Lesson from NRF’s Big Show: Expand Internationally

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Kelsey Price

Apparel magazine compiled their top 10 takeaways from the National Retail Foundation’s infamous Big Show last week. Among many other gems of retail wisdom was something that we here in the GTM community know very well: To grow your apparel business, expand internationally.

The lesson may seem simple, but the implementation is a bit more complex. As companies go global, they can take one of two paths: the “clone” model or the “distributed” model. The first model perfects its brand and copies it in other locations – like Apple, for example. The distributed model, on the other hand, lets its brand develop relatively independently around the globe. Many of the companies in this second category began as wholesalers, like Levi’s. The clone-model companies often struggle with local relevancy, while the distributed-model retailers tend to struggle with brand consistency.

Levi’s, an Amber Road customer, struck a balance between the two models in order to solidify its brand worldwide. Whereas Levi’s originally used a regional-focused model to expand globally, the company has now changed its mindset and organizational structure to create a unified global brand experience. According to Enrique Atienza, SVP of retail at Levi Strauss Americas:

“We completely reorganized the way we operate. Previously, we had an overwhelming assortment of product catered to regional markets … 20 different models across the world … leadership in every country … and a local-only, single-channel mindset … [that made for an] inconsistent customer experience.”

Now, Levi’s has three global retail teams, has aligned every retail channel, and has reduced the number of styles by about 60 percent, Atienza says.

To read more about how Levi’s streamlined its global expansion, and to see the nine other Big Show takeaways, click here.

Executive Spotlight: Jim Preuninger

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Kelsey Price

The Executive Spotlight series will feature several of Amber Road’s key thought leaders as they discuss what they see as the biggest challenges and trends in the GTM space.

What do you believe to be the key challenges facing your customers and their supply chains in the year ahead?

Despite the abundance of enterprise supply chain applications, a key challenge faced by customers is the time and expense of implementing these systems. The unique requirements for handling complex supply chain processes needed by different business units and geographies have contributed to this long implementation cycle.

ERP supply chain vendors have typically responded to these needs by designing customizations to application code. Unfortunately, in addition to lengthening implementation time, a customization today means a serious impediment to upgrading tomorrow. Supply chain organizations that have customized their on-premise business applications have found that it is impossible to upgrade to the next version of the software without losing those customizations.

Customization also runs counter to the inherent simplicity and ease of upgrade promised by cloud-based applications. Supply chain applications that are delivered via the cloud make it possible for vendors to support and enhance their products without jeopardizing the customer’s ability to easily upgrade to new versions. They are doing this by providing the ability to easily configure the application using settings rather than code changes.

Amber Road is meeting its supply chain customer’s needs through the use of property sheets that contain configuration options covering every bit of functionality in the application. This array of choices makes it possible to approximate the results that would have come from core code customizations. Except now, the core code is never touched and all configurations are stored separately.

This is a welcome change for supply chain system customers. The ability to adapt an application to key business processes without sacrificing future functionality will ensure a higher return on investment overall.

How can supply chain, as a function, better align with a company’s broader strategy?

Implementing configurable supply chain technology can have a broad impact on corporate strategy, especially when it comes to supply chain resilience. A supply chain system must be able to respond quickly to changing conditions in the market, natural disasters and other disruptions, such as labor strikes at the ports.

A cloud-base supply chain application has a higher likelihood of remaining functional during a natural disaster or prolonged power outage such as seen recently on the east coast. Because it can be accessed from anywhere using a web browser, companies can continue to monitor or alter crucial supply chain operations even when other facilities may not be functioning.

Continuous operation during a disaster or supply chain disruption can spell the difference between profit and loss. Ensuring that supply chain functions are disaster-ready can have a measurable effect on company strategy.

Jim founded Amber Road (formerly management Dynamics) in 1989 and through his visionary leadership has helped define the Global Trade Management (GTM) market. As CEO of Amber Road, Jim oversees strategic development and is responsible for opening new markets and expanding the company’s portfolio of solutions through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Jim Preuninger is the Chief Executive Officer of Amber Road and serves on the Board of Directors. With over 25 years of software industry experience, Jim has been a part of the evolution of the supply chain management market from a domestic focus to one that now encompasses global operations and spans logistics, compliance and trade finance.

Executive Spotlight: Stephanie Miles

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Kelsey Price

The Executive Spotlight series will feature several of Amber Road’s key thought leaders as they discuss what they see as the biggest challenges and trends in the GTM space.

What do you believe to be the key challenges facing your customers and their supply chains in the year ahead?

The resiliency of our customers during the recession has caused them to pursue revenue growth tenaciously while tightly managing costs. In the year ahead, many of our customers are aiming to increase their international sales through acquisitions and emerging markets. The continued challenges of complex regulations and multi-dimensional supply chains require revenue growth opportunities, partnered with efficient operations. My goal is to help our customers plan and operate profitably as they extend their global markets. As the opportunities of global markets increase, so do the complexities of managing efficient operations. By providing automation, optimization, transparency, controls and metrics, we will make it easier for customers to reach and serve new markets.

How can supply chain, as a function, better align with a company’s broader strategy?

The supply chain should be flexible enough such that it can be tuned to align with company goals. Nobody wants to be locked in to a rigid and inflexible supply chain, especially in the global world where the business complexity and economic stakes are often higher than in the domestic world. Of course, company goals may change over time due to overall economic climate or change in direction at the executive level. A company may decide to move from a customer service-oriented supply chain to a low-cost, no fringes supply chain or vice versa. Having an execution platform that is flexible enough to be easily configured to meet the desired overall business strategy is a powerful tool. A highly configurable GTM supply chain execution platform creates a solid foundation from which a company can perform and, more importantly, provides the insurance to meet the dynamic requirements of a rapidly changing global business world.

Stephanie Miles, Senior Vice President of Commercial Services, leads Amber Road’s professional services and support teams for the delivery, implementation and ongoing support services for the company’s global trade management solutions.