WHY YOU SHOULD WELCOME APPAREL & FOOTWEAR ERP AUTOMATION IN 2021
2020 was a challenging year for U.S. companies in the apparel and retail industries. As of early December, more than 15 million Americans have reported being diagnosed with COVID-19 ( Source ). As a result, retail stores and manufacturing warehouses have been temporarily closed, operated at partial capacity or closed entirely. Simultaneously, tensions between the U.S. and other countries have been rising. This resulted in the EU imposing tariffs from 15-25% on many exports from the U.S. in November, making the purchase of U.S. goods seem less appealing ( Source ). Similarly, China has been “lowering tariffs on products originating” from countries other than the U.S., in order to increase business with those other nations ( Source). What does this mean for apparel and retail companies in the U.S.? Only the strongest will survive. Adopting automation may be the solution your company needs to stay competitive in 2021. When you welcome automation into your company’s processes via our comprehensive, web-based ERP software for apparel and footwear, you will see improvements rapidly. Some of the positive changes you anticipate are outlined below.
Improved Shipping Process
Our apparel ERP and inventory management software allows you to integrate your e-commerce transactions with your shipping. As soon as an order is placed, the software will update inventory, reflect the sale for accounting purposes, and print a shipping label from your parcel carrier. This is true whether you are receiving EDI orders from retailers, consumers, third party websites, etc. Our system also has the functionality to accept orders that contain embellishments and customizations. This automation will:
- Significantly lessen the time needed to ship a product
- Reduce errors, as there is no manual entry needed to complete the process
- Cut down the staff time needed to carry out the shipping process
Accelerating and improving shipping processes is more important now than ever. According to a 2018 study, nearly a quarter of shoppers cited slow delivery as a reason for cancelling an order ( Source ). Retail is a saturated market; you do not want a potential customer to cancel an order simply because your competitor can get product to them in a shorter period of time. If your warehouse management is holding you back, we can help.
Increased Visibility
During this time of extreme competition, it is important to offer logical functionality that makes it easy and pleasant to do business with you. Automated Customer and Vendor Portals do just that.
- The ABS Customer Payment Portal allows customers to see and act on key information 24/7. They can:
- See and pay outstanding balances. Users also possess the ability to choose to pay their total balance due or a specific invoice.
- View all past transactions. With our filter function, they can browse by different statuses such as open, paid, credit memo, etc. They also have the ability to download and/or print this information.
- The ABS Vendor Portal makes communication with vendors such as factories and contractors instant and effective, whether they are overseas or next door. This ensures better product turn-around, proactive management of your supply chain and a healthier bottom-line. Our Vendor Portal offers:
- A Notepad functionality, where buyers and vendors can communicate directly without having to sift through unrelated emails.
- Key notifications and alerts about Purchase orders to improve accuracy of the PO process.
- The ability to generate bar-code case labels at the factory that can then be placed on cartons.
- The ability to generate Advanced Shipping Notices by scanning or manually selecting a case from a container or truck.
- Advanced filtering and sorting capabilities so you can quickly locate the information you want.
- Easy to read reports of raw materials and receivings that are always up-to-date
- A place to exchange tech packs, images, invoices and other key documents
- Effective management tools that automatically alert you to specific bottlenecks in your supply chain
Enhanced Warehouse Operations
Automating warehouse operations unlocks a great deal of potential to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Here’s how:
- Accurately track and forecast inventory. Whether you rely on RFIDs, barcodes, or UCC labels, our software will always tell you the status of your inventory in real time. Your employees can access this information to answer questions from customers about the status of one of your products. It also comes in handy in making an informed decision about how much of a certain product to order in the future.
- Cut time on picking and packing. When you have a birds eye view of past and future orders, as well as current inventory status, it’s easy to shift to a pick and pack strategy that best fits your company. This gives you the ability to choose a strategy that will take less time and, which means less money is being spent by you.
Positive Word of Mouth Advertising
A lot has changed over the past year. But one thing always seems to remain constant: we trust people we know over advertisements. According to a study done by Nielsen, 92% of shoppers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other type of advertising. On the other hand, “negative word of mouth reviews have a higher impact and spread faster than positive feedback,” (Source). You need to do everything in your power to make sure your customers have good things to say about you. Automation makes this much more likely because:
- With reduced shipping times, you get your product to customers more quickly and without delays, making customers much more willing to rave about your brand.
- An automated warehouse means that the inventory reflected on your e-commerce channels will always be up-to-date, so customers will never get a notice of delay after ordering.
- Automated e-commerce integration means the information a customer enters into your site will be the information printed on the shipping label. There’s no chance of a mistype occurring from manual re-entries during the process.
If you’re ready to start 2021 strong, we are here to help.
Contact us today for more information on how you can build a loyal customer base.
4325 Alexander Drive, Suite 100
Alpharetta, GA 30022-3740