Point-of-Sales data support supplier-retailer collaboration
Joost Rongen | January 19, 2012 | High tech |
On January 18, EyeOn organised an idealab on the use of Point-of-Sales data in supply chain planning and execution processes. Participants from 4 leading companies in the consumer electronics and food industry – each in a different node of the integral supply chain - shared their views and learnings in an interactive session.
Key insights:
- Implementation of PoS-based processes requires top-down management commitment both at retailer and supplier; a bottom-up approach will most likely not bring the required changes in company culture and business processes;
- The exchange and active use of PoS data in supply chain planning and execution should be one of the elements of an overall collaboration framework between supplier and retailer. Implementation of such a collaborative framework takes a long time, is only realized step by step and is a lot of work;
- Mutual trust and the intention to create a long term relationship are the cornerstone for a successful retail-supplier collaboration. The traditional role of category managers and sales men need to change: they should focus on creating the right commercial conditions for collaboration and resist the pressure to go only for short term profit and margin optimization. And very important: there needs to be a win-win position for both parties.
- From an IT perspective, an active use of PoS data in planning and execution processes is only possible with automated solutions. Manual data processing should be avoided as much as possible as it is too cumbersome and increases the risk of human errors and disruption of the process.
For more backgrounds on this topic or to learn more from the insights of EyeOn’s projects on integrating PoS data into supply chain planning, contact Joost Rongen or Emile van Geel.
