Web-based PIM improves inventory management 25%, study says
Retailers and suppliers that use web-based product information management systems realize an average 25% improvement in operations related to inventory control, such as the number of times apparel is out of stock on retail shelves, Yankee Group reports in a new study.
In its “2005 Product Information Management” study, Yankee identified 30 metrics where retailers and suppliers realize improvements. The areas of improvement include fewer calls to customer service centers related to product definitions and pricing, fewer discrepancies related to product promotions, time saved in trading partner communications, and a reduction in the number of times store inventory levels were either too high or too low.
The study focused on five retail categories: general merchandise, grocery, apparel, health and beauty products, and hardlines. PIM synchronizes product data shared externally among trading partners and internally by multiple applications and departments.
Kosin Huang, a Yankee Group senior analyst for business applications and commerce, says PIM enables retailers and their suppliers to overcome problems of incorrect data records resulting from data being kept in multiple silos of applications and multiple ERP systems, assuring, for example, that product packaging carries the same pricing and descriptions as in marketing campaigns and supplier catalogs. “Consistency is the name of the game here,” Huang says.
Individual categories of retailers tend to realize particular benefits through web-based PIM, Huang adds. General merchandise and grocery retailers tended to realize their greatest savings in the amount saved in communicating with suppliers, for example, while apparel retailers benefited the most from a reduction in the number of times when inventory levels were either too high or too low, Huang says.
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