Supply chain software: Retalix raises its profile

The other day, I had a chance to talk to Rik Schrader, senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Retalix’s supply chain division. With more than $225 million in total revenue, 1,300 employees, and customers in 50 countries, Retalix may be the largest supply chain-related software provider that most of us rarely hear from.

In part that’s because Retalix has always flown a little below the radar. An Israeli company, with US headquarters in Plano, Tx., Retalix has never beaten down our doors with press releases and requests for interviews like some of their competitors in the supply chain execution space.

And, in part, it’s that Retalix is not just a supply chain software company. A significant portion of their revenue comes from ERP, back office, and store-related applications for the retail industry. But in industries like food service, they are a player with deep expertise. “On the food side, we are in 65% of the top 200 companies,” says Schrader. “And, we’re starting to move beyond our core verticals.” In recent years, Retalix has landed a large food and wine beverage distributor in the Pacific Northwest and a Coca-Cola distributor in the Caribbean. They are eyeing CPG businesses that have traditionally been serviced by Manhattan, RedPrairie and HighJump.

What’s their pitch?

According to Schrader, Retalix brings two items to the table. The first, he says, is Tier 1 supply chain execution functionality, including warehouse management, transportation management with yard management and dock scheduling, labor management that includes embedded labor standards, and visibility that allows a company to manage a network of distribution centers.

The second, he argues, is the ability to plug those solutions into an ERP package with back office functions like financials, customer relationship management, web-based order entry and sales automation for managers and customer service representatives in the field.

“Because we have ERP functionality and supply chain execution, we believe the cost of ownership of our solutions is lower than using best-of-breed solutions and plugging those into another ERP,” says Schrader.

The company is moving forward with several improvements.

Software as a Service: Retalix has offered transportation management in a SaaS model for some time. It is moving to offer an order entry system in a hosted model.

Slotting: Retalix plans on rolling out a slotting tool, and to offer it as a licensed product for large end users who may reslot frequently and as a hosted solution for the Tier 2 customer or the customer that only needs to re-slot occasionally. “We know that our Tier 2 customer probably doesn’t have the resources to buy the software, but can benefit from reslotting every now and then,” says Schrader. “That works in an SaaS environment.”

Most of all, Schrader says, Retalix is working to raise its profile as a provider of store-based applications first. “We’re doing updates and briefings to let analysts and customers know that yes they know us for what we’ve done inside the store,” says Schrader. “Now, we’re updating the supply chain side of our business.”