Bring your value chain closer to the consumerHow to strategically design your value chain to guarantee faster results

On average, On average,

Design your value chain for omni-channelThe retailer is no longer the end point of your value chain, where the product

meets the consumer. Today, with omni-channel shopping, customers expect

to shop, compare, purchase, and consume on their own terms, on their own

schedule, through a variety of channels, and on a variety of devices.

For today’s fashion company, that means operating in a customer-driven

economy. Not only should your marketing campaigns drive customers to the

omni-channel outlets that you monitor, but your value chain should be ready to

support these efforts, as well. The omni-channel experience must be seamless,

inspiring your customers to make purchases whether they are in a brick-and-

mortar store or using their personal computers or mobile devices.1

For your omni-channel marketing efforts and value chain to be in sync, you must

move toward new business models that are far more collaborative, consumer

driven, responsive, and quick. Your value chain must be designed strategically

so you can get closer to your customers and quickly deliver on their needs. All of

your value chain partners must work together to get the right products to where

consumers want them—as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Having doubled every 4 to 5 years since

2001, omni-channel

sales are expected to

grow into a $7 trillion

market by 2025.2

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Stand out from the competitionThe value chain is the foundation of your business. Its creation and execution

drive the performance of your design, sourcing, manufacturing, inventory

allocation, warehousing, and distribution operations.

As shopping becomes more of a digital experience that’s informed by your

marketing efforts, all parties along your value chain need access to the same

information across every interaction touch point, from browsing and shopping

online or off; to making a purchase at a retail outlet, web storefront, or vending

machine; to the delivery of goods. To make this process less daunting, you

should look at what your marketing department has done to segment customers,

create personas, and customize experiences. These best practices can

make it easier to harness the Big Data about your customers that drives the

omni-channel.

With an omni-channel presence, you can optimize the connection of demand

to supply by using customer data to inform your manufacturing processes—

and dramatically improve your speed of delivery, demand planning, stock

replenishment, and price competitiveness.

To stand out from your competition, you should:

New channels and online tools give consumers the

freedom to make

purchases from

anywhere along the

value chain—using a

myriad of touch points.

• Collaborate in real-time with your value chain partners.

• Treat your inventory as one single body to match merchandise to demand.

• Use Big Data to help you create what your customers want.

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Meet demand and satisfy your customersCollaborate in real-time with your value chain

By creating a more collaborative value chain network that

uses the real-time information you gain from the omni-channel

and information technology, you can anticipate the desires

of today’s shoppers and make more cost-effective decisions

about trends, demand, and your inventory.

The idea is to get to know your customers, segment them,

consolidate the data you gain, and share relevant data with

relevant parties throughout your value chain. The kind of

information that is relevant to your value chain varies from

business to business. But some examples could include:

demographics, transactional behavior, preferred channels,

campaign history, model scores, and date-relative filters.

With this data, you can create customized, consistent

experiences for your customers while preparing your value

chain—and infrastructure—to deliver the goods. For example,

you could match inventory supply with demand and create a

common inventory system across all of the channels

you monitor.

Customers who respond better to email than social media or

direct mail should be handled differently—perhaps by reaching

out to them with more email touch points. With this information

being collected and shared across all of your relevant teams

and value chain partners, you can deliver an improved

customer experience in the fewest number of steps.

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Deliver the right inventory to the right channels

Treat your inventory as one single body to match merchandise to demand

To supply all of the right channels with the right inventory, you must look beyond the

traditional notions of fulfillment. Make to stock or make to forecast won’t cut it when

consumers want so much more. To make your inventory flexible, you need to factor

in your fulfillment rates, service levels, delivery costs, and more.

All parties along your value chain need access to relevant information across all

of your interaction touch points, from print catalog, to web, to order entry screen,

to manufacturing and distribution center—and even social media. Capturing and

analyzing high volumes of data in near real-time is vital.

With an omni-channel presence, you can optimize the connection of demand

to supply by using customer data to inform your manufacturing processes. This

pipeline data can offer up-to-the-minute inventory accuracy—and dramatically

improve your speed of delivery, demand planning, stock replenishment, and price

competitiveness.

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Reach more customers with an omni-channel strategy

All parties along your value chain need

access to the same information across

every interaction touch point, from

browsing and shopping online or off;

to making a purchase at a retail outlet,

web storefront, or vending machine; to

the delivery of goods.

With an omni-channel presence,

you can dramatically improve your

speed of delivery, demand planning,

stock replenishment, and price

competitiveness.

• Purchase in store• Click and collect in store• Click and collect at

drop-o� point• Home delivery• Drop ship by supplier

D

ELIVERY

PURCHASE

• Retail outlets (own stores, outlets, store-in-store, franchise, pop-up store)

• Web storefronts• Mobile devices• Kiosks• Wholesale• Vending machines• Vendor managed

inventory (VMI)

• Social media• In-store• Catalogues• Internet search

BROWSE OR SHOP

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Get closer to the customerThe customer determines what you’re doing, not the other way around. By

listening to the customer—getting closer to them—you can create better

strategies for meeting their needs. Just as Zappos® knows there’s no one-size-

fits-all approach to retailing shoes, for example, there is no one approach to

building an omni-channel business strategy.

One strategy is to start with common items for the line: fabrics and trim elements.

Design a style around them and put it out there. Your customers can lead you

to better designs. With your marketing department using technology to drive,

capture, and analyze social media feedback and a flexible value chain, you can

adjust your manufacturing processes in real-time to satisfy new demands—and

get closer to the consumer.

Another strategy is to 3D design and sampling technologies to ensure the proper

fit of a garment. With 3D technology, you can virtually sample garments to judge

how well they meet your specifications. “Changes can be made in minutes to

virtual garments, giving them a better chance of hitting the right fit if they are

subsequently requested as actual samples.”3

Using emerging technologies, you can shorten the time to the consumer, reduce

the number of physical samples, and save on your costs.

When you’re closer to the customer, you can see what they see and react how they want you to react.

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Analyzing Big Data trends can help you find the next new thing your customers are after.

Act on customer desires with Big DataSometimes, all it takes is a change of color, fabric, or trim to catch a trend or extend the run of a flagging style. How can you know? The operational data your designers and marketing departments need is likely already available, but perhaps you aren’t using it as well as you could. Business intelligence and analytics tools can help you sort the data you create so it’s more easily digestible—across your entire operation and value chain. With advanced BI and analytics, you can spot trends and patterns that can help you prepare your inventory and better anticipate customer desires.

To start, create a central data repository for your entire organization to organize all of the Big Data you’re gathering. Track, collect, and analyze the data generated between your design teams, among product developers and sourcing managers, suppliers and buyers. You should also create a growing library of reusable designs, together with the specifications, BOMs, sourcing, costing, and construction details to minimize the lead time for introducing variations on a style or bringing an extra contractor up to speed when you need added capacity.

When you’re properly analyzing Big Data and using that information to supply the right channels with the right merchandise all along your value chain, you can consistently put the product in the hands of the consumer at the location and point in time they want to buy, with the appropriate fulfillment options.

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Build a stronger network

Success in the omni-channel environment requires an interconnected value chain network, operating on one common platform

In your new fashion value chain network, you’ll be able to exchange information in

near real-time, so you can prepare for the needs of physical retail stores, as well as

the diversity of online and other sales channels. The goal is align everything from

your marketing efforts through to manufacturing into one consistent experience.

With the right tools, you can plan, execute, measure, and analyze your inventory

allocation needs effectively throughout the omni-channel environment.

You want to be able to identify what causes a certain type of customer to act—

whether that action is positive or negative—and where they’re most likely to act.

Shopping online or off or via social media recommendations, email campaigns, and

so on. When the customer is ready to make a purchase, your value chain needs to

be ready to deliver—no matter where or when that action is triggered.

Through co-innovation, an interconnected global commerce network, and

collaboration, everyone in your value chain can benefit and profit from the work

each player contributes.

The goal is to align everything from your marketing efforts through to manufacturing into one consistent experience.

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Why Infor?

We are where you are

• More than 1,700 fashion customers in over

94 countries

• 6 of the top 10 luxury goods companies

• 15 of the top 20 global retailers

• Companies ranging from $10 million in revenue to

$5 billion in revenue

• Companies with less than 20 users to those with

more than 2,000 users

“Having everyone on the same system has improved consistency across all divisions. We now have reliability, stability, and communication throughout the company because we have a single source for the truth.” Wade Vann, CIO and VP of IT, Augusta Sportswear Group

Contact us today

infor.com/fashion

fashion@infor.com

Visit Blog

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Infor builds beautiful business applications with last mile functionality and scientific insights for select industries

delivered as a cloud service. With 14,000 employees and customers in more than 200 countries and territories,

Infor automates critical processes for industries including healthcare, manufacturing, fashion, wholesale distribution,

hospitality, retail, and public sector. Infor software helps eliminate the need for costly customization through embedded

deep industry domain expertise. Headquartered in New York City, Infor is also home to one of the largest creative

agencies in Manhattan, Hook & Loop, focused on delivering a user experience that is fun and engaging. Infor deploys

its applications primarily on the Amazon Web Services cloud and open source platforms. To learn more about Infor,

please visit www.infor.com.

References1 Daniel Newman, “The omni-channel experience: Marketing meets ubiquity,” Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2014/07/22/the-omni-chan nel-experience-marketing-meets-ubiquity/), July 22, 2014. 2 Sarah Mahoney, “Forrester: Cross-channel sales to reach $1.8 trillion,” MediaPost, (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/230787/forrester-cross-chan nel-sales-to-reach-18-trill.html?edition=), July 27, 2014. 3 Kilara Le, “Why fit matters and how technology can help,” WhichPLM (http://www.whichplm.com/editors-choice/why-fit-matters-and-how-technology-can-help. html), Dec 4, 2015.

Copyright © 2016 Infor. All rights reserved. The work and design marks set forth herein are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Infor and/or related

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