We offer our services as Application Service Provider (ASP). The ASP model allows us to offer our customers competitive prices without them having high upfront investment costs for software licenses and H-W installations. Our customers may choose from a wide range of modular services supporting supply-chain integration, especially focused on retail and FMCG.
The many-to-many business model of Retail@Link offers a one-stop-shop for the support of upstream and downstream business relationships.
Our advanced collaboration platform architecture, together with our personalized customer service, allows us to offer a high degree of customization, in this way meeting the specific needs of our customers and users.
Services include:
- Electronic Invoicing and EDI
- Internal Store Replenishment (ISR) for retail outlets from the chains distribution center
- Order proposal service that supports the Process of Collaborative Store Ordering (PCSO)
- VMI/CRP services
- Dynamic Statistics OLAP service on daily store POS data
- Electronic Distribution Channel Monitoring
- Data@Link application: secure and reliable data transfer over the Internet
The above solutions have been developed based on Microsoft technology.
e-invoicing is an online and automated service that enables businesses to exchange vouchers (invoices and other administrative and logistics documents). Retail@Link acts as a B2B hub between trading partners that use different information technology systems and enterprise applications (ERPs), implementing the fast, easy, and reliable management of electronic invoices. This service has three elements:
(1) Adoption of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standard for the digital exchange of invoices, one part of e-invoicing.
(2) Full-fledged electronic invoicing, which replaces paper invoices and is further supported by electronic signatures.
(3) Electronic archiving for the easy, secure and permanent storage of electronic documentation.
Note: EDI and e-invoicing parts may be offered in a dual package or as separate services.
The Benefits
- Fast, accurate processing and invoice transmission
- Faster and easier accounts reconciliation
- Increased transparency in commercial transactions
- Immediate ROI
- Fast roll-out to business partners due to hub connection (B2B consolidation)
- Cost-effective, qualitative, and secure distribution system
- No data processing mistakes
- No data entry cost for the receiver
- Reduced operational costs for sender (envelopes, postage, printouts) - up to 65%
- Improved B2B financial information flow
- Compliancy to tax regulations and the Code of Books and Records (ΚΒΣ)
- Compatible to any receiver’s or sender’s back-end solution
- Easy expansion to multiple trading partners
Return of Investment Figures:
ISR – Internal Store Replenishment
Internal Store Replenishment (ISR) supports the replenishment of retail outlets from a central distribution center through automated order proposal features over Retail@Link’s ASP platform. Retail@Link’s central collaboration platform allows a customized approach for each different store type, based on daily POS-data, including optimization features for stock-levels and orders. The service is easily expandable to include Retail@Link’s PCSO service, supporting direct-store-delivery, and the central web-based MIS reporting service for retailers and their suppliers.
The central application runs daily over 1500 data validations for daily and historic sales and product data, deliveries, stock, historic orders and assortment information per product code preparing a customized order proposal for each store. The effective data utilization makes it possible to support the store personnel with a user-friendly tool for efficient replenishment, increasing shelf availability and reducing stock levels. Some of the benefits of this service include the following:
- Increased shelf availability
- Increased customer loyalty
- Reduced stock levels
- Easy central assortment management, customizable per each individual store or store profile
- Order processing over user-friendly web-interface or handheld scanner device
- Better time utilization by the store personnel
- Customizable replenishment cycle
- Demand forecasting per individual product code
- Online order reporting and central monitoring
- Daily assortment validation
- Support of exception, promotion and new product codes handling
- Easily expandable to support collaborative store ordering for Direct Store Delivery (PCSO service)
- Easy expandable to CRP/VMI service
- Instant roll-out to all the stores
- Possibility of additional work-flow management for the ordering process
- No additional hardware investment is required at the stores or the Central offices
- No internal maintenance cost per store, as the application is maintained centrally
Possibility to include out-of-shelf alerts
PCSO – Process of Collaborative Store Ordering
The Process of Collaborative Store Ordering (PCSO) supports the replenishment of retail outlets following the Direct-Store-Delivery (DSD) model through sharing crucial order and product information per store between retailers and suppliers. The service is comparable and easy to integrate with the CRP/VMI collaboration service at DC level in order to support daily store replenishment. Retail@Link’s central collaboration platform allows a customized approach for all different store types, based on daily POS-data, including optimization features for stock-levels and orders. The service is easily extendable to include Retail@Link’s Internal Store Replenishment service (ISR) and/or the central web-based MIS reporting service for retailers and their suppliers.
The central application runs daily over 1500 data validations for daily and historic sales, deliveries, stock and historic orders, assortment information per product code, preparing a customized supplier specific order proposal for each store and combines it with value-data product-catalogue information. The effective data utilization allows supporting merchandisers and store personnel with a user-friendly tool for efficient replenishment at store level, increasing shelf availability and reducing over stocking. The main benefits are outlined below:
- Increased shelf availability
- Increased customer loyalty
- Reduced stock levels
- Automated Inventory and POS Sales visibility
- Order processing over user-friendly web-interface or handheld scanner device
- Better time utilization for merchandisers and store personnel
- Customizable replenishment cycle
- Product code individual demand forecasting
- Exception monitoring
- Online order reporting and central monitoring
- Daily assortment monitoring
- Support of Promotion and new product codes
- Easy extendable to ISR service
- Easy extendable to CRP/VMI service
- Possibility of additional work-flow management for ordering process
- No additional hardware investment at the stores or Central offices
- No store or chain internal maintenance cost, due to central application maintenance
- Possibility to include Out-of-shelf alerts
Continuous Replenishment Program (CRP) and Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) support retailers’ Central Warehouse replenishment based on established collaboration processes. According to the collaboration model applied, the supplier has partial or total control over the inventory management of his products in the retailers’ Distribution Centers (DC). The service is developed using state of the art technologies, designed to support high data volumes with optimal response time to many concurrent users.
Retail@Link offers this service through the Internet (ASP). Due to the economies of scales, this model supports the supplier to purchase a turnkey solution at very competitive prices without having to incur the cost for any additional hardware or software licenses, nor the investment in communication set-up with the different systems of retailers.
The benefits acquired from the use of CRP/VMI are significant and the service’s first objective is to optimally utilize any allocated space in the retailer’s warehouse so as to consequently achieve higher satisfaction for the final buyer through the reduction of over exaggerated reserves while simultaneously controlling any shortages. A further benefit in using CRP/VMI is that within the online environment, inter-party communication is easily achieved. Therefore, by achieving economies of scale, every supplier purchases a ready-made solution, which supports connectivity with all retailers and for a very competitive price.
The main advantages for the side of the retailer that come from the use of CRP/VMI are as follows:
- Connection with one service provider that allows communication on a many-to-many scale
- Faster technical set-up and extension of CRP to suppliers
- Project management, support and co-ordination from an independent service provider
- Possibility of data evaluation for all suppliers through the same online source
- User friendly web-interface with quick and easy access over the Internet
- A flexible, sophisticated and tested order proposal and forecasting model, based on long-term users’ experience and know-how by Retail@Link’s development and support team
- Fast connectivity to many suppliers and retailers
- Very low integration cost
- High level of integration to peripheral applications
- Easy upgradeable to other Retail@Link collaboration services
- Improved service levels to retailers and consumers
- Improved inventory levels
- Reduced Out-of-Stocks
- Reduced administrative costs
- Elimination of product returns
- Elimination of order mistakes
- Shorter lead times
- Reduced inventory days
- Lower logistics and transportation cost
- High inventory visibility
- Streamlining of upstream and downstream supply chain processes
DSR - Dynamic Sales Reports
The Dynamic Sales Reports (DSR) offer retailers the possibility to share their daily POS data with all or selected suppliers. The reports can include all replenishment or marketing relevant data, i.e. daily POS per SKU per store, actual store assortments, promotional activities, store stock levels, placed store orders, delivery quantities etc. Like all services of Retail@Link are based on state-of–the-art technology, the dynamic sales reports use online OLAP technology and can be offered as ASP version or as product license version.
POS data sharing offers a common collaboration platform between retailers and their suppliers for sharing crucial data in order to improve the daily replenishment process as well as the common understanding of the consumer behavior. This way Efficient Consumer Response—ECR is increased. Other benefits of the model are as follows:
- Daily reports update of POS data
- Flexible customization of authorization management in accordance to the customers’ data privacy policy
- ASP model service or software license product version
- Fully online drill-up and drill-down facilities over several dimensions
- Easy expandability to support collaborative store ordering for Direct Store Delivery (PCSO service)
- Possibility to include out-of-shelf alerts
- Instant visibility of the effectiveness of promotional activities
- Instant monitoring of new product launches
- Localization of lost sales
- Sales force remote monitoring
- Daily store performance monitoring
e-DCM - Electronic Distributor Channel Monitoring
The Electronic Distribution Channel Monitoring service is based on the dynamic statistics and sales report service, supporting the monitoring and data synchronization of different distribution channels for FMCG companies.
Retail@Link offers online reporting on the distributors’ sales data, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The repots are available as dynamic OLAP online reports via Internet with drill-up and drill-down facilities for the user. As all services of Retail@Link, such monitoring may be integrated and extended to further support order and replenishment with the intermediaries.
The Electronic Distribution Channel Monitoring service (e-DCM) combines the features and advantages of Retail@Link’s e-Invoicing service with the central web-based MIS reporting service. According to the distribution model of the supplier company the data can be collected, validated, monitored and processed from the intermediary companies on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
The processing and reporting can be customized based on the needs of the company, for example per channel (retail, HoReCa, night, etc.), geographically, per product category or per time-period. The sales data of the distributors is processed automatically to the Suppliers ERP using Retail@Link’s e-Invoicing service features.
The benefits that suppliers acquire from the use of Retail@Link’s MIS reporting service in combination with the e-invoicing services include among others:
- User-friendly web-interface with quick and easy access over the Internet
- Easily extendable to Retail@Link’s collaboration services CRP/VMI
- Easily extendable to Retail@Link’s collaboration services also for the intermediary distributors
- Elimination of resource intensive internal maintenance for IT-applications
- A flexible, sophisticated and tested OLAP monitoring tool
- Including long-term users’ experience and know-how by Retail@Link’s development and support team
- Monitoring of demand and supply-chain over n-tier levels
- Improved service levels to non key-account customers, retailers and their customers
- Improved inventory levels and reduced Out-of-Stocks over the n-tier supply-chain
- Compatible to any distributors’ or suppliers’ back-end solution
- Reduced administrative and data processing costs
- No data processing mistakes
- Product-data-alignment and catalogue data validation
- Faster and easier accounts reconciliation
- Secure and efficient file transfer
- Server and client-side monitoring
e-Ordering – Electronic Ordering
The service of electronic ordering (e-Ordering) addresses supplier companies and retailers of all sizes, who wish to adopt a fast and easy way to communicate electronically with all their accounts. This may serve as a first step to CRP/VMI collaboration as a back-end integrated solution. Further, e-Ordering allows the supplier to have access to the orders sent by the retailers through a user-friendly, dedicated web page supported by Retail@Link.
The solution’s major characteristics are its fast set-up as well as its user friendliness, especially in comparison to the classic EDI solutions. The automated data exchange between the supplier’s ERP system and Retail@Link’s collaborative platform that supports any file format (i.e. ASCII, EDI, XML, etc.) is supported by the safe and consistent data communication module Data@Link .
DATA VALIDATION SERVICES
A major topic of concern for industries that rely on the applications of information technology providers regards the quality and size of data processed and the extent of their usefulness.
Many of the systems that retailers use keep multiple data and out of date information. Therefore, it may become extremely difficult for them to make credible use of information that is essential for the support of replenishment, the management of products and the needs of administration. Such internal difficulties may be eliminated through the use of Retail@Link’s data validation services.
Data @ Link
The Data@Link is a distributed system that performs the transfer of the digital form of invoices exchanged between the suppliers and the retailers.
Its processing engine, receives the data in the layout supported by the organization that produces it and, after the relevant processing completes, it forwards the data to the intended recipient using the layout supported by the recipient’s ERP and/or Back-Office. D ue to the fact that the system can adapt to the data import/export methods of the central system (ERP/Back-Office) used by the organizations involved in the exchange of data, the final users continue to use their own systems. This minimizes the need for any training on Data@Link.
The only prerequisites for the client portion of the system are a computer running a Microsoft OS newer than Windows 98 and a connection to the internet.
Prior to the transmission to/from Retail@Link’s server, all data is encrypted (128-bit) so that it is practically impossible for a third party to view its contents. If for any reason a transmitted message is found to be faulty or corrupted, the system automatically sends e-mails to all the interested parties as well as Retail@Link’s support staff so that the error is identified and resolved as early as possible.
- Use of cutting edge technology:
- Microsoft . NET Framework
- Web-Services
- 128- bit encryption
- SOAP
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000
- XML