Supplier Collaboration Software

Retail Express provides purpose-built, AI-powered tools that make supplier collaboration faster, simpler and more transparent. A fully digital deal management system streamlines negotiations, supports contractual compliance and gives teams shared access to brand history, audit trails and promotional calendars. Integrated supplier portal and merchandising workflows improve alignment, decision-making and mutual profitability, giving traders access to tools such as:

• Real-Time Operationally Collaborative Merchandising

  Is your team leaving money on the table? Retail Express supplier collaboration software brings together key interactions with traders and suppliers in one place. No more reliance on outdated, out-of-date spreadsheets – delight customers and meet your performance targets with a tool that gets things done quickly and efficiently.

  Traders, buyers and suppliers alike benefit from a single source of truth, one place to plan, negotiate and manage promotions, deals and trade funds. This drives increased supplier funding and better offers, whilst dramatically improving the collection of funds and reducing the cost and timescale of collection. Cut the admin and return your traders to what they are good at.

  Retail Express helps you agree contractual spend based on comprehensive audit trails. Easily share data with suppliers on their product and deal performance, and extend AI-driven forecasts and analytics into the heart of the negotiation. Make deals work by default.

  Functions within the module:

  • Supplier Planning
  • Supplier Negotiations
  • Deal Management
  • Automation
  • Vendor Funding
  • Joint Supplier/Retailer Business Plan
  • Track, trace and monitor/report Supplier activities

• Real-Time Shared Visibility to Truth

  Supplier collaboration works best when all parties are working with the same facts. Retail Express gives retailers and suppliers shared, real-time visibility of sales data, shipment data, promotion events, forecasts and actuals, without the delays or mismatches of legacy file transfers or disconnected portals. Truly work together, with one source of truth for everyone.

  Collaborate and align annual planning, quarterly and weekly negotiation cycles. Create shared forecasts which consider past performance, market data, and AI-driven future predictions, giving both retailer and supplier sufficient time to make mutually agreeable, growth-focused improvements. Align on an event calendar, promotional plans, and trade investment data in a supplier collaboration platform which respects the way the retail business works.

  Working as one with Retail Express means you can give suppliers approved shared access to AI-enabled analytic tools, creating an unequalled opportunity for mutual understanding of product and customer behaviour. AI deep learning capabilities allow you to continuously adjust to changing market conditions, customer loyalties, trends, seasonality and product interactions including cannibalisation, halo effects and time-latency effects.

• Operational-Quality Data

  The secret to great forecasting has always been great data. Accurate modelling needs clean, detailed information on price, promotion, display, assortment, copy, media, business rules, contract terms, merchandising spend, billing and performance. Retail Express supplier collaboration module is part of a product suite that helps retailers generate operational-quality data, and uses it to support simulations, forecasts, supplier negotiations and back-office execution.

  This means deals negotiated with the confidence that they conform to format, banner, store and brand business rules and guardrails. Execution and activity monitored for alignment to real-time digital contract terms. And the kind of business controls that help boost creativity, placing an emphasis on entrepreneurship that makes good buyers even better.

  Retail Express’ whole-business connected structure means deals affect back-office operations across all downstream functions including assortment, promotional pricing, media and in-store merchandising and distribution, with SKU and store-level granularity and day/time-specific performance windows and variations. And with every action covered by detailed audit trails, both parties remain fully accountable for their contributions toward a mutually beneficial outcome. No more discrepancies, no more uncollectable funds.

• Fully Collaborative Workflow

  Retail Express enables a new level of frictionless, transparent interactions among team members, both within the retail organisation and with each of its supplier teams. For years, the construction of mutually beneficial, optimal ROI merchandising programmes has been a challenge; with connected supplier collaboration software from Retail Express, retailers get better execution of trade funds, lower-effort collections, and reduced costs and waste.

  Retail Express’ next-generation supplier portal tightly integrates into the retailer’s merchandising solution allowing suppliers and retailers to collaborate on plans, proposals, deals, offers, media, promotional displays, and other vendor monies. Information flows both ways at all stages of the supplier planning, negotiations and execution processes, powering a culture of shared ownership and win-win outcomes.

  Collaboration follows the supplier life cycle, from joint business planning and annual reviews supported by dynamically updated and jointly-managed forecast, funding and gross margin expectations, to daily notifications of actions due. You and your suppliers get the best deal possible, and never miss a thing.