Supplier Collaboration the Benefits to Retailers

Rapid retail developments in both client expectations and technical capabilities has meant it is crucial for retailers to focus on using whatever tools they can find to ensure they remain competitive and are able to respond quickly to customer demands.

Retailers understand that a good working relationship with their supplier base has always been an essential ingredient to supply chain efficiency. A retail system which actively supports this collaboration is imperative. Ultimately, having an impact on customer perception of your brand and the margins you achieve.

Research on Supplier Collaboration

According to McKinsey1, companies with progressive supplier collaboration capabilities can outperform their peers in growth metrics.

The benefits of selecting a retail management system which can support and help not only set up the basic information needed to communicate with vendors such as products, costs and multiple types of purchase orders, deliveries and returns, accounts payable and receivable. Then layer on the ability to nurture the relationship between a retailer and its vendor base encouraging swift collaboration, will ultimately reap many rewards.

A centralised system which can help manage the supply chain and communicate with your suppliers effectively will ensure agility and further down the supply chain the customer will benefit.

Ultimately supplier collaboration will assist in a more profitable supply chain for everyone and can impact positively all areas of a retailer’s business. Some key advantages include:

– Reduce costs from supply chain

– Remove administrative costs

– Tighter control

– Increase efficiency & automation with the tools to allow many departments and invested parties to work in harmony

o Buying

o Finance

o Merchandising

o Logistics

o Suppliers

What Island Pacific can offer

Island Pacific have been providing global retail solutions for over 40 years as part of the Island Pacific SmartSuite the Island Pacific SmartWeb Supplier portal, offers a solution which fully supports the collaboration between retailers and its suppliers

Island Pacific SmartWeb Supplier portal allows for a seamless transfer of information between retailers and their vendors via an online portal which is available in real time and includes features such as

– Vendor onboarding

– Vendors ability to access and update catalogues

– Automated notifications of updates to both vendor & retailer

– Purchase Order workflow & Collaboration

– Invoice Payables visibility to vendors

– Delivery Scheduling into the DC

– Recall and RTV

Island Pacific SmartSuite offers retailers the option to Choose from an end to end solution or retailers can select the module which most suits their key pain points and evolve over time and add on future modules. Island Pacific SmartSuite has broad and deep capabilities built on best practice retail processes including Planning, data management, extensive purchase order management, allocation and replenishment, forecasting warehouse, financials as well as the ability to cope with all channel activity from web B2C, wholesale and franchise B2B, Bricks and mortar with point of sale both fixed and mobile.

References

1. McKinsey & Company, https://www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org/files/Education/2012Podcast9_McKinseyPodcast.pdf