The 1st quarter is now behind us, and as I have suggested over the past several months, companies are indeed looking at productivity efficiencies by adding new partners to their electronic trading program. In addition, they are looking at new types of data from existing partners. Doing this is a great tactic that will move toward the strategy of having visibility and/or controlling costs. However, many are now looking at “what is my true cost and are we charging the correct price to our customer?” Read more...

Over the years we've been discussing automating a Retailer or Grocer's supply chain. To many, this means working with suppliers or vendors that sell finished goods for resale. However there are supply chains within supply chains. So you may be wondering is "What is my supply chain?" Read more...

As companies continue to look at automating more and more of their suppliers, several have moved beyond the scope of the traditional merchandise purchases. They have found that with different partnerships there are other supply chains to automate. Areas that are being looked at are what some call Expense suppliers which would include Service suppliers, Utility companies, replacement or repair parts and services and some are even looking at automating the process of warranty parts. Read more...

Last January you may have read my article regarding retailers that were traditionally distributing merchandise via Brick and mortar but are now looking at a Vendor Direct model to supply their customers. Many of these retailers appear to have realized the value of what I wrote and as such I have seen higher growth in the number of retailers having customer orders ship directly from suppliers/factories. The value to the retailer is that this allows the retailer to maintain or increase sales without the investment in maintaining inventory levels. Read more...