Supply Network Solutions

A smarter, more efficient supply network allows retailers to contain costs and capitalize on unforeseen demand.

Historical-based forecasting is obsolete. Retailers have lost billions in excess merchandise as well as missed sales from running out of stock.

With a transaction-driven and real-time supply network, you can link actual store sales to manufacturing locations. Using data analytics on those transactions, you can reduce supply chain costs and deliver a tailored mix of products based on customer purchases in specific store locations.

The Supply Network retail solution contains integrated applications and projects in these essential retail areas. Select your highest priority projects and add others as you need them.

Supply Network Performance
Easily access a holistic view of supply chain metrics without IT intervention.

Supply Network and Inventory Optimization
An integrated view of sales channels allows you to utilize the supply network more effectively to maintain inventory levels. Optimize sourcing and distribution for your new products.

Vendor On-boarding and Maintenance
Understand vendor performance across your enterprise in all channels. Make changing or on-boarding new vendors seamless and efficient.

Trade Fund Management
Maximize profit by managing trade funds effectively with integrated processes to negotiate, execute, and reconcile trade fund contracts.

Warehouse and Transportation Management
Streamline your order fulfillment process and reduce inefficiencies that cause excess inventory. Manage the inventory, labor, and processes for a distributed network of warehouses.

Product Tracking
Assure inventory accuracy without high labor costs with high-value product tracking radio-frequency identification (RFID) labels.

• Dynamically allocate inventory based on real-time customer demand.
• Reduce order lead times with better vendor management.
• Maximize profits on trends with ability to quickly react to market dynamics.
• Know exactly where your merchandise is as it moves from the manufacturer to the store.
• Sensors, scanners, and RFID labels that track inventory in real time.
• Inventory tracking that automatically alerts you to reorder.

Smarter retail success story – Supply network optimization

One of China’s most successful department store retailers, Yansha, implemented a supply network management platform that allowed it to reduce order lead time from 2.5 days to 4.5 hours, and reduce order error rates to 1 percent. Read the case study.

IBM has proven enterprise software products for Supply Network operations management, which are used by leading retailers worldwide:

To learn more about how IBM Retail Industry solutions can help your business grow, contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner.