Contrary to the harsh realities of retailers today (where processes remain heavily “silo'ed,” with no automated workflow management), the software providers listed above recommend that at least the initial sourcing stages (from concept to buy) be automated and monitored. The potential benefits can be substantial for retailers that work collaboratively with key suppliers to enhance cross-company product development processes in addition to adopting joint innovative packaging and marketing strategies. As competition becomes stronger and the pace of product introduction continues to grow, the effective scaling of product development and life cycle activities is mandatory. From facilitating collaboration with key suppliers to reducing miscommunications and errors in the early stages of a product life cycle, integrating "pre-SKU" (stock-keeping unit) with "post-SKU" information is critical.
Thus, owing to the integration with core systems for product data management (PDM) and purchasing, from the initial sourcing process steps, a one-time data entry with all pertinent information must be held in a single repository and shared with users and other stakeholders as appropriate. As for quality and risk management, supplier assessment should be managed from the earliest stages throughout the entire product life cycle. This data repository, which must be held centrally, should enable suppliers to maintain their own pertinent information (as it changes, and of course, only data that is permitted by the retailer), while automated creation of a supplier record in core business systems once that supplier has been approved should be possible.
Then, as the process extends into the produce phase, it should be led by the order management process tracking and workflow management (to control the order definition, acknowledgement, and acceptance) while the supplier performance KPIs continue to be monitored through the inspection and audit process. Control and monitoring do not stop there given the extension of tracking and workflow to manage logistics processes via integration with 3rd party logistics (3PL) providers. Ongoing assessment of supplier performance continues at the dock side (for example, ensuring that all is in accordance with the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail [OTIF] metrics and recommendations). Last but not least, during the sell and service phase, one should monitor the performance of in-store products. This review process is driven by KPI tracking and monitoring; performance of individual products are tracked, and KPIs are shared with suppliers as appropriate.
Most retailers are consistently striving to improve the performance of each and every supplier, while the market leaders are effectively building and managing supplier relationships and looking for ways to improve the performance of their overall global supplier network. The emergence of industry standards, more effective KPI programs, and analytic tools is enabling companies to benchmark individual suppliers against other in-network partners as well as suppliers outside the retailer's network. As the cliché goes, “change is the only constant,” but one can never underestimate the need to plan for change, from incidental and inevitable changes to significant business changes, such as executive moves, organizational restructuring, or shifts in the competitive or regulatory environment. Trading partners must also plan for the positive changes that need to occur within the alliance, since a supplier relationship can succeed only if continuous, incremental improvements are systematically built in.
The information shared between partners should enable them to work more efficiently with one another. To that end, apparel retailers find themselves in an especially dynamic environment in which suppliers appear and disappear with astonishing frequency, and in which key designers and purchasers often jump from one company to another. Their response has to therefore be multi-pronged, starting with finding ways to shift supply channels quickly when one supplier goes under. However, garment retailers must also continually look for ways to help each important supplier succeed as well as be careful to strengthen relationships with the individuals within the vendor companies, not just with the companies themselves.
For example, garment retailers must recognize that its buyers will not be the only employees directly affected by each relationship it establishes with a remote fashion manufacturer. Its marketing decision makers will want to raise issues about responsiveness and timing, whereas regional managers will want to know how flexible the supplier can be in responding to differences in local trends. The IT departments will need to design methods for real-time sharing of information at all points in the supply chain, from placing POs to tracking store deliveries and transfers of discounted goods. Other issues, such as quality control and shipping and delivery logistics, need to be considered. In each case, the people most directly responsible—and those most directly affected—need to be brought into the process as early as possible.
Even mere paperwork can account for up to 7 percent of the total cost of international trade. Retailers spend most of their time on such activities as coordination of document changes with their suppliers (for example, specification changes, work in progress [WIP] activities, delivery date revisions, shipping and labeling revisions, etc.), with delays or lengthy lead times as a result. Further, intensifying global security concerns mean that much more information is required by governments (as opposed to merely applying customary harmonized tariff schedule [HTS] codes and checking whether something has, for example, been made from an endangered species of animals), and component tracking has become essential to conducting business across borders.
Thus, owing to the integration with core systems for product data management (PDM) and purchasing, from the initial sourcing process steps, a one-time data entry with all pertinent information must be held in a single repository and shared with users and other stakeholders as appropriate. As for quality and risk management, supplier assessment should be managed from the earliest stages throughout the entire product life cycle. This data repository, which must be held centrally, should enable suppliers to maintain their own pertinent information (as it changes, and of course, only data that is permitted by the retailer), while automated creation of a supplier record in core business systems once that supplier has been approved should be possible.
Then, as the process extends into the produce phase, it should be led by the order management process tracking and workflow management (to control the order definition, acknowledgement, and acceptance) while the supplier performance KPIs continue to be monitored through the inspection and audit process. Control and monitoring do not stop there given the extension of tracking and workflow to manage logistics processes via integration with 3rd party logistics (3PL) providers. Ongoing assessment of supplier performance continues at the dock side (for example, ensuring that all is in accordance with the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail [OTIF] metrics and recommendations). Last but not least, during the sell and service phase, one should monitor the performance of in-store products. This review process is driven by KPI tracking and monitoring; performance of individual products are tracked, and KPIs are shared with suppliers as appropriate.
Most retailers are consistently striving to improve the performance of each and every supplier, while the market leaders are effectively building and managing supplier relationships and looking for ways to improve the performance of their overall global supplier network. The emergence of industry standards, more effective KPI programs, and analytic tools is enabling companies to benchmark individual suppliers against other in-network partners as well as suppliers outside the retailer's network. As the cliché goes, “change is the only constant,” but one can never underestimate the need to plan for change, from incidental and inevitable changes to significant business changes, such as executive moves, organizational restructuring, or shifts in the competitive or regulatory environment. Trading partners must also plan for the positive changes that need to occur within the alliance, since a supplier relationship can succeed only if continuous, incremental improvements are systematically built in.
The information shared between partners should enable them to work more efficiently with one another. To that end, apparel retailers find themselves in an especially dynamic environment in which suppliers appear and disappear with astonishing frequency, and in which key designers and purchasers often jump from one company to another. Their response has to therefore be multi-pronged, starting with finding ways to shift supply channels quickly when one supplier goes under. However, garment retailers must also continually look for ways to help each important supplier succeed as well as be careful to strengthen relationships with the individuals within the vendor companies, not just with the companies themselves.
For example, garment retailers must recognize that its buyers will not be the only employees directly affected by each relationship it establishes with a remote fashion manufacturer. Its marketing decision makers will want to raise issues about responsiveness and timing, whereas regional managers will want to know how flexible the supplier can be in responding to differences in local trends. The IT departments will need to design methods for real-time sharing of information at all points in the supply chain, from placing POs to tracking store deliveries and transfers of discounted goods. Other issues, such as quality control and shipping and delivery logistics, need to be considered. In each case, the people most directly responsible—and those most directly affected—need to be brought into the process as early as possible.
Even mere paperwork can account for up to 7 percent of the total cost of international trade. Retailers spend most of their time on such activities as coordination of document changes with their suppliers (for example, specification changes, work in progress [WIP] activities, delivery date revisions, shipping and labeling revisions, etc.), with delays or lengthy lead times as a result. Further, intensifying global security concerns mean that much more information is required by governments (as opposed to merely applying customary harmonized tariff schedule [HTS] codes and checking whether something has, for example, been made from an endangered species of animals), and component tracking has become essential to conducting business across borders.
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