Pull back the curtain to build trust

While the news may focus on social media backlash against retailers based on customer service issues, politics or polarizing trends, what I’m excited to see in social media is a new brand vulnerability.

Companies are inviting customers behind the scenes to share how their products get to the shelves of their favorite stores. It’s driving customer affinity, and with that comes value, both in new customers and repeat purchases. Some examples:

• Betty Jo’s Ice Cream shares how they have gone from social drops to a pop-up location in their popular video.
• Kikiz Cosmeticz gained thousands of likes for sharing how they ship their orders.
• Batch Cookies celebrated their path from a farmers market tent to a new storefront.
• Bobbie Goods and Fayt racked up over 100K combined views with their warehouse tours.
• Waterbody shared how they got their skincare line sold at over 100 retail shops.
• Carpe, with over 25K TikTok followers, posts regularly from their warehouse, not only about their product but their process.

How SupplierWiki makes supply chain fun and useful

SPS Commerce is learning from this approach. At SPS SupplierWiki, we’re leaning into this trend and translating the fascinating, complex world of retail supply chains into bite-sized stories, explainers and tools.

As we dig into the details of retailer relationships, including quick explainers on how planning, compliance, and fulfillment all align, SupplierWiki brings the “how it works” magic into the mainstream.

The big idea: make supply chain the star

Supply chain is no longer something you need to hide behind your marketing, it is marketing.

By showing the behind-the-scenes work that goes into moving products to shelves, brands can spark curiosity and build loyalty. And it doesn’t look like more promotional noise.

Because when customers see what it takes to get their favorite items from the warehouse to the store shelf, they don’t just like the product, they feel part of the journey.

Start to explore and keep informed

Our online knowledge base is free and easy to browse for topics that interest you. Check out the hundreds of resources available at SupplierWiki today.

A cloud-based ERP system with unmatched industry-specific capabilities, Infor is a great choice for medium-to-large global manufacturers, distributors and after-sales service providers. But with so much flexibility and power built in, knowing how to get what you need out of your ERP software can be a challenge. That’s why SPS Commerce has created teams, integrations and strategies that you can use to increase the effectiveness of your ERP system and give your business an advantage.

Advantage #1: Close Partnership with Infor

When the Infor team needed a standard EDI mapping solution for consultants and customers, they came directly to SPS Commerce. We partnered with them to extend what our systems can do together, working with Infor’s best practices and ION Bods technology to bring new efficiencies to their powerful software suite. The relationship between Infor and SPS Commerce continues to expand capabilities across our solutions and makes it easier for businesses like yours to take full advantage of your cloud ERP solution.

Advantage #2: A Dedicated Integration Team

Our commitment to partnership goes beyond our connection to Infor—it’s a vital part of our integration strategy. Our customer success team makes it easier for you to implement new solutions by guiding you through each step as you move towards your goal, whether you’re introducing a new ERP system or making adjustments to the one you’re using. With an experienced group of team members in your corner, you can confidently take on transformational changes.

Advantage #3: Faster Certification

Shifting requirements and big deadlines can make it tough to keep up with compliance and certification on your own. SPS Commerce manages all EDI testing and mapping for our customers, ensuring that orders are accurate and compliant. When your data is in order and you have better oversight, certification and compliance processes become faster and easier to manage.

Advantage #4: Centralized Order Management

As your business grows, you’ll need an easier way to automate your order fulfillment process and get away from tedious manual entry. By integrating your Infor system with SPS Commerce solutions, you can take care of all your order management in one place and reduce manual data entry in the process. We offer a full-service solution for Infor ERP users that makes it possible to manage orders across wholesale, retail, eCommerce and marketplace channels in a single, convenient location.

Advantage #5: Smoother Scalability

Rapid growth can present exciting new opportunities for your business, but it can also introduce new challenges. Replacing or upgrading core systems can slow you down as you reallocate resources to integrate another solution. But with SPS Commerce, you’ll be equipped with the scalability you need to meet spikes in demand without having to choose, add and learn a new set of tools.

Advantage #6: Access to the SPS Network

Beyond the experience and technology SPS Commerce offers, our customers get access to the trading partners in the SPS Network. The SPS Network makes it easy to evolve your business and stay compliant by keeping you connected to the companies that can help you accelerate your growth. With instant connections to 350,0000 retailers, grocers, distributors, brands, 3PLs, carriers and more, partnering with SPS Commerce is a simple way to increase the reach of your business.

To get started, learn more about Infor EDI and reach out today.

Improving sell-through can be difficult. It’s a balancing act that requires access to clean data, visibility into sales and powerful tools. But, a few simple best practices from industry leaders can start businesses off on the right foot.

Sell-Through Best Practice #1: Become an expert in your data

Buyers don’t have time to understand the details of all their suppliers’ products. Instead, suppliers need to be experts in their products and their category. To improve sales, suppliers should also be experts in their sell-through data. Suppliers can build trust and gain buy-in on their recommendations by taking the time to understand the numbers.

Sell-Through Best Practice #2: Compare performance across retailers

Reviewing the sell-through performance of just one retailer can help suppliers boost performance in other places. For example, retail data helped a shoe company discover that sizes 7 and 13 weren’t selling well at a particular location. After sharing what they found, they made supply adjustments with their retail partners that improved their sell-through ratios. In another case, evidence that a particular colorway sold well at one retailer helped a supplier convince a different retailer to increase their stock. 

Sell-Through Best Practice #3: Identify overstocked locations

Certain retail partner locations may have too much inventory, causing sell-through to drop. When suppliers can easily see which locations are overstocked, they can work with the buyer on strategies to reduce existing stock and replace it with products that perform better. Strategies like markdowns, store transfers, or pop-up shops and events could help boost your overall sell-through. On the other hand, consider using the overstock data to renegotiate contracts with your vendors and get better terms, margin or pricing.

Sell-Through Best Practice #4: Take advantage of buyer meetings

Taking time to build better connections with your buyers can improve your sell-through. During buyer meetings, discuss strategies to handle products that aren’t performing, whether that’s running a promotion or discussing markdowns. For products that are selling well, attending buyer meetings can be an opportunity to suggest that buyers place more orders, make the most of seasonal opportunities and create a roadmap for the future.

Learn more about our approach to retail data analysis or how you can access sell-through data for all your retail partners.

Everyone Needs Accurate, Timely Product Data

Product details are useful to just about everyone across your company. From production to sales to shipping and accounting, details are needed to manufacture, store and invoice correctly. Almost any activity involving products requires product data.

Likewise, your external partners, primarily your retail customers and third-party logistics providers, also need item data. Retailers understand their customers. They know what fills shopping carts. Research shows that more product data leads to more sales. Retailers often require a wide range of product attributes that engage their customers. This data also provides their planners and operations teams with the details needed to showcase and receive items properly.

Both audiences, internal and external, have similar needs but today’s catalog management systems are designed to serve one or the other group, rarely both.

Finding the Right Catalog Management System Can Be Confusing

To find the right catalog management tool for your business, it’s important to understand your need, pick an audience, and ask a lot of questions.

Some questions to ask to assess your internal business needs are:

• Where is product data located? Who owns these internal systems?
• Who needs access to product details? Which details are important to them? Do they need to view the data or will they author it?
• How often are product details updated? Who governs the process to update or modify product date?
• What is the process to check the accuracy or completeness of the data?
• Is the data and its format consistent across business units?

Alternatively, to understand the external needs of your product data, we suggest asking the following questions:

• What information is required by each trading partner? What attributes are optional but would make our products stand out?
• How often do retailers need updates? How quickly are these updates reflected on their eCommerce sites or stores?
• What information do my competitors offer? How can product data become a competitive advantage?
• What format does each trading partner require for product details?
• How do retailers alert their suppliers about new product requirements?
• Can both digital assets, copy and other specs be communicated through a single channel or communication?

Now that you have a better understanding of what’s needed, your search for the right catalog management system can begin.

PIMs: Great for Internal Use, Not External

Product Information Management (PIM) solutions were designed to serve an internal audience. They do it well and provide value to organizations who have them. PIMs are designed to store internal assets and promote collaboration and consistency. They are not well-suited for getting this same data into the hands of retailers.

While some suppliers successfully use a PIM, they are seeing its limitations.

Using a PIM to manage external data needs is difficult and often results in manual processes. To do so will require a number of steps. Users first define the needed data and extract it from the PIM. Then they manipulate it to fit the format required by the retailer. Finally, they manually cross-check the resulting spreadsheet to ensure it complies with requirements. Alternatively, some suppliers have chosen to integrate their PIM with an externally-focused catalog management system that are focus on serving the needs of external parties, namely retailers.

Equip Retailers with Product Data, The Easy Way

If supporting your external trading partnerships is a priority, you’ll want to focus your search on solutions that focus on the external delivery of your product information. Use your understanding of your business needs and your retailer’s requirements to guide the process. A PIM is likely not your best option.

I’m frequently in discussions with suppliers about their business and the challenges they face. Often too much time is spent providing product details to retailers. They want to automate the process. When considering their next steps, they’ve found it helpful to ask catalog management system provider the following questions about your external needs:

• Do they understand my retailers’ requirements and have customers using it with my retailers?
• Do they keep the solution current, knowing the latest changes from my retailers? Is this my responsibility or theirs to manage this process?
• Are they flexible? Do they accept my preferred data formats to populate their solution?
• Do they run compliance checks against my data to uncover any discrepancies before the retailer does?
• Can we update the solution once and have it serve all retailers’ needs?
• Can I finally ditch the spreadsheets and get back to my other tasks?

Looking at improving the speed and accuracy of providing retailers with product data? It’s time you met SPS Commerce Assortment. Request a demo today. We’ll show you how easy this process can be. Together, we can get the right product details to your retailers.

Where to start with EDI software

Many companies start using EDI software to comply with a retailer’s request. They find that most retailers and distributors require EDI for orders, invoices or other types of supply chain data. By being EDI-ready, you can say “yes” to any opportunity and comply with all EDI requirements. 

If you’re just getting started, consider whether EDI is a core competency of your business. Many businesses don’t want to dedicate resources to time-consuming EDI tasks, such as making retail map updates and EDI testing. 

For those businesses, using a full-service EDI provider is the ideal choice. Full-service providers deliver outsourced EDI services that include technology and associated staffing resources. Full-service EDI providers include experts that customize, optimize and operate your EDI solution. With full-service EDI, your provider does all the heavy lifting of EDI software implementation on your behalf.

What if you’ve outgrown your current EDI software?

Many companies get to a point when their current EDI system won’t support their growth plans. Here are some common reasons this can occur:

• Data entry has become time-consuming because you’re processing a high volume of orders.
• Your EDI can’t keep up with surges or spikes in demand.
• Trading partners have increasingly complex requirements.
• Errors and/or chargebacks are occurring frequently.  
• You have a new business system of record and would like to also update your EDI software.

If this sounds like your situation, full-service EDI can help. Full-service solutions such as Fulfillment from SPS Commerce automate order fulfillment and reduce data entry by 90 percent or more. In addition, Fulfillment can be seamlessly integrated with dozens of different business systems such as QuickBooks, NetSuite and SAP.

How can you distinguish between EDI software providers?

On the surface, many EDI solutions sound similar. It’s critical to make an informed choice that will support your business for years to come. 

Learn how to differentiate between EDI providers in our EDI white paper. You’ll gain access to definitions and qualifying questions so you can make an apples-to-apples comparison between EDI solutions. Looking for a checklist to select the right EDI software? You can access our free RFP template here.

Interested in taking your business to the next level with EDI? Schedule a demo with one of our EDI experts.

• Ensure timely and accurate order entry
• Keep shipping costs from eating your margins
• Reduce time spent invoicing

Learn more about our Full-Service EDI NetSuite Integration

Good morning: Orders are rolling in and the drop-ship fulfillment process begins

Like most suppliers, you likely begin your day with an inbox full of orders that were sent overnight, and more are coming in via email, your website or retail portals throughout the day. After grabbing your morning coffee, you settle in and start to review orders and enter the order details into NetSuite, one-by-one. Receiving a purchase order kick starts your fulfillment process and the actual fulfillment of the order can’t begin until the order is available as a Sales Order within NetSuite.

In recent days, you’ve discovered that bulk orders may have been manageable to enter by hand. But, processing the order volume associated with hundreds of drop-ship orders is not!

Automation is key to managing the end-to-end order life cycle and ensuring orders can be fulfilled accurately and as quickly as possible. When drop-ship orders are integrated with NetSuite, the above scenario can look a lot different.

Imagine that after grabbing that same coffee, you log into NetSuite and your drop-ship orders are already available as Sales Orders. There is no need to log into multiple portals to download, or print and manually enter order details. You simply review the orders in NetSuite and approve them, saving you time and avoiding shipment delays.

What might seem overwhelming, can become manageable with automation from SPS. The SPS Fulfillment for NetSuite solution integrates EDI orders with NetSuite to make this step hands-free and error-free. Order entry all but disappears.

The daily grind: Packing drop-ship orders and finding cheap shipping

Your warehouse team knows a windfall of orders are coming their way and they have a time-consuming and complex process ahead of them. When a drop-ship order is ready and available in NetSuite, they can begin picking and packing.

Knowing that each retailer has their own required shipment form, packing slip and label, your team needs to visit various portals to fill out and print the needed information. Then, they go to UPS, FedEx and other websites or portals to check and compare shipping rates. When they finally find the cheapest one based on the specific package, they book it and note the tracking number. The box is packed, and they manually enter the tracking number into NetSuite.

A shipping notice needs to be sent to the retailer, so they know the order shipped. Your team enters the details into the long form, knowing each one can take 15 minutes or more. They hope it’s accurate and send it to off the retailer. On to the next order…

Orders aren’t the only part of the fulfillment process that can or should be automated. The drop shipping process can be simplified through automation. Options are available to support this process based on business needs and complexities.  At the simplest level, consolidating processes and minimizing clicks can save your team valuable time and eliminate the headache of tedious processes.

With SPS, your team can complete retailers’ ASNs, rate shop to see which carrier (UPS, FedEx, etc.) is the cheapest, book shipments and batch print labels or retailer branded packing slips all within SPS Fulfillment. You don’t need to open a million tabs from one carrier site to the next. SPS Fulfillment is integrated with the carrier sites, so the details of the shipment, including the carriers tracking number are already in the EDI document. No re-keying of lengthy tracking information is needed!

For suppliers with more advanced shipping capabilities, this process can be further streamlined and supported directly within NetSuite. They can use NetSuite’s native pick, pack and ship functionality, integrate with key shipping providers to book shipments, or leverage a Warehouse Management Solution (WMS) for outbound fulfillment operations. All the shipping data is captured within the NetSuite Item Fulfillment record, which SPS uses to create the EDI ASN, providing your retailer with notification that the order has shipped.

Closing up: Don’t let the invoicing process slow you down

With your drop-ship orders out the door, the last step in the process is invoicing. NetSuite scripts can be used to automatically create an invoice upon fulfillment of the Sales Order, which is an ideal solution for drop ship. When coupled with SPS NetSuite integration, these invoices can be automatically sent to your EDI retailers, removing the manual steps that are typically needed to trigger the EDI invoicing process.

SPS provides end to end visibility of the transaction so you can easily reconcile with NetSuite, greatly reducing time spent managing invoices. You’ll also improve tracking for faster, more accurate payments.

A better tomorrow: Finding success with NetSuite drop-ship automation

Recently, a health and beauty supplier shifted to a drop-ship order management model, using SPS Fulfillment for NetSuite to automate much of the process. In our conversation, they explained:

“Our SPS NetSuite system automation has become absolutely essential to our efficiency – we can’t afford to have anyone manually entering data for each of our drop-ship orders or make a mistake with any of our customers.”

Can SPS make drop shipping work better for you? It’s essential to your bottom line to make sure it doesn’t use all of your staff’s time or funds.

In light of the current environment, automation is more valuable than ever. Your reliance on staff and manual touches in the order-to-cash processes and influx in drop-ship orders are increasing, fast. SPS can bring order to the chaos that drop shipping can create. Our solutions scale to meet your needs no matter where you are in your NetSuite or drop-ship journey.

Contact our team of NetSuite experts to make your drop-ship order management process easier.

If your company is going through a transition like this, automating your order-to-cash process is a must. Improving how you process EDI transactions is an effective way to gain this level of automation.

If you are a NetSuite user, deciding on the best EDI solution can be overwhelming given the vast number of choices available. When your business is evaluating EDI options, it is important to understand if the solution is “Built for Oracle NetSuite Certified,” embedded within NetSuite, and whether or not the solution is full-service.

What is Built for Oracle NetSuite Certified, and why is it important?

Built for Oracle NetSuite Certified (BFN) is a NetSuite initiative to provide quality SuiteApps to NetSuite customers. This ensures that SDN Partner solutions meet the same level of standards for security, data privacy and overall quality as the solutions offered by NetSuite.

All NetSuite Development Partners must complete the Built for Oracle NetSuite Certified review process for each of their SuiteApps before going to market with their products. The BFN approval status must be renewed in each new NetSuite product release cycle twice per year.

Once NetSuite Development Partners go through the in-depth evaluation and certification process, then the SuiteApp has qualified for the Built for NetSuite badge and publication on SuiteApp.com

Industry-leading EDI and NetSuite ERP integration

What sets SPS Commerce Fulfillment for NetSuite apart? The SPS Commerce integrated SuiteApp is built within NetSuite, allowing you to work within the system to exchange required documents. With SPS Commerce Fulfillment for NetSuite you can:

• Extend sales order records
• Extend Item fulfillment & inventory records to meet EDI requirements
• Use your existing processes and workflows
• Minimize data entry and errors

Unlike other EDI solutions, SPS Commerce Fulfillment for NetSuite doesn’t require unique mappings per trading partner –– or a separate tool to export files or upload anything into your system. Simply log in to NetSuite, and your orders will be automatically available.

Maximize your NetSuite experience with 24/7 full-service support

As the industry leader, SPS Commerce is trusted by more than 50,000 subscribing customers worldwide to provide technology and EDI expertise. Because SPS Commerce Fulfillment for NetSuite is a full-service EDI solution, it’s also supported by a dedicated team of NetSuite integration specialists.

SPS uses an agile and phased approach that strategically aligns with NetSuite best practices, ensuring a positive experience and outcomes from the start and as your business evolves.

We make it simple to collaborate with trading partners around the world so you can benefit from the speed and accuracy of automated sales order creation, order acknowledgment, ship notice management, invoicing, and more. 

Ready to take the next step?

Whether you are looking to connect to one trading partner or hundreds, already using NetSuite or in the process of implementing it, SPS Fulfillment for NetSuite can easily scale to meet your needs.

And because our full-service solution is BFN certified and embedded within NetSuite, you can be completely confident in ongoing compliance and seamless operations as your business grows.

For more information or to get started today, please contact us or visit our NetSuite ERP page.

When you choose a new ERP system, you’ll want to implement it with plenty of time to get everyone adjusted and fluent in the new systems and processes. Whether you’ve implemented a new ERP and are working out all the bugs, or whether you’re thinking about switching ERPs next year, you want to make sure you have plenty of time to get it all working properly.

Change management is really the most difficult aspect of implementing new ERP systems, and well – pretty much any major change. You want to make sure you’ve considered everything when plugging in a new ERP. The last thing you want is for a process to be unexpectedly broken because it wasn’t accounted for in the implementation process.

The change process needs to be planned and someone should be in charge of it. They’ll set the milestones along the way, convert the old processes and documents (order management process, item masters, document standardization, and so on), and take the time to do it carefully and do it right. The path to success for this changeover is measured in quarters, not weeks or months.

One important thing to note about change management is that in many cases, upgrading the technology is relatively easy compared to managing the people who will be interacting with the new system. Your employees are used to working with the old system, and are set into their routines of the existing processes. They may have even become accustomed to the time-consuming workarounds required to bypass system limitations. Despite the pain points motivating the system upgrade, humans are just generally resistant to change. You’ll have people who might be intimidated by the unfamiliarity or complain that they miss aspects of the old system. It’s to be expected, but with the right action plan, training and rollout, the benefits of the change will help them quickly embrace the system and process changes.

Another thing to take into account is how does the ERP connect to your Supply Chain? If the ERP is the heart of your company’s internal systems and processes, EDI provides the oxygen, handling the exchange of important documents like invoices purchase orders, advanced ship notices and more into your company and out to your trading partners. It’s not only the access to your customers, it’s your access route to revenue. If you can’t properly exchange your trading data, you risk lost sales, non-compliance fees, incorrect shipments, missed payment, and worse.

Your EDI solution will need to be configured to accommodate your new ERP and whatever new processes that result. If you have in-house EDI, your techs will have to make all of the necessary changes. When EDI is outsourced to a company like SPS Commerce, the EDI provider will work with you to align your EDI processes with your new system. Online or hybrid systems may call for cooperation between in-house techs and outside service providers.

When is your new ERP going live? The best time to rollout a new ERP is ideally during the low season when there are the fewest chances for disruption. For most retailers, that low period is after “return season” has finished up by mid to late January. Even so, the longer I work at SPS, the more surprised I am at the number of companies that roll out new ERPs in the 4th quarter, smack dab in the middle of the holiday shopping season. This may be the worst time to roll it out, because not only is there an influx of orders, but the deliveries are extremely time sensitive – if the package isn’t delivered on time, you risk angry customers and returned products. Late Q2 and early Q3 are also good times to rollout, depending on your products. Additionally, the back to school shopping season in late July to early September is a great opportunity for testing how the new system is working. If you haven’t rolled out your new ERP by the first of August, you’re taking a big risk that your system won’t be ready for the holiday shopping season.

Finally, define what “done” means. Are you OK with rolling out before every process has been implemented in the new ERP? Or do you want to have absolutely everything in place before the rollout? This should be decided as part of the change management plan.

Though depending on your business and what processes you’re holding over, which path you choose here can have an impact. If your ERP has changed over and your EDI is mostly in sync, you might be able to roll it out if you’re only shipping to distribution centers before you’re actually “done.” That way, you can do live testing and just grind your way through the bugs. But if you rely significantly on shipping one-offs to retail stores for customer pickup or drop shipping directly to consumers, your system really needs to be 100% ready before you roll it out. Otherwise, you risk making customers very unhappy and driving them to other retailers.

SPS Commerce has helped thousands of customers connect ERPs to our EDI system, as well as navigate the treacherous waters of an ERP change over. For additional information speak with an SPS representative.