Since walking around the store has been limited, life at home over the past year has forced marketers to get creative in educating consumers about products. Many retailers are experimenting with live streams and partnerships with social influencers, and it is projected to generate more than $11 billion in US sales this year.

What is the draw to this new “QVC style” of shopping online from home?  It’s both entertainment and advertising in a way that draws both young and old.  Retailers can partner with influencers who will draw in crowds with similar demographics matching to products and generate sales in real-time during the live stream.  

As retailers seek out trustworthy and knowledgeable suppliers for upcoming live streams, is your business prepared and ready for the volume and speed required to keep up with demand?

Nurture Your Relationship with Retailers
If you want to be a valued and trusted supplier and considered for opportunities like live streams, it is important to show your reliability and consistency in performance. 

Retailers are concerned about quick shipments, minimal late or missed shipments, reduced invalid tracking information and late deliveries to the consumer because ultimately it is the retailer that will pay the consequences and their brand suffers.

In order to nurture your relationship with retailers, you should focus on:

• Compliance with retailer’s business processes.
• Upward scalability of your business, delivering more on-time orders each day.
• Maximizing your warehouse’s efficiency.

To learn more about building trust with retailers through your reliable relationships and the importance of the score card, click here.

Benefits of Order Processing Software:
The most successful suppliers work to quicken their order processing and warehouse efficiencies, so that when new trends like live streaming arise, they are ready for the challenge and opportunities.

Selecting effective software is the quickest and most cost-efficient way to do more with less.  Benefits include:

• Save time processing orders: a shift from manual steps to autonomous processes will increase your capacity for additional and accurate orders without the need to hire additional staff.
• Reduce overhead costs: it takes time to enter data manually and then transfer information into the accounting system, but when automated it happens within a matter of seconds.
• Increase data control: human error is inevitable, no matter how careful your team is during data entry. Automation significantly reduces the number of opportunities for error.
• Faster shipping: automation allows you to quickly send orders straight to your warehouse for shipping with all of the needed paperwork.
• Build stronger relationships with retailers: Retailers expect accurate and timely communication and business processes, and automation provides real time data across all inventory, processing, shipping documentation, etc. so that your eCommerce business reflects its dependability and accuracy.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management |Warehouse Management | Shipping

If you want to be a valued and trusted supplier to your retailers so that your company will have opportunities to partner on opportunities like live streaming, it is important to be responsive and meet the expectations clearly communicated.

The bottom line is that OPAL addresses all of this for you and so much more.  It combines all of your order management, warehouse management and shipping solution activities into one autonomous software platform without the need for all of the multiple software systems.  AND without the cost of EDI transactions.

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  To learn more, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

As people begin to return to pre-pandemic normal lives, many stores like Walgreens are reporting it has seen discretionary spending pick up online and in local stores with makeup, passport and vaccine purchases. 

Summer sales season would echo that discretionary spending has risen, as suppliers who planned ahead to have product in stock have experienced its top grossing summer sales season yet.  According to Bank of America, it is estimated that Amazon alone sold more than 255 million items during its recent prime days, making it the largest global e-commerce two-day period in history. 

As a supplier, depending on who you work with, EDI transactions alone could eat up profit margins on this massive volume of sales and may require that you hire additional staff to handle the peak shipping days.  Both issues could be easily resolved with the selection of the right software solution.

Meet a Supplier of Home Furnishings and OPAL Fanatic

He and his team transitioned to Opal after working with a well-known EDI third party company. There were lots of issues, as they had a cumbersome system to process orders, all of which differed by partner.  

The worst problem he had was that whenever there was a snag in the system, they could not reach anyone on their vendor’s team — they had to create a case and wait until they responded. Many times, the vendor’s response was that their team was not responsible for a particular aspect (integration with accounting software, shipping vendors, or sales partner setup, etc.) and the case was referred to that other team. In the meantime, they lost valuable time and many times were penalized by their sales partners for not receiving the information on time.

Why Was Opal a Good Fit for You?

I have always been able to reach someone at Opal to help if there are issues related to orders, errors, etc.  The staff is very helpful and knowledgeable and generally resolve the issues right away. To me that is the most important quality I look for in a partner processor.

What Results Have You Achieved with OPAL?

Our process has been streamlined to a very user-friendly system. We have been able to add partners and customization is available if the need arises.  

We have grown our business tremendously without having to add staff to process orders.

What Would You Say to Someone Who is Considering OPAL?

I would definitely recommend Opal. I think their strength is the personal approach with the customer that makes you feel they value you as a customer.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world. 

With OPAL, not only is every EDI transaction included and free, but most suppliers are able to reach additional customers to sell more product with their current teams. 

To learn more about how OPAL can help your business simplify your order processing, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!