Point Of Sale Initiative: Tree Of Life And ECRS Approach Phase One Completion Of EDI Replenishment Initiative
Electronic POs, PO Acknowledgments, Electronic Invoices, Automated Email Notifications, and Promotional Distribution Available to T.O.L. Retailer Customers
ECR Software Corporation (ECRS) and Tree of Life Inc. announced a release date of May 1, 2007 for Phase One of their EDI-based supply chain and marketing automation link between Tree of Life and their retail customers who use the ECRS Catapult Enterprise Point of Sale and Supplier Integration Server (SIS). Phase One of the project includes Electronic Purchase Orders, Purchase Order Acknowledgments, Electronic Invoices, Automated Email Notifications, and Promotional Distribution. Planned functionality for Phase Two includes Automated Supplier Catalog Synchronization and Invoice-Based Cost Synchronization.
"ECRS's direct integration with Tree of Life is literally transforming the way we do business," said Mike Asher of Rollin' Oats Market and Cafe in St. Petersburg, FL. "We now send electronic POs directly to Tree, which saves us anywhere from one to four hours on every order. The time savings alone make this a worthwhile investment. Furthermore, the system's automated email notifications keep me informed of order status at all points in the supply chain process. This level of situational awareness is a huge plus for me as a retailer." "ECRS's Supplier Integration Server has enormous potential for streamlining my business and reducing cost across my chain, and I'm excited that Tree and ECRS are working together to solve real problems for our industry," said Don Caster, owner of Raisin Rack in Central Ohio. "This solution is the kind of tool that independent retailers need to effectively level the playing field to compete and expand."
According to Greg Leonard, Corporate Vice President of Natural Food Sales for Tree of Life, "Tree of Life and ECRS are making great progress with the integration of Catapult, SIS, and Tree of Life's supply chain systems. This integration has the potential to totally redefine the way independent retailers do business by providing complete retail automation."
"ECRS and Tree of Life are making tremendous strides together by automating the vital components of the supply chain for Tree's retail customers," stated Pete Catoe, President of ECRS. "This cooperative EDI initiative represents a major milestone in the Health and Natural Products industry, and we are pleased that our test locations are progressing successfully. We have more work to do but we are very close to achieving our joint goal of helping our mutual customers transform their businesses."
The ECRS solution leverages modern statistics-based reordering methodologies and EDI X12 (Electronic Data Interchange) protocol standards to fully automate the inventory replenishment process. This proven technology provides inventory replenishment based off historical movement and other important factors and can transmit electronic purchase orders to, and receive shipment data from, Tree of Life in a bi-directional manner, providing precise coordination of purchases, received costs, and received quantities. The ECRS system tightly tracks all Tree of Life orders and provides timely email notifications on the status of each order at all critical points in the delivery process.
On the demand generation side, the solution provides complete retail automation for Tree of Life's promotional activities. For example, the system automatically downloads new Healthy Value Promotions from Tree of Life and creates Promotional Worksheets within the Catapult system. No manual labor is required to setup the promotions, and once approved by store management, Healthy Value Promotions automatically start and end during the designated promotional period.
About Tree of Life
Tree of Life, Inc. is the world's leading marketer and distributor of natural and specialty foods, serving customers throughout the United States and Canada. Tree of Life, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Wessanen NV based in The Netherlands. The parent company, Wessanen, has over two centuries of experience in the food industry. Learn more about Tree of Life at www.treeoflife.com.
About ECRS
ECRS has been providing best-of-breed automation solutions to the retail industry since 1989. The ECRS retail framework includes point of sale, self-checkout, back office, inventory management, order forecasting, supply chain automation, membership management, fuel pump interface, integrated video surveillance, digital customer billboard, self-hosted gift card, signature capture, wireless hand-held terminal interface, and a range of other retail automation components. ECRS products are delivered directly and through a global partner network. For more information, go to www.ecrsoft.com.