World Duty Free (WDF), now part of Avolta, operates over 75 airport retail outlets across the UK, specialising in alcohol, tobacco and other consumer goods.

Every airport store functions as a bonded warehouse, requiring strict compliance with customs and excise regulations. 

WDF became a Langdon client and successfully went live with the Langdon Duty Management System (DMS) in 2001, marking a significant milestone in their digital transformation.

The Challenge

WDF sought an integrated solution to manage:

  • Customs Freight Simplified Procedures (CFSP) for imports, now Simplified Customs Declaration Process (SCDP).
  • Excise duty compliance for alcohol and tobacco products.
  • Real-time duty calculation and reporting across multiple regimes, such as free circulation and export.
  • Seamless integration with their Manhattan WMS.

Key challenges included: 

  • Managing dual bonded status (customs and excise) for products.
  • Handling complex duty calculations (customs, excise, VAT) across multiple jurisdictions.
  • Maintaining zero positive stock balances while ensuring audit integrity.
  • Integration with CHIEF for customs declarations and compliance with HMRC reporting standards.
  • High data volumes requiring optimised performance and error handling.

Our Approach 

Langdon took an agile approach to accommodate evolving excise requirements and product mappings, delivering the project in two phases:

  1. CFSP implementation.
  2. Excise system implementation.

Building the Solution

Langdon implemented a fully integrated DMS tailored to WDF’s requirements:

  1. Receipts & Excise Module
    • Combined DIM-based receipt processing with automatic issue creation.
    • Introduced flags for ‘Customs Bonded’ and ‘Excise Bonded’ status.
    • Automated validation for product types and excise applicability.
    • Enhanced download logic to calculate net weight, case quantities and remnant bottles.
  2. Customs & Excise Consignment Warehouse Module
    • Centralised stock movement tracking with immediate issue processing.
    • Developed new reporting capabilities, including W50 and IPR Drawback Claim reports.
    • Implemented Customs Procedure Code (CPC) validation for all warehouse regimes.
  3. Duty Liability Interface
    • Built a two-way interface for ‘what-if’ duty calculations.
    • Generated detailed liability reports splitting customs and excise duties.
  4. Compliance & Reporting
    • Automated Supplementary Declaration for Imports/Supplementary Declaration for Warehouse removals (SDI/SDW) transmissions to CHIEF.
    • Developed additional reports for VAT, duty analysis and IPR claims.
    • Integrated export documentation (C88, AAD, T1/T2) for bonded movements.
  5. Technical Enhancements
    • Combined receipt/issue/export downloads for streamlined processing.
    • Implemented robust error handling and re-download capability.
    • Optimised performance for co-hosting with JDA on Oracle infrastructure.

The Results

Thanks to our agile approach, close collaboration between Langdon and WDF technical teams, and early identification of integration points with JDA and Manhattan systems, we were able to achieve: 

Regulatory compliance, including full alignment with HMRC customs and excise requirements.

Operational efficiency with automated duty calculations and reporting to reduce manual intervention.

Data integrity, maintaining zero positive stock balances with accurate audit trails.

Scalability with a system designed to support future expansion into offshore locations.

This project demonstrates that even the most complex customs and excise requirements can be handled by Langdon’s DMS. 

Coming up to 25 years of partnership, this is an impressive milestone that reflects the strength and longevity of Langdon’s relationship with WDF. We’re proud to have implemented and maintained such a valuable solution for so long, ensuring compliance, efficiency and scalability for one of the most demanding retail environments in the UK.

Like what you’ve heard and interested in working with us? Get in touch at info@langdoncustoms.com. For any additional questions, please contact Sam Richardson, Commercial Director at Langdon Customs and Excise Solutions Ltd.  

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