Fulfillment : ’Net Control

How to leverage e-stores for maximum results

In today's economy, marketers are looking for ways to get information faster, streamline existing processes and, most of all, reduce operational costs. One area marketers should review is the marketing execution process—specifically, e-stores or sales portals where partners, the sales force or retail stores are able to order fulfillment/marketing materials, POS/POP, samples and other sales support tools. Having a single centralized e-store can drive communication between corporate and the field, reduce operating expenses, improve total program visibility, and deliver focus to your marketing execution and fulfillment strategy.

What Are the Benefits?
Also called an online inventory management portal or catalog, an e-store is an online entryway where businesses are able to manage the order and fulfillment processes for their marketing programs. From a corporate push to a customer pull, an e-store can help manage marketing fulfillment in a way that makes sense for each business and industry.

The obvious advantage is ease of ordering for end users. Beyond that, a robust e-store can provide additional benefits, including:

• A centralized location to streamline the marketing fulfillment processes for all channels.

• Complete visibility into the marketing execution process:

• executive dashboards
• inventory and order reporting
• shipping confirmations
• trends with team/products

Five Key E-store Attributes
To realize the maximum value of e-stores, look for the five key indicators outlined below to ensure program success. Many companies offer an e-store, but not all e-stores provide the same functionality or capabilities.

1. Integration with client systems.
An e-store needs to completely integrate with inventory and order management. E-stores can have multiple order fronts, but they all need to integrate into a single back end for complete inventory and order management. This is the only way to easily capture transactional data across all channels and eliminate manual processes for looking at the complete marketing execution picture. It also ensures the flexibility to change systems or vendors on the front or back end.

2. Third-party integration.
Seek out vendors who offer e-stores with the flexibility to integrate with third parties. This ability allows for orders to be placed in one system and eliminates the need for end users to work in multiple systems and for brand managers to manage multiple sites, making the task of keeping your programs organized and up-to-date less daunting. In this integrated model, orders can be placed on the e-store, triggering a drop-ship order with the third-party vendor. Once the order is completed, the third party sends back an order confirmation containing tracking information and the e-store closes the order. Vendors also should be able to integrate e-stores with customer care systems, client bank and financial institutions, regulatory agencies, Web sites, and client enterprise resource planning applications.

3. Reporting.
Although most e-stores offer reporting, it is important that the e-store selected offers business-specific modules to help with demand planning, forecasting, auto-replenishment, vendor management and more. Look for vendors who offer standard reporting and executive-level dashboards. Standard reporting allows management to access general inventory and order information. Dashboards are generally customizable, delivering executive-level information with drill-down capabilities for detailed information and trend analysis.

4. Brand customization and 
product flexibility.
Designed to meet specific business rules, as well as to adhere to industry requirements and regulations, e-stores should have the ability to be completely customized to a business's brand. Additionally, the e-store should allow brand managers to add new fulfillment materials and products easily and provide best-of-breed search capability; for example, Amazon.com's search results model is one to emulate. Such high-end functionality lets a user search products by type, brand or promotion. Another crucial feature is template ordering that can be set up by a brand manager and pushed to the field for editing/updating. This simplifies the ordering process for users and saves time by always having the bulk of what is needed by users prepopulated in the e-store for future use.

5. User control and security.
A best practice in e-store systems is providing product and user security based on user groups. This allows groups to be defined hierarchically, with user logins determining access to information, products and functionality. Setting user controls helps avoid misorders, can limit product hoarding, can be set by territory, and provides the ability to report based on user or user group to eradicate abuse.

Three Red Flags 
for E-stores
Watch out for things that may seem great on paper but could potentially sabotage a marketing program's success in the execution phase. While shopping around for an e-store provider, look for the following red flags:

1. "Free" e-store.
While the offer of a free e-store is alluring, in the long run a semifunctioning, underperforming e-store isn't a good investment for anyone. Often, hidden integration or accessibility fees may apply in "free" e-stores when you ask to make changes, add products or give new users access. Free e-stores often are basic, out-of-the-box applications that can create an order storefront and allow users to place orders. But they are limited in adapting to the way your business works.

2. Limited visibility.
Not only does an e-store serve as a way to streamline processes, it can be a valuable data-gathering tool. Critical data runs through the e-store, so make sure the system is able to collect the right data and report or display it in a meaningful manner. Some questions to ask when evaluating visibility are:

• Do the reports fit my industry?
• Are reports lines of data, or are they presented in a dashboard-like manner for quick decision making?
• If I want to change a field, will I be charged a customization fee?

Make sure to request a live demo from the proposed vendor, rather than viewing screenshots to see exactly what the proposed e-store can do. Check to see if the demo is relevant to your industry or your business model, or if the vendor has any experience in your industry.

3. Lack of additional IT support and security.
Be sure the proposed vendor has the capability to support extra volume if your company adds a product or an entire brand. The e-store system should have the ability to define user groups "on the fly" for data security and convenience in ordering products. Inquire what backup measures will be taken to ensure user accessibility and data security in the event of an outage, virus or security breach.

A Little Prep 
Goes a Long Way
A properly designed e-store can revolutionize how you organize and execute your fulfillment and marketing operations, while a poorly conceived system can drag down efficiency and present impediments to future program improvements. Be sure to work with all your key stakeholders so you have a clear idea of the full range of features you need.

Kathleen Carter is vice president of business development at Archway, a fulfillment services and marketing operations management firm in Rogers, Minn. She can be reached at (866) 779-9855.

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