Enchancing supplier collaboration

CASE STUDY

Headquartered in Manila with 49 branches and 327 stores in eight retail formats across the Philippines, Robinsons Supermarket Corporation is one of the largest supermarket chains in the country.

Requirement

The merchandising team at Robinsons Supermarket is responsible for sourcing products sold in all its stores.  Selecting and sourcing high quality products at reasonable prices, and on time, to offer a wider assortment of safe, innovative and nutritious products to its customers is of paramount importance to the company.  Collaboration with suppliers’ network was the link in the chain that Robinsons was looking to strengthen.

Challenges faced                            

Information distribution was one-sided, making it impossible for suppliers to take active part in the process of product or getting the clear picture of suppliers’ response or feedback.

Solution provided

Manthan System’s ARC Supplier Portal and Analytics, with its powerful supplier collaboration platform and analytical capabilities, proved to be the perfect fit in this business context. SPA is a comprehensive, web-based collaboration platform for retailers, suppliers, vendors and other touch-points in the retail chain.  SPA has provided Robinsons a single interactive platform with a comprehensive view of the entire supplier portfolio by integrating the key supplier reliability data with financial viability metrics.

Benefits discovered

• Improved performance: Complete visibility into purchase order tracking by supplier and buyer has improved the in-stock percentage at the stores by 2 per cent. The visibility has helped store operations, replenishment department, buyers and suppliers in planning and has improved the vendor fill rates by over 5per cent.
• Efficient promotion planning: Intense collaboration and two-way communication between the company and its suppliers has led to efficient promotion planning, thereby reducing the gap between projected and actual sales significantly
• Clearer product visibility: Streamlining new product introduction process has resulted in timely introduction with visibility to all stakeholders
• Reduced transactional costs: Robinsons has successfully reduced its transaction costs due to extensive use of a Distributed Portal-Based Platform. Easy access to information has reduced the cost of sourcing, warehousing and transporting merchandise
• Cost savings and speedy financial return: The SPA license pricing is not based on usage and can be rolled out to any number of suppliers and users without incremental costs, adding to the cost benefit of the solution. The subscription-based investment model with key suppliers brought supplier subscription revenues and helped Robinsons achieve an extremely fast ROI
• Increased customer loyalty: The analytical capabilities of SPA have helped Robinsons achieve an accurate SKU rationalisation analysis. It also provides a better picture of destination items. This knowledge has improved the company’s customer loyalty index
• Clearer identification of areas for enhancement: Complete transparency in all interactions between supplier and retailer has helped Robinsons identify areas to reduce cost, reduce risk, and also find new opportunities to improve its operations.  

 ARC SPA aims to play the central role and be at the crux of the next level of retailer supplier collaborative relationships by transforming the supplier value chain to an agile, intelligent and high-performing supplier network, enabling improved visibility, stronger collaboration and driving end-to-end process automation.

Atul Jalan, CEO & MD, Manthan Systems

Manthan System’s ARC has brought into our enterprise an extensive collaboration with suppliers and a clear visibility into various aspects of merchandising. ARC’s well thought-out design and effective application are its biggest strengths.

Thelma G. Roxas, Vice-President and Chief Information Officer, Robinsons Supermarket Corporation