Multi-channel home furnishings retailer Linens ‘n Things, operating ahead of the curve with new web-based trade settlement technology, expects to reduce costs and improve operating efficiencies significantly with the new technology, reports TradeCard Inc., its trade settlement system provider.
Web-based trade settlement is still in the early stages of adoption by the retail industry, as many retailers concentrate on other more traditional technologies like CRM and POS systems, experts say. But several retailers are in initial stages of testing and deploying web-based trade settlement and are realizing the technology will save them large amounts of costs in managing the purchasing process, according to analysts and vendors involved with the deployments.
But don’t expect to hear retailers talking about their trade settlement applications any time soon, vendors and analysts say. The few who have jumped early into web-based trade settlement software did so because they believe it can give them a competitive advantage in the form of lower operating costs and so they aren’t eager to tell others about it, experts say. "They’re all looking for a leg up on the competition," says Lois Bruu, vice president of market development for TradeCard.
Todd Kolber, vice president of retail solutions for TradeCard, says a company can expect to save millions of dollars per year once its TradeCard trade settlement system is completely rolled out with an integrated import financing tool. Those savings, he adds, will come from three areas: faster and more accurate review of purchase orders, invoices and delivery receipts, resulting in a more productive accounts-payable department; discounts in payments resulting from invoices that get paid sooner due to the faster document review process; and reduced costs in bank fees related to import transactions handled through TradeCard instead of through traditional bank letters of credit.
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