GERS Multi-Channel Commerce Solution Deployed at Eddie Bauer to Automate In-Store Special Order and Vendor Drop Ship
Specialty retailer upgrades customer service with automated order management to grow home furniture business without increasing costs
San Diego, CA, January 06, 2004 – GERS Retail Systems, the leading provider of real-time, closed-loop retail management solutions, today announced that Eddie Bauer, the premium outdoor-inspired casual wear brand, has implemented its Multi-Channel Commerce solution to automate all processes related to fulfilling customized home furniture orders placed in Eddie Bauer Home stores. Typically these special orders are not stocked in stores or in fulfillment centers, and thus require an order to be sent directly to the vendor for manufacturing and fulfillment.
Eddie Bauer Home has deployed the Configurator, Order Management, Customer Service, and Order Fulfillment applications across its nationwide network of 38 stores and vendor partners to automate special order processes.
“Custom furniture orders have longer lead times, so it’s common for customers to call and ask where their orders are,” said Lisa Erickson, Eddie Bauer spokesperson. “With GERS, custom furniture customer service and store associates will have order status information at their fingertips, even though the merchandise is being fulfilled by remote locations.”
Custom furniture orders require many manual steps today, which makes it a process ripe for automation. From redundant data entry to faxing orders and making phone calls to vendors to check on orders, store associates and call center personnel can spend a lot of time. By using GERS to streamline the entire process, Eddie Bauer Home will have the capacity to handle more orders and more SKUs, while lowering operational costs and still providing great customer service.
The GERS Configurator offers product configuration capabilities that allow store associates to quickly customize products as requested by the customer. GERS Order Management calculates applicable promotions, tax, and shipping costs, and authorizes payment. It also selects the correct fulfillment location and converts customer orders into vendor purchase orders. Vendors update order status at regular intervals, process and fulfill orders, and submit invoices after the items ship. The combination of GERS Order Management and Fulfillment ensures error-free drop ship delivery and facilitates performance-based vendor management.
With GERS Fulfillment, vendors and fulfilling locations use an intuitive browser interface to view and download purchase orders, then pack and ship them. Alternatively, vendors can choose to communicate electronically with the retailer via GERS’ Electronic Document Exchange. GERS Fulfillment ships with pre-integrated interfaces to major carriers including UPS and FedEx, allowing vendors to download branded shipping labels and documents while maintaining a seamless customer and brand experience. GERS Fulfillment also ties carrier tracking numbers to customer and purchase orders, allowing the retailer, vendor, and customer to accurately track shipped orders online.
“The world of retailing is fast evolving into a multi-channel one, where the separate systems across the store, catalog, and e-commerce channels are merging into one pipeline,” said Jim Henderson, President and CEO of GERS Retail Systems. “Retailers like Eddie Bauer realize that eliminating the boundaries across channels and between selling, fulfillment, and customer service is a great way to increase revenue from their best customers.”
About Eddie Bauer
Eddie Bauer is a premium outdoor-inspired casual wear brand offering distinctive clothing, accessories and home furnishings for men and women that reflect a modern interpretation of the company’s unique outdoor heritage. Eddie Bauer offers premium merchandise through its two retailing concepts: Eddie Bauer® and Eddie Bauer Home®. In its 83-year history, Eddie Bauer has evolved from a single store in Seattle to a tri-channel, international company with more than 300 stores, 100 million catalogs and online Web sites: www.eddiebauer.com, www.eddiebauerhome.com and www.eddiebaueroutlet.com. Eddie Bauer operates stores in the U.S. and Canada, and through joint venture partnerships in Germany and Japan.
About GERS Retail Systems
GERS Retail Systems is a leading supplier of software solutions that empower decision makers to make the right decisions right now. By facilitating the real-time flow of transactions and information across the entire retail organization, our solutions enable retailers to consistently anticipate, understand, and fulfill their customers’ expectations for products that are priced, located, and timed to meet consumer demands in every selling season. GERS solutions manage the merchandising life cycle, multi-channel selling, planning, business intelligence, and supply chain synchronization to create a great customer experience. For more information, please visit www.gers.com.
Contact:
Laura Weinhofer
800.854.2263, ext. 2176
lweinhofer@gers.com
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