Are you looking for retail system software to improve your company’s business operations?
With yearly profitability of one billion USD, the retail system has been a top global supply chain provider for the past three decades.
It enables businesses to increase their potential to streamline, implement, and carry out their merchandise management better.
It does so via forecasting and shaping demand, executing orders more effectively and efficiently, and enhancing customer experiences and engagement.
Today, let’s understand what exactly a retail system is and how it helps streamline your workflow processes with its robust features and remarkable benefits.
Let the exploration begin!
What is the Retail Merchandise Management System?
Retail’s merchandise management system enables retailers to respond to changes in different sales channels and sudden shifts in the market.
It helps businesses meet consumer expectations consistently and access valuable insights from real-time inventory visibility.
Retailers use the merchandise management system to increase sales, improve profits, and ensure operational efficiency and accuracy.
The effective capabilities of the MMS merchandise management systems include inventory control and procurement, cost, promotions, customer orders, allocation and replenishment, and management of vendors, warehouses, and more.
The Retail merchandise management system is a widely used comprehensive omnichannel solution with built-in functionalities. It can help you simulate pricing strategies to make the right pricing decisions before implementation.
This system enables businesses to survive in an ever-changing environment that is hyper-connected and omnichannel.
Retail MMS does so by giving companies the ability to quickly respond to changes, optimize, and execute the appropriate inventory in the right place and at the right time.
Users of retail software gain greater flexibility, real-time response, and the ability to handle complicated merchandise operations more effectively.
The merchandise management system offers a centralized tower for each job, resulting in a compelling user experience. This enables users to deal with the most important issues in real-time while still keeping tabs on their day-to-day operations, resulting in optimum user productivity.
Role-based flexibility ensures that users may respond to business demands in and out of the facility without being tied to a workstation or RF device.
This powerful technology also features in-store selecting and dark-store functionalities for managing retail e-commerce merchandise management operations successfully.
This improves the omnichannel experience for shoppers and enables the buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere, and return anywhere structure that retail customers expect.
Thinking “How Retail MMS can help improve your retail operations?”
Let’s understand how Retail MMS boosts operational efficiency in Retail.
How Retail MMS Helps You Optimize Retail Operations?
Whenever an organization wishes to optimize the performance of its multi-tier applications, the greatest challenge is imposed by the typical tools used.
Most of these “typical tools” only give a glimpse of what is going on from either a database or CPU. These do not assess the performance from the user’s perspective.
But with retail, all that changes.
Retail merchandise management system addresses this challenge by formulating a framework that monitors performance and diagnostic tools. It leverages the probes present in the system processes.
Now, as you realize how Retail MMS provides a boost to retail operations, let’s closely understand the features of Retail System Software.
Features of Retail System Software
Here are some of the fundamental functionalities that are included in the suite of retail system software –
Inventory Control and Procurement
This function comprises purchasing and inventory, generates purchase orders, performs basic distribution, and stores physical inventory.
Retail system software extensively uses inventory transactions, and each operation can be thoroughly monitored or audited. It also supports physical inventory counts on a store basis, with each merchandise maintaining its own inventory function for cycle counts.
Purchase Orders can be pre-distributed (pre-allocated) or post-distributed for single or several locations.
Stock balances are sent into IDEAS and can be tracked from there. Certain transactions, such as inventory balancing, purchase order generation, promotional pricing, and action support, can be created and sent back to MMS.
There are over 30 different types of transactions. IDEAS also has a strong focus on sales and inventory analysis. MMS feeds more than 20 categories (datamarts) in addition to flash sales reporting.
Buyer’s Workbench
Buyer’s Workbench is a set of MMS functions that deal with purchasing and receiving. It comprises color and size grids, distributions, pre-packs, PO reservations, items, style, and SKU release and maintenance.
The movement of merchandise between stores and distribution centers/merchandises is facilitated through transfers.
It manages sales and inventory down to the UPC and SKU level by color, size, and dimension. These can be assessed either collectively or separately. Transfer orders, open orders, as well as in-transit merchandise will be displayed in the On Order category.
Vendor Management
Vendors are managed in MMS through the Accounts Payable module.
Furthermore, the Purchasing module enables a sophisticated degree of allowances, discounts, or cost allowances to aid in the costing of landed expenditures such as freight.
Receipts and basic vendor compliance are monitored, and credits for shortfalls, damages, and so on are tracked and included in invoice matching seamlessly. Invoice matching can also be done at the invoice or line-item level.
It combines sales and inventory by the primary vendor in order to measure vendor profitability.
Merchandise Receiving, Allocation, and Replenishment
When the store POS is not used for this purpose, or when automatic (assumed) receiving is implemented, receiving is used.
If more than the basic capabilities is necessary, many retailers pick the paid Suite, which provides complex allocations.
Beyond the conventional minimum/maximum, Automated Replenishment provides a multitude of options. Item velocity and sales profiles are also reasonable alternatives.
Distribution Center Management
The logistics system is called Distribution Center Management. It comprises scheduling inbound shipments (from ASN), receiving, holding, packing, and shipping. A cycle count tool is also available to help with inventory counts.
The module offers advanced operations such as cross-docking and has different types of picking and put-away, such as carton or pallet manifestation, as well as storing or distributing merchandise without the need to transport it to a holding zone. On most functions, the merchandise completely supports RF.
Price Management
This module contains Cost Management, and it operates in a similar manner.
Markdowns/markups are tracked throughout the system, and events are created and issued to adjust permanent prices at POS.
As overrides, prices can be modified at the store or pricing zone level, chain-wide, or any combination of the two.
Promotional Management
This works in collaboration with Price Management and enables a variety of complex pricing schemes to accommodate deal pricing, such as:
- Buy one get one free
- Quantity ends
- Multiple dates
- Quantity breaks
- Mix/match
- Color/size/dimension overrides
- Price multiples
Promotions are events with expiration dates, and once an event has ended, the price at the POS resets to its usual, permanent price.
Financial Control
There are General Ledger, Accounts Payable (with invoice matching), and Accounts Receivable operations available. There are various benefits to adopting this fully integrated but simple financial accounting tool.
Now, that you’re aware of the features Retail MMS offers, let’s turn the focus toward the functional benefits it offers.
Functional Benefits Retail MMS Offers
As the world leader in Digital Supply Chain Solutions, retail MMS is lauded for being dynamic, cost-effective, and the simplest ERP solution ever existed.
Many retailers rely on retail MMS for their supply chain optimization and warehouse management.
Retail MMS offers integrated modules that aid in getting the best out of omnichannel retail.
It uses data from product information management, purchasing/vendor cost, receiving and transfers, regular and promotional pricing, store sales/transaction audit, and eCommerce order that helps analyse the business.
Offerings of Retail Merchandise Management System
The retail merchandise management offers a wide range of capabilities to manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and retailers worldwide.
The simplification of the supply-demand solutions is done by the features/offerings of the retail merchandise management system, which are:
Software Architecture and Cross Application Solutions
The enterprise architecture of the retail merchandise management system works on the IT deployment and management capabilities, including information security, transformation management, and common UI. It works across multiple applications, when needed.
Operation And Sales Planning
With the retail 2008 feature of the S&OP Workbench solution, you can get a consensus on the demand forecasts and the product mix, pricing, and promotions. These can be done using the demand review tool of retail. Using the supply review tool, you can model capacity, resources, and costs needed concerning the demand forecasts.
There is a financial analysis feature that gives analytical tools to estimate the economic effect of the S&OP plan. Additionally, there is also a product management review feature that tracks the whereabouts of the products and, consequently, helps launch the new products.
Demand Management
Retail MMS offers a forecast solution that works with a best-fit method and has flexible structures that support various hierarchies over products, channels, and locations. The forecasting and statistical modeling provide many input sources.
The feature of supply chain management collaborative forecasting sits well with the sales forecast for both the internal and external stakeholders.
The feature of demand shaping helps in promotion and event planning. It also collaborates plans with forecasts and estimates the demand shaping effectiveness. The fulfillment of orders is tackled by retail order optimization and retail Order Promising.
Supply Management
For the planning of mid-term and long-term sourcing decisions, the network design components project’s locations, policies, transportation modes, and product lines under the Strategic Network Planning.
The optimization features work with sourcing, production, and inventory.
Under the Distribution Planning of retail, also called the retail Fulfillment, the following are enabled:
- Planning and Management for Multi-level Replenishment
- Finished Goods Allocation
- Forecast Consumption
- Dynamic Deployment of Inventory
The features of Inventory Replenishment using retail Advanced Warehouse Replenishment, retail Advanced Store Replenishment, and retail Allocation offers software solutions that help in overall replenishment.
In addition to that, the Vendor Management Inventory or the VMI restores the customer inventory based on stock and sales data. The data is typically sent to the inventory supplier or the business partner.
Using the feature of Procurement Management, you can manage the purchasing agreements, interfacing with the ERP systems, and the procurement workflow and processing alerts.
Transportation Management
The planning capabilities of retail merchandise management include –
- Least Cost Analysis
- Multi-modal Options
- Service Levels Optimization
- Zone Routing Optimization
- Carrier Selection
- Multi-Stop Optimization
- Cross Docking Optimization
- Load Optimization
Within Dispatch, the main software functionality relies on the load, pickups, models of transportation, and route optimization. The dispatcher is endowed with the following performances –
- It can assign carriers to the routes.
- It can produce the documents of shipments.
- It can generate EDI transactions.
One thing that is constant throughout the shipment lifecycle is its visibility.
Under the freight charges and settlements includes a repository of carrier contracts that work on all the distinct modes of transportation, along with the functionality to estimate charges. The validation of the charges is against the services.
For fleet management, the optimization of a combination of private goods and common carriers is done.
Retail System Software also provides collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) standards.
Now that you know the functional benefits Retail MMS offers, let’s look at the flip side of the coin. Let’s unveil the challenges of relying on a decentralized merchandise management system.
Challenges of Using Decentralized Merchandise Management System
Having a decentralized Management System can have several disadvantages.
While the idea of a localized Merchandise Management System was created by early WMS system adopters who wanted to prevent their entire WMS from faltering, since they worried that a single mishap could lead to delayed order shipments, they relied on localized servers for their supply chain.
This posed issues like –
Immense Operating Costs
One great issue arising from a decentralized Merchandising Management System is that of high operating costs. If you run various fulfillment operations, the cost multiplies. Irrespective of whether you are self-fulfilling or outsourcing, the cost factor is always there.
Issues with Full Oversight
Working with multiple distinct locations can hamper you from having a 360-degree understanding of your inventory, sales, and operations. This will call for periodic audits to ensure the systems match and everything is in place. The process is time-consuming and requires more effort and workforce.
Inventory Management is Strenuous
With your inventory decentralized, you require more time and better coordination to manage it. This also makes SKU management difficult.
Through with the challenges? Next, let’s understand how Retail MMS support partner helps you navigate these challenges effectively.
Why do Companies Rely on Retail MMS Support?
Through integrated merchandising operations, retail software solutions assist the world’s leading companies in achieving significant advantages.
Here are some legitimate outcomes we helped our customers achieve using the retail merchandise management system
Achievement of Sales Targets
- 5-35 percent increase in annual store revenues
- Improved assessment of selling patterns by region and platform, with reforecasting whenever required.
- Increased conversion rates, profitability, and customer loyalty
- Revamped marketing and promotional pricing techniques
- Increased margin that surpassed original predictions
- Scalability to meet growth targets
- Introduced new retail models and ideas, increased store count, and improved digital footprint without major staffing expansions or reservations about scalability
- Provided a top-class retail management system, which is essential for companies to become publicly listed
- Converted purchased stores, brochures, call centers, and websites to retail infrastructure in a short period of time
- Opened outlets in emerging markets that accommodate numerous tax codes, currencies, and languages such as double-byte and right-to-left languages
Inventory Investment Optimization
- Inventory levels were reduced by 10-30%.
- Operational costs were decreased as a result of lower inventory control and carrying expenses, better inventory turns, and lower help desk retail support.
- Gained deeper insight into item performance in order to adapt store groupings by market segment.
- Integrated inventory from several platforms to reduce buyers’ workload in a balanced structure.
Cost savings with Optimized Operations
- The total cost of ownership was lowered by concentrating on business operations rather than expensive software application interfaces.
- Processing was streamlined from a two- or three-day procedure to a one-hour procedure.
- Errors and inefficiencies were reduced by shifting from largely manual processes to optimized operations that are automated.
Quick Access to Business Intelligence
- Enabled efficient responsiveness to customer demands with real-time data to make more informed decisions and achieve better management.
- Transformed business data into advanced analytics and meaningful information.
- Reduced time spent searching for data and increased time spent on quantitative analysis to maximize merchandise supply.
Not convinced if you should invest in Retail MMS support services? Let’s look at some tangible benefits you gain from it.
Benefits of Retail Support
Retail Merchandise Management optimizes every move, from the moment an inbound shipment enters your gate until the moment an outbound shipment departs.
This results in more agile, effective distribution operations with lower costs and a higher return on supply chain investment.
Thinking if an investment in Retail MMS support is worth?
Here are some of the benefits of retail support to optimize your business-
Increased Automation
With expert Retail MMS support and power of the retail merchandise management system, you can incorporate multiple technological solutions. You can streamline all the tedious operations to save time, effort, and money.
You can see to it that all resources are directly aimed at strengthening the business model rather than managing all inefficiencies in merchandise management.
Optimize Business Operations
The retail merchandise management support professionals utilize strategic techniques to manage merchandise operations.
The basic feature of the retail system software is to eliminate inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the daily process while also streamlining all operations.
More work could be accomplished by your workforce and the technology involved in managing all day-to-day merchandise management with efficient and effective streamlining of all activities.
To speed up the workflow, the retail merchandise management system will save any non-productive time and redirect it to more productive tasks.
While speeding up the procedure, there is no sacrifice in the quality of the ultimate product. As a side benefit, with the addition of retail support, you will not have to worry about your reputation.
Reduced Ownership and Operational Cost
One of the major advantages of a partnership with Retail MMS support partner is reduced overall cost of ownership.
The retail MMS is cloud-hosted and deployable.
Migration to the cloud can help you upgrade your merchandise without interfering with your existing infrastructure.
When compared to other stiff products with on-premises choices, this will also help you clear up external disk space. With retail support, you will also have additional flexibility.
All these benefits add up to lower deployment and operating costs for a dedicated retail merchandise management system.
Boost Efficiency
With retail support, you can increase the efficiency of all involved workforce and advanced technologies in all the operations of your merchandise management.
It includes qualities that can help you reduce merchandise management costs while also improving the efficiency of your organizational workflows.
With the help of the retail merchandise management system, you can manage your whole supply chain with better reliability, accuracy, and faster production efficiency.
Once you have management control, you will be able to close all the gaps in your current merchandise management process and increase productivity.
By now, you’re well versed with the features & benefits of retail system software. Let’s lead you to the functional benefits that the Retail software bring to your business.
Benefits You Should Care About That Retail Software Brings to Your Business
Do you want to secure your retail software solutions investment while also increasing your company’s business agility?
You can accomplish this by having retail professionals manage, oversee, and maintain your retail solutions.
Retail Cloud Services reduce development and deployment time and risk while allowing you to quickly and effectively deploy additional capabilities to meet business requirements.
You will benefit greatly from solutions that are designed for your specific company requirements with your retail software application running in the cloud and updates included in your service to ensure that you accomplish and maintain a long-term return on your investment.
Read ahead to learn what retail software solutions is, and discover the various capabilities and advantages it brings along for your business requirements.
What are Retail Software Solutions?
Retail software solutions is a technology that focuses on selling products and services of supply chain management to organizations. Currently, companies from the automobile, food and beverage, and retail industries are utilizing retail software solutions to scale faster.
Retail’s software is designed with the objective of assisting its customers to save expenses, boost revenue, shorten execution times, and improve the efficiency of the supply chain.
Retail software handles the complexities within distribution, scheduling, demand, collaboration, and delivery as the consumer marketplace evolves by incorporating real-time market metrics concerning buyer purchase intent.
Retail software applications can be acquired independently based on specific needs or in categories depending on the most appropriate industry segment.
Retail’s supply chain products are classified into three categories –
Solutions for Manufacturing and Distribution
This segment is in charge of the operations that take place behind the scenes when products are delivered to customers. The advanced manufacturing software includes fulfillment maps and supply and demand graphs, as well as assists in stock monitoring, inventory planning, and restocking.
Solutions for Retail
This category focuses on firms having physical retail outlets and the various processes that enable them to operate efficiently. Functionalities for retail businesses include supply chain management, intelligent fulfillment, retail planning, merchandise operations, and store operations.
Solutions for the Service Industry
This category of retail solutions provides pricing and revenue management (PRM) technologies to the hospitality, entertainment, and travel industries. PRM software predicts data to assist in balancing pricing and profitability.
Next, let’s unwind a quintessential component of Retail MMS – Warehouse Management System.
What You Should Know About Warehouse Management System?
Retail warehouse management helps manage the warehouse facilities through extensive minute transaction processing, advanced storage, and accurate selection strategies.
It also has specialized task management and integrated labor standards. All of these contribute towards good quality customer service.
With the design supporting easy transition between innovation shifts, the system provides features that salvage automation through reconfigurability and innovation.
What is the Retail Warehouse Management System?
Retail warehouse management systems are intuitive platforms that offer solutions to optimize service levels and minimize operational costs.
They are technological assets that can help speed up workflows and maximize service levels and reduce the operational cost of your warehouse operations.
It is a technological asset that can help speed up your workflow and maximize your profitability.
All your macro and micro-level functionalities like advanced storage strategies, selection strategies, real-time transaction processing, powerful task management, and systematic employee management can be managed seamlessly with the help of the retail warehouse management system.
With the successful integration of retail WMS, you are enabled to shift your focus towards avoiding obsolescence, maximum employee utilization, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of available resources.
With well-oiled warehouse management processes, you don’t have to compromise on the quality of service you provide to your customers. The retail warehouse management system helps keep track of all the analytical and performance parts of your workflow.
Retail WMS is the tool that can assist you in automating your warehouse management and optimization processes that can help you leverage a fool proof framework focusing primarily on innovation and configurability.
Retail WMS was designed to facilitate ups and downs between innovation transitions, such as AI, robotics, and other wearable tech.
Retail WMS Key Features
The key features of retail WMS include –
- Cloud or SaaS deployment options reduce the TCO and offer better speed to value.
- UI that is based on buyer persona and mobile-enabled.
- Robust task management
- Highly configurable workflows and personalization of solutions without customization.
- Control and support of an extensive array of automation.
- Collaborated labor productivity and profitability via engineering standards via a unified commerce context.
- Standardized APIs to easily integrate OMS, Logistyx, and Centiro for supporting unified commerce fulfillment.
Now that you have got the basics sorted out about retail WMS, let’s understand how a Retail warehouse management system helps boost your profits.
How Retail Warehouse Management System (WMS) Helps You Skyrocket Profits?
Do you find it hard to keep up with your dynamic inventory?
Do you want to enhance service levels and maximize profits in your business operations?
Are you looking for a robust and highly customizable platform to manage your warehouse operations with finesse?
Then the retail warehouse management system is the platform that has solutions to all of your above-listed business requirements.
The retail warehouse management system can help you automate your warehouse process and relieve all your warehouse management stress with various functionalities.
You can manage your inventory, use its merchandise management system, keep yourself updated with all the transactions and workflows, and a lot more.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Retail warehouse management system is a complete packaged platform that can transform your existing business workflow and management.
A platform equipped with such powers will take you more than a few paragraphs to understand its complete ins and outs. So, without further ado, let’s kick-start the knowledgeable ride.
Functional Benefits of Retail Warehouse Management System
No, we’re not repeating ourselves!
Yes, we spoke about the benefits of Retail WMS before. This section focuses on the functional benefits Retail WMS has to offer.
Let the exploration begin!
Faster Speed to Value
The SaaS or cloud-based platform deployment is one of the standouts features you can use for your warehouse management. It helps to achieve your desired business outcomes with agility and minimal expenses.
Dynamic Task Management
You can manage the task in real-time and keep yourself updated with variations in your inventory and warehouse workflow. There will be top-notch accuracy and zero data latency during the execution process.
Unified Commerce Management
You’ll get standard APIs for seamless integration of various e-commerce tools to create a unified approach to handling and optimizing your warehouse operations.
Automation
With automation, you can support and manage a wide range of processes within a few clicks. It opens new doors of opportunities for low time consumption and improved efficiency.
You have the option to integrate multiple automation processes with the help of the retail warehouse management system. You can automate all the repetitive processes that can help you save time, energy, and capital.
You can ensure that all the resources are focused on improving the core business rather than managing all the redundancies in warehouse management.
Integrated Labor Management
You can manage labor productivity and enhance the profitability they can drive for your organization using a unified commerce system. You have complete control over the activities and their accounts for more effectiveness.
Better UI/UX
You’ll get a better user experience than other WMS, and it will help you manage your processes smoothly and switch from one function to another easily. You can also get a complete view of the operations of your warehouse.
This brings a wrap to all the powerful features retail WMS has to offer. Now let’s go through all the benefits it has for your business venture.
Streamlined Business Workflow
The Retail warehouse management system manages warehouse tasks with systematic procedures. The primary functionality of the retail WMS is to automate redundancy and roadblocks in the daily process and streamline all the tasks.
With the proper management and streamlining of the tasks, more work can be achieved by your team and the machinery involved in handling all day-to-day warehouse operations.
Retail WMS will save all the non-productive time and shift it to more productive things to speed up the workflow. There is no compromise in the quality of the end product while speeding up the process.
So, you don’t need to worry about your reputation with the inclusion of retail WMS.
Better Inventory Management
With a warehouse facility, you need to extract high performance at a cost-effective price bracket to lock in more profits in today’s competitive space.
One of the vital ingredients of your warehouse management is inventory management. So, managing yours gets simpler and more effective with retail WMS. It has features that can help you improve the rotation, visibility, and accuracy of your inventory.
You can also use the retail MMS software to enhance the management of your shipments, respond to dynamic sales channels, and meet your customers’ expectations easily.
Apart from that, you have the option to eliminate damaged, obsolete, and lost inventory.
Boost Productivity
You can boost the productivity of all the involved members and technology in your warehouse operations with retail WMS. It has properties that can help you minimize the expenses of warehouse management and improve the effectiveness of your business processes.
You can manage all your supply chain with increased accuracy, increased reliability, faster workflow with the assistance of the retail warehouse management system.
Once you have management control over things, it will enable you to fix all the loopholes in your existing warehouse management process and enhance productivity.
Reduced Cost of Ownership
One of the vital features that the retail warehouse management system brings is the minimal running cost of ownership.
What’s that?
The platform can be hosted and deployed on the cloud platform, which will help you free your external disk space compared to other rigid tools with on-premises options. You get more flexibility with retail WMS, and all these piles up to reduce operational and deployment costs of a dedicated warehouse management system.
Migration to the cloud can help you modernize the warehouse facility without any hindrance to your existing infrastructure.
More Control & Great Usability
Through the modern retail warehouse management system, business decision-makers like you can get more control over the operations and make well-informed decisions in hyper-converged infrastructure.
You’ll experience a great usability experience of the tool with simple way to access functionalities. You can control all the tasks within a few clicks and assign vital management tasks to your core team to ensure smooth business processes.
It is difficult to get such dynamic control over the management and operational elements associated with the warehouse with traditional warehouse management. Still, retail WMS helps you to bypass such hurdles.
These are all the benefits for your business warehouse management if you decide to use a dedicated retail warehouse management system for all your warehouse process management and optimization.
Now, that you’ve clarity on how Retail WMS benefits your business, let’s look at the broader picture. Let’s understand how Retail MMS benefits your e-Commerce business.
How Can Retail MMS Benefit Your E-commerce Business?
Retail MMS software helps manufacturers, retailers, and wholesale distributors in more than 60 countries.
On average around 5,500 retailers are advancing their Retail portfolios and simplifying their supply-demand solutions.
The merchandise management system is widely used and well-known among industries for its stability, built-in capabilities, and its promotion features.
Furthermore, the software is also known for its ability to simulate pricing strategies and make the right pricing decisions before implementation.
The data warehouse is the must-have technology for the merchandise management system.
The Retail MMS Application Suite Includes:
- Inventory Control & Procurement
- Buyer’s Workbench
- Vendor Management
- Price Management
- Financial Control
- Distribution Centre Management
- Merchandise Receiving, Allocation & Replenishment
- Promotional Management
Let’s decode each of them individually, one-by-one.
Inventory Control & Procurement
The inventory control & procurement process includes purchasing & inventory management. The module is also used to perform necessary allocation and create purchase orders in the inventory. Retail MMS makes broad use of inventory transactions, and every activity can be monitored closely.
Purchase order pickups from single or multiple locations can be scheduled in advance. Moreover, it supports physical inventory count on stores.
Stock balances can be monitored with retail MMS, and specific transactions like stock balancing, managing promotional pricing, order creation, and many more tasks can be done through MMS. Apart from this, flash sales reporting and other 20+ categories can be managed online through retail.
Buyer’s Workbench
The Buyer’s Workbench is also a retail MMS module that includes a series of functions to address the purchasing and receiving related tasks. The process consists of colour and size checks of the material, pre-packs, material received, item maintenance, and SKUs.
The physical stores and distribution centres support the free movement of merchandise between locations.
The merchandise management system tracks sales and inventory by colour, size, and dimension. Moreover, these can be analysed in aggregate or individually.
Vendor Management
The vendor management module in retail MMS is used to maintain vendors as a part of the account payable process. Furthermore, the module supports an advanced level of allowances and rebates to assist in miscellaneous costing management, such as freight.
Vendor compliance and receipts are checked and tracked for damages, and the process also includes invoice matching.
Price Management
The merchandise management system includes cost management policies, and it works parallel with other modules. Companies host events to update the regular price at POS and track mark-ups throughout the course. The price of an item can be managed at stores or warehouses or a zonal level.
Financial Control
Retail MMS comes with Accounts Payable, General Ledger, and Account Receivable-like functions. Apart from this, the merchandise management system has numerous advantages and can lead you to manage accounts through a highly integrated accounting application.
Distribution Centre Management
Distribution Centre Management is a logistics module, and it includes inbound shipment scheduling, receiving, and put-away. DC management also comes with a cycle count functionality to assist users in inventory count.
This retail MMS module supports some advanced functionalities like cross-docking and various unique features that include pallet manifesting, holding and allocating merchandise without moving it to the holding zone, and supporting overall warehouse functionalities.
Merchandise Receiving, Allocation & Replenishment
Merchandise receiving is used when the automatic receiving of goods is implemented. Automated replacement accepts a considerable number of options and keeps the minimum/maximum formula aside. Apart from this, item velocity and sales profile can also be included in this process. The Warehouse replenishment can be chosen if more functionality is required.
Promotional Management
This module in retail MMS allows various pricing schemes to support deal pricing, like (Buy 1 Get 1, Short term discount, quantity breaks, Mix/match, Price Multiples, Dimension Overrides, and Many More). Promotional events come with an expiry date, and once the promotion period is over, the item will be available at its regular price.
Now, that you’re aware of the potential that Retail MMS possess to take your Retail business to the next level, what’s stopping you from putting it to use?
Is it technical know-how?
Is it the need for customizations in line with your business needs?
Is it the lack of technical prowess required to make Retail MMS a part of your IT ecosystem?
A reliable Retail MMS support partner can alleviate all these worries.
Looking for one?
Your search ends here at Integrative Systems!
Here’s How Integrative Systems Can Help you upgrade your Retail MMS
Merchandise management is a critical function for retailers. A merchandise management system (MMS) is at the heart of all retail operations.
Using MMS, retailers can streamline their business operations. Retail MMS is a preferred enterprise solution for most of the retailers.
If you are looking for a retail MMS integration partner, you can connect with
At Integrative Systems we have 20+ years of experience in MMS implementation, customization, and Upgrade. Apart from this, integrative systems provide a broad range of retail MMS services.
Some of them are:
System Modification and Enhancement
- System Integration
- 24/7 Support
- Version Upgrades
- Hardware and Software Needs Assessment
- QA/QC Testing
Retail MMS is a powerful solution. Have a look at some of the benefits that organizations can grab by implementing such systems –
Better Omnichannel Marketing
The convergence of digital and physical retail has changed traditional methods of shopping. The buying experience for customers should be consistent – whether done online or at a physical store. Omni-channel marketing cannot be contained. It will only grow in significance and importance. That’s why a tight integration between digital and physical sales channels is imperative.
To support this paradigm change, a tight integration in supply chain components is necessary as well. The key is to serve customers better with increased responsiveness and in a highly business-efficient manner. Retail MMS system implementation can be leveraged to integrate business functions and provide a unified customer experience.
Smooth Integration of Business Functions
With retail MMS services, Integrative Systems has helped companies by integrating their order fulfilment software systems with several other business-critical systems. Companies have achieved tighter integration of the e-Commerce, warehouse, inventory, transport, labor, and order management systems. It has resulted in a better cost saving business model. This aspect provides an opportunity to retain high profitability levels without lowering service levels.
Product Returns Management
Omni-channel retailers find that product returns are costlier when there is a lack of visibility. Because of this, returned products are stored indefinitely at store locations. Instead of being included in the mainstream inventory and made available to be sold, returned products are unnecessarily made to have high opportunity losses. Retail MMS can leverage the returns authorization feature to solve such problems.
Having this feature on-board, the order management system can be configured to issue alerts to the warehouse management system when product returns are expected. The warehouse management system includes returned products into mainstream inventory. This way, opportunity losses are minimized, and margins can be maximized.
Destination Focus for Demand Management
When shoppers visit a store and can’t find what they are looking for, the store representatives provide another option. The product is delivered from a fulfilment centre directly to the shopper’s home. Traditionally, fulfilment centres did not stock products based on forecasts. It led to shoppers waiting for a long time to get their product. To solve this problem, companies can implement retail MMS and get a unified omnichannel insight system.
Here, teams will have insight and visibility into every shopper’s or customers’ omnichannel order information. It allows for forecasting demand and re-stocking fulfilment centres to immediately deliver products to customers when a requisition is created.
Improved Merchandising Processes and Inventory Performance
Companies want a cost-effective, robust, extensible, and integrated solution to manage their sales channels. They want visibility into their inventories, cost-to-benefit margins, and more control over their cash flows. Also, they want to act quickly on market triggers and shifts, manage vendor relationships efficiently, map sales activities to market trends, and leverage analytics.
Integrative Systems has been helping companies to improve their operational performance, inventory management efficiency, and market responsiveness with retail MMS implementation.
User Interface Based Reporting
Companies can depict real-time information in easy-to-understand reports by using the Reporting modules of retail MMS. The accurate data is gathered from the entire business network. Although there is the option for batch reporting, real-time reporting can also be implemented. It assists businesses in being vigilant to market dynamics. Data from multiple systems can be consolidated, filtered, classified, and categorized.
After an extensive process of applying rules to data, the most relevant data sets can be produced. It enables decision-makers to quickly check business status get the correct pulse of the business.
Control Over Inventory
With retail MMS system implementation, companies can create a proactive and reactive inventory management model. The inventory can be stocked to an optimal measure based on current and forecasted customer demand. Furthermore, inventory can be better organized by categorizing products based on inventory, weight, sell, or quantity.
Order and Item Management
Bulk purchase orders or multi-drop purchase orders can be managed efficiently. Retail MMS can be configured to provide multi-currency support for order management processes. The inventory can be optimized to allow even fractional quantities to be delivered at the same speed and service levels.
Price Management
Comparative pricing estimations can be made. Based on these estimations, products can be repriced, pricing strategies can be revisited, and future strategies can be prepared as per data records.
The best price for a product can be estimated depending on the channel and store with retail MMS implementation.
Replenishment
Inventory can be replenished based on customer demand and purchasing patterns. Safety stock can be optimized so that the holding time for stock does not increase its opportunities loss. Lost sales can be recovered by reducing lead time. It is done by more accurate forecasting techniques, increasing service levels. Also, inventory status can be monitored in real-time to drive forecasts and assess buyer performance with retail merchandise management system implementation.
Warehouse Management
Omnichannel fulfilment can be aligned in a better manner to provide a better customer experience. Merchandise storage in warehouses can be planned, managed, and tracked with retail MMS implementation. Warehouse operations can be improved by optimizing inventory movement from and to the warehouse and between channels.
Thinking on tactical grounds where a Retail MMS support partner may help? Read on!
How does a Retail MMS Support Partner Help?
Merchandise planning is a bare necessity for merchandisers and retailers.
Such planning strategies intend to identify ways to increase profitability.
Traditionally, merchandisers utilized historical records to build a profitability roadmap. But this activity was not completely automated and did not involve tools and technologies to utilize data analytics.
Retail merchandise management system implementation partners help merchandising companies to use data to derive intelligent analytics.
By applying the modules of retail MMS accurately, companies form predictable forecasts. Forecasting integrates multiple business functions such as marketing, human resources, operations, and product management and enables business planners to formulate a sales plan.
The sales plan is not a rigid one. It factors market variables and provides multiple guesstimates based on such data. Nevertheless, it helps businesses realistically interpret the state of their sales, profits, costs, operations, and business health.
Another critical area that retail MMS integration can help is assortment planning. Merchandisers determine the styles and quantities of products that should be part of each category.
Additionally, companies can be assisted in mapping inventory to regional store units or fulfilment centres. This type of activity is called merchandise allocation and is one of the most complex aspects of merchandise planning.
In assortment planning, companies use retail MMS to solve many open questions for which the answers are not straightforward.
- Which Stock Keeping Units will drive sales and profitability?
- Which items and products are essential to the overall business strategy?
- How does this company’s assortment compare to the assortment of competitors?
- What is the best way to formulate a system that controls merchandise flow?
- What is the optimal way to decide how to allocate merchandise?
- What are the different decision-making techniques to evaluate merchandising?
- How to determine optimal inventory?
Why choose Integrative Systems for Retail MMS Administration?
Integrative Systems understands how to leverage the capabilities of retail merchandise management system to increase sales, improve operational effectiveness, increase profit margins, etc.
Companies also gain powerful replenishment and allocation processes, vendor management capabilities, and enhanced customer orders management.
Administration has broad benefits that span multiple business functions. A company can integrate all functions, including inventory control, price and cost management, promotions management, and financial management.
Integrative Systems can help businesses make enhancements and modifications to their MMS environment.
Implementing the MMS solution or integrating it into an existing application portfolio, all relevant modules of the solution can be leveraged intelligently. Connect with our experts at Integrative Systems by sending your queries at – [email protected] and transform your business.
One Reply to “Retail MMS System Software – Everything You Must Know!”
John Smith
This blog offers a comprehensive look into Retail MMS System Software, covering its key features and benefits. It’s a valuable read for retailers seeking to optimize inventory and streamline operations.