control and compliance.
St Pierre Groupe discovered AEB’s customs management platform whilst searching for a software solution that could help streamline its processes. The AEB system was of particular interest for a few key reasons:
- The platform allows for self-filing and filing with a broker all on the same system.
- AEB’s broker network complements the software and offers businesses the services of vetted customs brokers in over 20 countries.
This combination of capabilities is perfect for a business with a unique model, with its suppliers acting as exporters. Now, supplier partners in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, and Belgium use Customs Broker Integration software to ensure smooth export to the UK.
Meanwhile, St Pierre Groupe uses the AEB Direct Filing option to manage UK imports, making significant savings thanks to the automation in Customs Broker Integration.
Result
With the AEB hybrid system, St Pierre Groupe now has full control of all its customs processes. By handling imports in-house, the company is in charge of every step, while Customs Broker Integration provides complete transparency on the movement of goods, broker fees, and on any hold-ups that can prove costly.
Additionally, the business is now easily able to calculate the number of work hours spent on customs. A high level of automation in both AEB Direct Filing and Customs Broker Integration also means less manual intervention.
Crucially, St Pierre Groupe has ambitious plans for international expansion, so the AEB system is able to grow with the business as it expands its geographical footprint. By simply choosing another broker from the AEB partner network, St Pierre Groupe can either raise its volumes for a specific country or add a new country, allowing for unrivalled flexibility.
Simplify and accelerate your customs management
About ST PIERRE
St Pierre Groupe is an international market leader in the bakery sector with a brand portfolio that includes St Pierre, Baker Street and Paul Hollywood. The company provides bakery products to the global retail and wholesale markets as well as the hospitality industry and online to the UK, USA, Europe and the Middle East. In 2022, it became part of the world’s biggest bakery business, joining the Grupo Bimbo portfolio.