Globally Source Your Retail Supply Chain With SaaS

SaaS (Software as a Service) can provide the visibility needed to tackle trends involving speed to market, fast fashion, and private label initiatives.

In today's global economy, most discussions involving the retail supply chain contain a global sourcing component. When the general public thinks of global sourcing today, quite likely one of the first topics to come to mind is quality control. With all the recalls and controversies surrounding toys from China, it can be difficult for consumers to think of anything else. Vicki Amendola, of Corry Publishing, recently spoke with five providers of sourcing services. Surprisingly, they see quality control as part of a much bigger picture. These industry experts stress a continued push toward hosted sourcing solutions — solutions that provide visibility across the entire supply chain, enabling retailers to manage quality control and support trends involving speed to market and the push toward private label merchandising.

One of the primary obstacles facing retailers in a global sourcing environment is that very seldom are all parties involved leveraging the same operational platforms. The range of data collection systems runs the gamut from rudimentary Excel spreadsheets to enterprise-level ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems such as Oracle and SAP. "As the industry is becoming more global, retailers need to have a platform that can scale to any level," says Lisa Sawhney, director of product marketing and strategy at Tourtellotte Solutions. "Many sourcing providers are moving toward hosted or SaaS (Software as a Service)-based solutions that are designed to normalize information produced by these multiple, disparate systems." Normalizing information simply means translating the incoming data into a format, such as XML (extensible markup language), that can be used regardless of an entity's operating system. SaaS is loosely defined as a software delivery model in which an application is designed for, and delivered via, the Web. The retailer does not own the software. Instead, the retailer pays to use the software on a monthly basis.

"SaaS is big news," says Sawhney, "because it enables the smaller companies to put tools in place to be able to source abroad and maximize their profits." If you're a retail giant like Wal-Mart, you have the buying power to demand that your suppliers use your proprietary software, but smaller retailers without that buying power can benefit from the hosted solutions available today.