Collaborative BuyingPlatform


The perfect plan means nothing unless it can be executed.  Once assortment plans have been created, many retailers must rely on manual and/or disjointed processes in carrying these plans through order placement.  Merchants are challenged with incompatible or incomplete vendor information, administrative issues, and errors.  Management has limited visibility and control of the process.

7thOnline addresses these challenges by providing an automated execution application to translate assortment plans into actual buys.  7thOnline's Collaborative Buying Platform bridges the gap between the retailer's existing assortment planning and order management systems, incorporating vendor information and images as necessary.  All involved parties are able to access and share assortment planning information in real-time, ensuring that these plans are brought to fruition as effectively and expeditiously as possible.


KEY CAPABILITIES
Adaptable to your business requirements as needed:
  • Share financial and strategic objectives, POS information, assortment plans, and related analyses with vendors
  • Access vendor product information and visuals electronically, prior to, during, and post market appointments
  • Automatically populate assortment plans with vendor product information
  • Update assortment plans via any internet browser, 24/7
  • Automatically match vendor classifications & clusters to your own
  • Run cross-organizational reports on planned and actual buys, including vendor information
  • Place purchase orders via EDI with a single click
  • Automate distribution of bulk quantities
  • Apply optimal size scales for each store
  • Upload order information into order management, allocation, and ERP systems

KEY BENEFITS
  • Cross organizational platform for single view of the truth & accuracy
    • Real-time visibility into buying activity across all vendors
    • Summarization of buys & reconciliation to plans
    • Earlier access to product data; more complete than UPC
  • Process automation and integration from plan through execution
    • Automated vendor data population
    • Real-time vendor product information and image updates
    • Automated PO population & seamless order execution via EDI
    • Management visibility enables earlier order approval and shorter cycle times
  • Ensures process and data compatibility with vendor community
  • Web-architected system with 24/7 accessibility & portability