Getting real-time retail store information into the DC

New software solutions are enabling new processes between the retail store and the distribution centers.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/18/2006

Once a retailer captures real-time information in the store, all the components of an integrated supply chain execution system can come into play to drive the activities in the distribution center.

As an example, a beverage salesman visiting a grocery store may discover that the retailer is willing to provide more shelf space for a hot-selling wine. Today, not much happens with that information until the salesman returns to the office. Even then, there may be a several day delay between entering an order, picking the wine and delivering it to the store.

“With integrated software tools, the salesman can access the WMS and view the inventory for that wine from a PDA while he’s in the store,” says Joe Blauert, chief operating officer for HighJump Software. “If inventory is available, he can not only reserve the inventory, he can place an order in the WMS so that someone is picking the wine for the next truck going to that store.”

Knowing what’s selling in the store can also be used to match the supply of labor to demand in the DC and the store, says Ron Riggin, senior vice president of technology for RedPrairie. “If I know what’s selling and when it’s selling, I can allocate labor in the store to that department at the busiest times of the day,” says Riggin. “And, I can use that information to create a labor plan for replenishing the store from my distribution center.”

At the end of the day, Riggin adds, we can now take the information in the store and the supply chain to optimize transportation, inventory and labor in the DC and the store. “We’ve had all this information for years,” Riggin says. “What we haven’t had before are the tools to correlate the information and drive execution.”

To learn more about supply chain software in the retail supply chain, look for the November issue of Modern Materials Handling.