Multichannel retailers are investing in new solutions to help improve their ordering and delivery processes.
National Roper’s Supply (NRS), a major Western-style clothing chain in Texas, currently has three brick-and-mortar stores and an e-Commerce site. The company also does a high volume of sales through its catalog, call centers and mobile devices. To better track and fulfill orders across all channels, NRS implemented all-in-one retail management software from Celerant Technology.
Using Celerant solutions to manage inventory, POS and web site optimization, NRS has increased sales and created a more enjoyable customer experience with more flexible inventory management and delivery options.
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“Although we continue to use min/max ordering processes, our sales and conversions have increased since implementing Celerant,” said Kerrie Thornton, Director of Marketing at NRS. “We outgrew the system we were on and felt Celerant could help us take our web site and delivery options to the next level.”
Same-day shipping is provided to customers that order in-stock items before 12:00 p.m. Central Time, which encourages customers to return to the e-Commerce site for last-minute sales, Thornton explained. “Since we’re very centrally located in Texas, we can get orders out to our customers very fast.”
A real-time inventory solution is being adopted across the business, so NRS can see products that are available in vendor warehouses. As a result, the retailer can use a vendor warehouse to access available stock, pick up products and ship to consumers.
This approach “allows us to use their warehouse as stock so we don’t have to actually stock it in ours,” Thornton said. “We pick up product daily from their warehouse and ship the next day. This will give us a significant edge on getting product in-house quicker and allow us to ship our customer orders out faster without taking up more space in the warehouse that can be used for other inventory.”
NRS also has established a loyal following at Western events and rodeos, where the retailer builds temporary shops. In fact, these short-term locations generate a significant amount of its sales. For example, a 90,000 square-foot store at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas was a “great addition” to the company’s business, Thornton noted. Now that these shops are integrated with brick-and-mortar stores, the e-Commerce site and vendor warhouses, “we are able to get a real-time view of inventory in all locations.”
Currently, NRS is developing a multi-year roadmap to establish a complete, omnichannel inventory management and fulfillment approach. Technological investments being considered include RFID and mobile applications to further streamline inventory management and ordering strategies.
