In brief: With Velocity, a home fashions supplier has been able to shift its focus from reactive to proactive selling. Timely, accurate forecasting and tracking tools have opened new windows of opportunity for selling. More importantly, they have given the company valid, actionable reasons to stay in touch with their customers' buyers and planners. There are no more calls to buyers for information; instead, they are the information resource on which buyers and planners depend. Universally, their customers have been impressed with the richness of their POS information, the quality of their analyses and the accuracy of their sales forecasting plans.
Before meeting with any buyer, their sales department generates a set of Velocity reports which detail their products' POS activity and in-stock/out-of-stock conditions and sell-through results. This has enabled them to help its customers better manage their rate of sell, inventory levels and turns.
The ability to manage, analyze and improve retail customers' sell-through has given this proactive sales team greater insight into consumer trends. Coupled with full access to store-level or territory-level information, this has enabled them to be the 'go-to' source for sales reporting. By identifying each store's high turn items, as well as its slow moving products, and as a result, recommending needed changes in the product mix or inventory levels, they helps themselves and their retail customers.
Many buyers consider this suppliers' Velocity Reports to be "better than their own"; and, in at least one buyer's opinion, their POS reporting, monitoring and forecasting capabilities are "light years ahead of the competition".
While these capabilities help build sales and profitability both for the retailer and supplier, they are also helping to build stronger, more loyal customer relationships. In a highly competitive market, this is an invaluable strategic advantage.
