--- title: Service is a choice description: Today’s successful fashion retailers are aware of the importance of speed and flexibility, and know how to achieve those objectives. image: https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/Service-is-keuze.png --- - [English](https://articles.involvation.com/service-is-a-choice) - [Nederlands](https://articles.involvation.com/nl/service-is-keuze) [![logo involvation](https://articles.involvation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo_Involvation_payoff_en.png?width=234&height=48&name=logo_Involvation_payoff_en.png "logo involvation")](https://www.involvation.com/) - [Consultancy & Implementation](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/) - [Supply Chain Network Design](https://www.involvation.com/nl/advies-realisatie/sc-network-design/) - [S&OP/IBP](https://info.involvation.com/sales-and-operations-planning) - [Supply Chain Resilience](https://info.involvation.com/supply-chain-resilience) - [Resilience Quickscan](https://info.involvation.com/resilience-quickscan-how-resilient-is-your-supply-chain) - [Forecasting & Inventory Management](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/forecasting-inventory-management/) - [Production & Process management](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/production-control/) - [Learning & Development](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/) - [The Value Chain Academy](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/the-value-chain-academy/) - [Serious gaming](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/serious-gaming/) - [Our training approach](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/approach/) - [Our areas of training](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/our-areas-training/) - [Interim Management](https://www.involvation.com/interim-management/) - [For Interim Managers](https://www.involvation.com/interim-management/voor-interim-managers/) - [For Clients](https://www.involvation.com/interim-management/voor-opdrachtgevers/) - [Our assignments](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/) - Per area - [Supply Chain Strategy & Design](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/sc-strategy-redesign/) - [S&OP/IBP](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/sop/) - [Forecasting & Inventory Management](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/stock-control/) - [Production & Process management](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/production-control/) - [Learning & Development](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/learning-development/) - [Interim Management](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/interim-management/) - [Demand Driven SCM](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/demand-driven-scm/) - Per industry - [Mechanical engineering](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/mechanical-engineering/) - [Construction](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/construction/) - [High tech & automotive](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/high-tech-automotive/) - [Energy & Utilities](https://www.involvation.com/energy-utilities/) - [Chemicals](https://www.involvation.com/chemicals/) - [Pharma & life sciences](https://www.involvation.com/pharma-life-sciences/) - [Agri business](https://www.involvation.com/agri-business/) - [Consumer products & retail](https://www.involvation.com/consumer-products-retail/) - [Customer stories](https://articles.involvation.com/tag/customer-stories) - [About us](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/) - [Who we are](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/who-we-are/) - [How we work](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/how-we-work/) - [Partner team](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/partnerteam/) - [Job Vacancies](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/job-vacancies/) - [Contact](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/contact) - [Publications](https://articles.involvation.com) - [Articles](https://articles.involvation.com) - [Downloads](https://info.involvation.com/download-overview) - [Events](https://info.involvation.com/event-overview) # Service is a choice ![Service is a choice](https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/Service-is-keuze.png) In an edition of the Dutch newspaper *Het Parool* dated 17 February 1967 I came across a full-page advertisement in which the high-end Amsterdam department store De Bijenkorf proudly announced its 26 (!) collections per year – ‘fast fashion’ way ahead of its time. In fact, it took until the start of this century before fast fashion really achieved a breakthrough, stimulated by labels such as Zara and H&M. So what went wrong for De Bijenkorf in the late 1960s? My hypothesis is that although De Bijenkorf’s commercial department understood the added value of fast fashion for its customers, the retailer’s back end – its NPD process and supply chain – were far from geared up for it.![service is keuze groot](https://articles.involvation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/service-is-keuze-groot-232x300-1.jpg?width=172&name=service-is-keuze-groot-232x300-1.jpg) Which is not really surprising. After all, to deliver on the promise of 26 collections per year you need to be very competent at managing the associated risks of too much or too little stock. Otherwise, you leave yourself wide open to overcrowded stockrooms and dissatisfied customers. In those days, De Bijenkorf’s time to market was probably around six months. Imagine having to precisely forecast how much of a new product you will sell six months down the line…that’s no mean feat. ## Resolving the service paradox Today’s successful fashion retailers are aware of the importance of speed and flexibility, and know how to achieve those objectives through conservative procurement (consistent under-buying), strategically placed (local) overcapacity, vertical integration, specialisation and postponement, among other things. Furthermore they know when responsiveness matters less, and that’s where they make their efficiency gains. The result is high customer value at low costs, thus resolving the service paradox. It turns out that service is a choice rather than a trade-off. ![](https://articles.involvation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Authors/Alex_Tjalsma.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=Alex_Tjalsma.jpg) [By Alex Tjalsma ![](https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Involvation_March2021/images/Capture.png)](mailto:a.tjalsma@involvation.com) ## Related items Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler ![einstein](https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/einstein.jpg) **Albert Einstein** ### Contact --- Emmalaan 5 3732 GM De Bilt T +31 30 - 2217766 E [info@involvation.com](mailto:info@involvation.com) ### Website --- - [Home](https://www.involvation.com/) - [Consultancy & Implementation](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/) - [Learning & Development](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/) - [Our assignments](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/) - [About us](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/) - [Publications](https://articles.involvation.com) - [Login](https://simcurve.involvation.nl/) ### Online games --- [Inventory Game](https://inventorygame.involvation.com/en) [Beer game](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/serious-gaming/beer-game/) © 2026 Involvation  ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Alex Tjalsma", "url" : "https://articles.involvation.com/author/alex-tjalsma" }, "dateModified" : "2023-05-01T15:06:29.134Z", "datePublished" : "2017-04-02T22:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Service is a choice", "image" : [ "https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/Service-is-keuze.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://articles.involvation.com/service-is-a-choice", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/logo_Involvation_payoff_nl.png" }, "name" : "Involvation" } } ```