In today’s fast moving supply and demand environment, agility and tight collaboration with the extended network of partners is paramount for retailers and manufacturers looking to stay ahead of the competition.  However, when it comes to being agile, companies need to leverage a single platform that connects all of the parties and activities while also providing end-to-end visibility.  Often touted as the “magic pill” for supply chain ailments, control tower visibility can provide the advantage of foretelling where issues will cause the chain to break when suppliers and service providers are globally distributed and disparate.

Speed-to-market has become the top market pressure for retailers. There are a few companies in the apparel industry that are turning heads with their transformative process changes. What can other industries or CPG manufacturers learn from the “fast fashion” leaders like H&M, Uniqlo, and Zara who are able to go from concept to shelf in weeks?

In recent years, the apparel and footwear industry has shifted its global sourcing away from China to other emerging markets due to increased labor, transportation, tariffs, and other supply chain costs.

Africa has emerged as a particularly attractive manufacturing option because of the preferential treatment granted under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for eligible countries.

There is a lot to be worried about in 2017 for those companies reliant on global trade. You are encountering the anticipated shifts in worldwide trade policies stemming from a series of governmental changes (such as the U.S. election), last year’s trade volumes and retail sales hitting bottom, transportation and logistics companies running aground, brick and mortar stores turning out the lights for good, and everyone being asked to do less with more. 

A few weeks ago, we held a lively webinar with Megan Coale from Vera Bradley and Cheryl Layne from our customer success team.  We talked about the implementation of Amber Road’s solutions used by the teams at Vera Bradley to produce their iconic products.  Vera Bradley is a manufacturer of stylish quilted cotton luggage, handbags and accessories. With small-town roots in Indiana, the brand has grown to $500 million in annual sales, serving customers all around the globe.  Known for its distinctive and colorful fabrics and trims, some of the core company values that originated at Vera Bradley’s birth 20 years ago still exist – high quality products, produced by suppliers in a timely fashion, and of course, those recognizable, trend-setting fabrics.  These are the expectations of customers today, and Vera Bradley has it in the bag.

Toy sales in the United States have shown robust growth figures in the last decade. Much of it is spurred by syndicated toy products from movies released to coincide with the Christmas season, drawing kids to add them to Santa’s list. According to The NPD Group, US toy sales increased 6.7 percent to $19.4 billion in 2015, topping the firm's estimate of 6.2 percent growth.

Vera Bradley is a leading designer of women's handbags, luggage and travel items, fashion and home accessories and unique gifts. Founded in 1982, the brand's innovative designs, iconic patterns and brilliant colors inspire and connect women unlike any other brand in the global marketplace. To ensure high quality products that continue to exceed customers' expectations, Vera Bradley leverages Amber Road’s Supply Chain Collaboration solutions.

Ask any social compliance or corporate governance executive about forced or slave labor and the response is always the same: “It is unacceptable in my supply chain.”  Yet the reality is most supply chains lack the transparency to identify and take action against suppliers who violate this policy. Even with increased regulations and growing pressure from consumers and NGOs, industries struggle to maintain compliance. 

Despite the increasing number of unexpected supply chain vulnerabilities and disruptions, many companies are failing to address these challenges. With many brand organizations and retailers relying on outsourced manufacturing, these complexities have become more evident, and in many cases, hinder companies’ ability to build quality products quickly and deliver them to their consumer base efficiently. So how do you overcome these complexities? The answer lies in interconnecting product lifecycle management (PLM) and supply chain teams.

Continued from Chapter 1: The Challenges of Global Trade

Companies that rely heavily on manually intensive processes struggle to get their products from concept to creation in an efficient manner. With multiple product lines and changing consumer demands, the sourcing and production phases within the product lifecycle require close collaboration between companies and their buyers and suppliers. A lack of communication can lead to bottlenecks and increased costs. It’s imperative for companies to find a way to effectively collaborate with their suppliers to ensure success.