Increasing your collection begins with technique
Thanks to the rise of online shopping and the rapid growth of e-commerce retailers like Amazon, today’s consumers expect a nearly endless selection of product. Consumers’ preferences are changing so fast that retailers must surround their shoppers with a wide array of product choices. Estimates suggest that Amazon itself offers more than 2 billion SKUs through its myriad of suppliers. While not every retailer can be the next Amazon in their categories, many continue to feel the competitive necessity to greatly expand their product offerings. This pressure has left many retailers scrambling to keep up with the pace of assortment expansion.
More SKUs, more to do
Assortment expansion is much easier said than done. Many retailers want to exponentially expand their product lineups, but lack the ability to quickly add new vendors and products at scale.
Here are three keys to success:
1. Efficient discovery:
Manual methods of discovering new products and vendors, such as attending trade shows, are not sufficient for adding the hundreds or even thousands of new products many retailers seek. Retailers need to be able to access an established and sizable vendor community that offers the targeted products they need to support their strategic sourcing goals.
2. Thorough qualification:
Vendor capabilities need to be carefully screened to avoid the time-consuming process of vetting each vendor. Accessing pre-screened vendors based on the retailer’s business requirements significantly reduces the time required to bring new products online and the risk of onboarding a vendor that is not a good fit.
3. Streamlined onboarding:
Once a suitable vendor match is found, retailers need a way to quickly onboard vendors to align with their systems and processes. Outsourcing this process to a third party provides the bandwidth needed to handle this task efficiently.
If your company aims to expand its product assortment, contact EDI Here to access the retail industry’s largest trading community with more than 65,000 companies. By tapping into our solutions for vendor sourcing, retailers can significantly expand their assortment variety while reducing the cost of vendor discovery and acquisition.
