Modex 2012: RedPrairie says order anywhere, fulfill anywhere

Between stores, the Internet and smart phones, consumers can place an order or make a purchase no matter where they’re located.

Similarly, retailers can now fulfill their customers from anywhere they have inventory, said Tom Kozenski, vice president of product strategy for RedPrairie (Booth 405), a provider of supply chain software solutions that extend from the point of manufacture to the point of sale.

“From a supply chain standpoint, we have built out our platform to support an order anywhere, fulfill anywhere retail strategy,” Kozenski said. By extending warehouse, inventory management and shipping solutions into the retail store, Kozenski explained, a retailer can gain visibility into its inventory positions across the network, whether the inventory is in a store, a distribution center or in a trailer on its way to a distribution center.

That allows a retailer to take an order in its stores, from the Internet, from a smartphone or from a kiosk, and then fulfill it from the distribution center or retail store that is most advantageous to the retailer.

“The retail supply chain is changing and the biggest change has come as retailers have discovered that they can ship direct-to-consumer orders from their stores if they have a label printer and a terminal in the backroom,” Kozenski said. “With a holistic view of inventory, they can use business logic they can optimize the decision making about where is the best place to fulfill that order.”

Modex 2012 is scheduled to be held February 6-9, 2012 in Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center. The tradeshow will showcase the latest manufacturing, distribution and supply chain solutions in the material handling and logistics industry. Modern’s complete Modex 2012 coverage.