Retail

E2open helps retailers face twenty-first century supply chain challenges.

Across every type of retailer, from grocers to convenience stores and eCommerce players, understanding customer behavior and efficiently managing inventories is the key to overcoming razor-thin margins.

To complicate matters, consumer goods companies continue to innovate at a high pace, multiplying the number of SKUs and product variants while shrinking their product lifecycles. Consumers themselves are more fickle than ever, following social media trends in real-time on their smart phones. At the same time the “Amazon effect” has driven up customer expectations in terms of product choice, price comparison, and next-day delivery capabilities. The competition between online and traditional shopping is also prompting retailers to become more fast-paced themselves and explore new models, such as offering omni-channel or drop-ship capabilities.

E2open, working with leading companies, has a range of solutions to address the key supply chain challenges retail companies face.

Many companies have discovered the changes necessary to effectively manage a twenty-first century demand-supply network are largely impossible using existing ERP and SCM solutions, particularly when it comes to applying these solutions’ on-premise technology infrastructures.

Challenge

Dealing with unpredictable demand

Solution

Demand Sensing to accurately predict near-term demand by using current information to better reflect market realities, including performance of new products and promotions

Demand Planning that leverages advanced pattern recognition to create more accurate long-term forecasts and automate the planning process to improve planner productivity

Challenge

Ensuring that decisions made in mid- to long-term will enable profitable and streamlined execution

Solution

Sales & Operations Planning / Integrated Business Planning for making decisions jointly with internal functions (such as, marketing, operations and finance) and external partners (such as consumer goods companies), on mid- to long-term actions for operating profitably and avoiding risk, through scenario building and analytics

Challenge

Running a supply chain, with multiple supply chain partners (suppliers, 3PLs…)

Solution

Multi-Enterprise Cloud Connectivity to connect all supply chain partners in real-time

Supply Chain Visibility and Collaboration to synchronize all information across the supply chain to provide one version of the truth

Analytics and Visualization to provide an integrated, end-to-end supply chain cockpit, showing exceptions with their impact on KPIs, and with drill-down capabilities

Challenge

Ensuring high finished goods availability

Solution

Forecast Collaboration to exchange forecasts and commits with suppliers and contract manufacturers

Supplier Collaboration to collaborate on orders, shipments, and receipts as well as tracks issues with suppliers

Order Promising & Allocation to optimally and profitably allocate the right products to the right channels and make reliable commitments

Inbound VMI to enable CPFR and other replenishment models with suppliers

Inventory Collaboration to provide accurate inventory visibility across the supply chain

Inventory Optimization to best position inventory for optimal service levels at the lowest cost and with minimal waste

Challenge

Effective distribution logistics

Solution

Logistics Visibility to track actual shipping status

Transportation Forecasting for advanced visibility to transportation and warehousing needs

Drop/Ship capabilities to enable new fulfillment models

E2open has helped leading retailers address these challenges. By leveraging the E2open network and supply chain solutions, they can operate their supply chain in real-time, helping them become much better at sensing demand and therefore responding quicker through better planning and execution with their suppliers.

Additional Resources

Vendor Managed Inventory for Your Company

White Paper

E2open helps retailers face twenty-first century supply chain challenges.

Additional Resources

Making VMI Work for Your Company

Avon Calls on E2open for Better Supply Chain Performance

VMI Strategies: Breaking Down the Numbers