VendorNet launches cross-channel inventory tool

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — VendorNet, a supply chain collaboration solutions provider, has announced the availability of its StoreNet Manager, an e-commerce and in-store collaboration technology that facilitates online orders for direct-to-consumer fulfillment by traditional stores.

Today, consumers are pre-shopping retail Web sites for product features, price, and availability. If their online experience tells them that an item is not available, the retailer is faced with a lost sale, lost demand information for the item, and an unhappy customer. StoreNet Manager minimizes these issues by making in-store inventory transparently available for purchase to online shoppers, and capturing true product demand information critical for accurate forecasting. It essentially creates a single virtual warehouse across the enterprise that improves SKU availability for online shoppers.

StoreNet Manager integrates with a retailer's host order management or e-commerce system. Online orders that cannot be fulfilled from warehouse inventory are electronically transmitted to StoreNet Manager, which routes the order to the best available store for fulfillment based on user-defined store allocation rules. Store personnel access the orders complete with pick list, packing slip, and shipping label through a VendorNet-enabled Web portal. The store personnel pick the items and confirm the picked quantities in StoreNet Manager, which triggers printing of the packing slips with FedEx or UPS shipping labels, and ultimately the transmission of shipping manifests to the appropriate carrier notifying the carrier that packages are staged for pickup. In the event a store is unable to fulfill all items/orders, they are automatically allocated to the next best available store.

Upon receipt of the shipment by the carrier, StoreNet Manager obtains pick-up scans confirming carrier possession, and sends a ship transaction including tracking number back to the host order management or e-commerce system triggering a charge to the consumer's credit card. At the end of each day, StoreNet Manager obtains updated store inventory counts from the retailer's host inventory management system, and transmits the total item inventory counts across all stores and the warehouse to the retailer's e-commerce system.

VendorNet's first StoreNet client, Jones Apparel Group, the parent company of many leading apparel, footwear and accessory brands, has successfully launched StoreNet Manager in all Nine West stores across the country. Its Easy Spirit, Bandolino, and Jones of New York stores will be live with StoreNet Manager before year end.