STARS Shine Brightly

October 31, 2011 1 comment

We recently hosted our STARS User Group meeting and it was a Big F event – fabulous, fun and inFormative! This year’s theme was Sports STARS and everyone was dressed in their favorite team’s regalia, exhibiting the type of community spirit that TradeStone exemplifies and embodies in our solutions and people. Luminaries from across our customer base, including Family Dollar Stores, HBTC, Groupe Dynamite, Belk, American Eagle, Guitar Center, Mr. Price and Pacific Sunwear presented exciting case studies of how they successfully selected, implemented and rolled out TradeStone across departments, banners, partners and geographies. It was truly a love fest and we were happy to bask in the warm glow of admiration and gratitude.

“Whoa, wait a minute!” A gasp tells me the first customer is reading my blog and weighing in. “Grateful? Uh, Sue, aren’t you supposed to be grateful to us?”

And so we are. Grateful that the trust, work ethic, and humor that we share with our customers and partners drives us to design solutions that deliver value and make people smile. (A smile that can admittedly at times go over the edge to maniacal laughing)

But there were a few things attendees were grateful to have heard and shared. And although everything wasn’t necessarily based on what we did (although we did host the party), we enjoyed the basking anyway. So, a couple of interesting anecdotes from the conference:

1. On average most of our customers look at 4 to 6 providers when choosing a PLM / MLM solution. The winner for number of providers reviewed was Family Dollar with a whopping 30 suppliers! Our interpretation is it takes a lot of different software companies to offer all the capability TradeStone provides. Which means our customers aren’t wasting weeks, months and even years seeking, cobbling and building a patchwork quilt of solutions that resemble a Tim Burton Christmas movie.

2. We appreciated Kevin Boyanowsky’s psychology of gaining user adoption – anoint the cool by limiting the first group to go live and telling others they aren’t “ready”. Users and departments at Family Dollar are clamoring to be next in line to use TradeStone. Brilliant Marketing and one many attendees mentioned they would be deploying.

3. Keep it simple. Groupe Dynamite demonstrated that you can never be too elementary when it comes to creating training materials. They are one of our customers with the highest adoption rates and it was easy to see why – they have interactive video tutorials, a TradeStone link on their internal Web site loaded with information and of course, a designated Project Lead like Katia Berlin who acts as cheerleader, elementary school teacher – yes she gives out prizes to the first person to do something correctly, and even psychologist!

4. Then there was Mr. Price’s version of Mikey, the kid who hated everything except Life cereal! Brett and Shannon’s funny video of the merchant who hated change and technology with a passion usually reserved for the Yankees was transformational. We watched him go from scowling with body language that could repel the Huns to smiling and relaxed with open arms splayed across the interview couch. He likes us! He likes us! (which makes him sound like a cross between Mikey and Sally Fields)

5. Industry Models were validated over and over again. Hudson’s Bay Trading Company had the crowd in awe as they discussed how they were able to seamlessly roll out the system among FIVE varied banners that included apparel, discount and home in a short timeframe and are starting to see real results. Belk, Mr. Price, Family Dollar (again) and others followed HBTC’s lead and also discussed the rapid success of 100 to 120 day implementations that met 90 to 95% of each retailers’ needs out of the box. And best of all, they talked about under budget deployments that made everyone grateful!

All in all, the STARS shone brightly in Boston – and dare I say it, since the Red Sox couldn’t do it – we felt like we sure hit it out of the ballpark.

Merchandising, Product Innovation, Retail, STARS none

What Does Your Merchandise Community Look Like?

September 19, 2011 No comments

Yesterday as I was walking to work, I was thinking about TradeStone’s vision of building merchandise communities. With more than 11000 suppliers connected to the world’s most prestigious and funkiest retailers and brand companies, we have one of the largest commerce communities in the retail industry. I was feeling pretty smug about this bucolic empire when the image of the bar scene from Star Wars popped unbidden into my mind. Suddenly a 25 year vision of community was being populated by aliens speaking foreign tongues while their three eyes focus on their partners’ eight hands. Definitely not part of the bucolic scene of my ruminations.

Or is it?

The bar scene from Star Wars is a community – of sorts. Individuals visit from places afar in an attempt to foster good cheer, extend business relationships and try to find short and long term companionship before the lights come up. They are all seeking to carve out a role in a universal community that recognizes their value and contribution to the greater good.

This is not unlike the merchandise communities that form within and around retailers – creative and technical designers, merchants, production managers, logistics personnel, suppliers, factories, inspection companies, color companies, banks, carriers, mills, governments.

So, what does this have to do with TradeStone? The key to any community is getting the various players to play. To build to a greater good, to adopt and adapt to the norms and rules of engagement that all can agree on – or at least that most will accept.

Technology needs to support that. In the retail world, merchandise is now more important than location. A singular platform that understands and supports its community is paramount. But ultimately it is adoption that drives the community unity and moves it forward. The members can’t or won’t adopt if the technology doesn’t reflect the way things work regardless of location, language and merchandise category. For all their differences – triple eyes, ears on the bottom of their feet – the Star Wars bar scene works because the players show up and the bartenders understand what they want when they order a double hairy eyeball on the rocks.

A merchandise community is only as strong as its platform that unites them with one common infrastructure, one language that knows what someone means when she grunts “Hairy Eye”.

Merchandising, Product Innovation, Retail none

Hurray! Applause! BABOOM! Thank YOU!

January 6, 2011 1 comment

Yes, we are VERY proud that we were the first (and only) Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) / Merchandise Lifecycle Management (MLM) technology company to be ranked by retailers as a Top 10 RIS Leaderboard provider to the retail industry.  And of course, we were unlikely to hide our light under the proverbial bushel basket.  Hence the press releases, email campaigns, phone calls to customers, celebratory party, fireworks and parade.  But really, it did mean something that a PLM company finally made it on to Leaderboard.

As most people know, RIS Leaderboard is considered the Olympics of retail technology – with a slight flavor of Dancing with the Stars.  An independent organization retained by RIS magazine asks executives from all major retail segments to rank the best software companies serving their industry.  For this year’s survey, nearly 300 retailers voted on 847 vendor valuations. 

But why is TradeStone’s recognition as a Top 10 supplier (in six categories!) so important?  It means that PLM technologies are gaining momentum and have achieved critical mass in retail. Technology that unifies the design, sourcing and delivery of private label and global brands has taken its rightful place alongside ERP, SCM, Price Optimization and other core technologies for retailers and brand companies.

As Joe Skorupa, editor-in-chief, RIS News said “The RIS LeaderBoard has never had high placements by PLM / MLM providers in the past.  TradeStone’s solutions, which help businesses in these areas, were consistently cited by retailers for their performance, reliability and return on investment. The strong customer satisfaction ratings made TradeStone a standout in this year’s group of top software vendors.”

So thank you to our customers who voted for us, our employees who delivered such outstanding software and our competitors (the beloved Triplets) for their heartfelt – albeit silent -appreciation of TradeStone’s contributions in getting PLM / MLM technology recognized as a MUST have technology for retailers that strive to maintain and gain market share and consumer loyalty.  It’s a big win for everyone!

Merchandising, Product Innovation, Retail , , , , ,

Why TradeStone Software Prepared for the Cotton Shortage – in 2005

October 19, 2010 1 comment

In 1999 I was presenting at a technology event and one of the people in the audience was Ray Lane – at the time President of Oracle and one of the technology gods feared by many and loved by two.   After my presentation, I ran into Ray in the hallway and made the mistake of smiling at him.   

He jerked forward and literally growled at me.  “Do you want to know what I do every Monday morning?  Do you?”,   he asked. I had not at that point expressed the slightest curiosity about his Monday mornings, mostly because he was a god – granted one of the lesser gods – but still a god – and I would not have presumed to even speak to him, let alone ask him what he did with his days – or mornings.  I shook my head.  (See?  So far, smiles and nods but no words.  My husband wanted to rub the top of his head to see if he could transfer the same effect from Ray to himself.)

In the barely contained way of the about-to –go-berserk, Ray answered the unasked through clenched teeth,   “Every Monday I explain to Larry why that was another f****d idea.”  The Larry he referred to was Larry Ellison, one of the major gods of technology and loved by even fewer.   Evidently Larry spent his weekends thinking great thoughts that Ray found less than inspiring.  I nodded, squeaked and fled.

Fast forward six years later to 2005 and I am staring across the table at Ann Diamante and Kamal Anand, our CPO and CTO respectively.  I was pumped up about an article I read where a commodities analyst predicted there would be a cotton shortage in the mid to long term – i.e. within the next 3 to 5 years, which meant it was due to hit sometime between 2008 and 2010.  I was doing my Tigger routine, excitedly pointing out the opportunity for TradeStone’s technology to help our retail customers manage a major raw material shortage that could be potentially debilitating to their business.   Ann cocked her head and Kamal lowered his eyes – I was pretty sure he was trying to keep me from seeing them roll into the back of his head.   We were definitely heading for the silent versions of Ray’s “that’s a really f*****d idea.   But that’s not what happened because (drum roll please) – They Got It.

Pricing would be impacted.  Bill of material volatility would influence design.  Relationships with and among vendors and fabric suppliers would need to be quantified, qualified and vetted.  Retailers who never took positions in fabric would be forced to reconsider their stance.  Quotas could be instituted at the component level.   Factories that couldn’t get cotton would shutter their doors.  Alliances and new sources of cotton from different parts of the world would need to be formed.  The impact on transportation in terms of time and dollars would need to be measured and compared.  Calendars adjusted, alerting reconfigured.  Designers, merchants, buyers, finance people, logistics folks, color companies, fabric mills, factories, agents, vendors, inspection companies – all impacted.  Product design, sourcing, order management, quality, testing, compliance and supplier management, logistics and finance business processes would be sorely tested.  

At each point as we white boarded what the future would look like, there were two call outs.  “Check, we got it, or check it is now in the roadmap.” 

It is now 2010 and cotton prices have soared to their highest levels in 15-years. Catastrophic floods in Pakistan have worsened the situation as global climate continues to damage crop yields. Meanwhile, soaring global demand and the weak dollar are setting the stage for a major price crisis in cotton. The implications are significant.

The white boarding we at TradeStone drew in 2005 has been delivered and today, customers like Macy’s, Kohl’s, Belk, American Eagle, JD Williams, Urban Outfitters, Mr. Price, Groupe Dynamite, and Myer are deploying our vision on every major continent.

It is unfortunate that the cotton crisis arrived as predicted, but we are proud that our preparation and the technology we designed, when put to the test – delivered.  It is what TradeStone is all about – mitigating risk for our customers so they can design and deliver exciting, quality products that consumers love.

Merchandising, Product Innovation, Retail none

Does this submarine make my Boeing 767 look fat?

August 24, 2010 6 comments

When was the last time Boeing changed the color of their planes because yellow was really, really hot?  And then changed it again 4 weeks later because yellow was now the kiss of death for selling airplanes?

How often does General Motors introduce a completely new line of cars? And have a 50% off sale on inventory that is over 8 weeks old?

Is anyone agonizing over how to better merchandise the new self driving car to drive additional sales of submarines?  

These questions are worth pondering for retailers considering the next great technology leap to increase sales and improve profits through private label and proprietary brands.  In an almost lemming’s type rush towards a PLM solution, they may be overlooking some very basic facts to weigh in their selection process.

For highly engineered products such as airplanes, cars, and even submarines, your standard PLM software is great. For the companies we affectionately call the Triplets (Dassault, Seimens and PTC) the primary focus (and 92% to 97% of their revenue) is on discrete manufacturers.  Manufacturers with lengthy design cycles of eight months to ten years that involve hundreds and even thousands of parts and subassemblies. In their world a three year production run can be a whopping 360 units.  

In short (probably not possible at this point), the majority of customers serviced by the Triplets are not coordinating the delivery of 7000 to 100,000 or more SKUs from around the world that must arrive on the sales floor in multiple flows that are constantly being adjusted to meet consumer demand. A demand that is often measured in terms of weeks, not months or years.  And where the whole process – from concept to consumer – can be repeated up to 16 times a year.

That is the retail world where merchandising is key and new lines of products are introduced mid season.  The seeming chaos and emotion of retail is in direct conflict with the methodical, logical Mr. Spock approach of the discrete manufacturer.  In retail, the sudden death knell of yellow as a key color can throw off the visual presentation – and sales – of an entire category of goods.  Obsolescence and disposability reign supreme.

For retailers, product design and development don’t occur in a vacuum. Because it all happens so quickly, sourcing, supplier management, production tracking, and order management are part and parcel of the design process.  Robust profiling of far flung suppliers to understand capacity, performance and capabilities as well as social, legal and ethical factory and product compliance must also be built into the design process.  Having 8 to 14 systems to accomplish all of this can no longer be the norm.  Each integration point introduces risk and implementation uncertainty. 

Which is why we at TradeStone believe that PLM for retail is much broader than just the product design and testing.  And because retailers are merchants and live and breathe the word MERCHANDISE, we have redefined the PLM requirement as Merchandise Lifecycle Management, or MLM.  MLM offers the retailers one holistic infrastructure that unifies design, specification, sourcing, sampling, testing, order management, production, delivery and payment.  It can be deployed in chunks as best of breed or as system of record.  And whenever we speak to execs in the retail industry about MLM, they get it – immediately.  They understand the difference and embrace it.

We must be doing something right.  Recently we heard that one of our competitors (yes, a Triplet) was very unhappy with us, complaining that TradeStone was confusing the market with all of our talk about MLM.   The confusion certainly isn’t on the side of the retailers, who refuse to accept their narrow PLM definition that attempts to shoe horn an end to end retail process into a very narrowly defined technology that does a great job at designing planes, cars and submarines. However, we will try one more time to help our dearly beloved competitor understand the difference by quoting directly from our respective boiler plate descriptions of what we do:

(Unnamed Triplet) provides discrete manufacturers with software and services to meet the globalization, time-to-market and operational efficiency objectives of product development.

TradeStone Software helps retailers, brand manufacturers and suppliers increase market share and improve margins through the use of Merchandise Lifecycle Management solutions that unify the design, sourcing, ordering and delivery of their private label and branded goods.

Merchandising, Retail , , , , , , , ,

Proof that Merchant, Technology and Happy is Not a 'Find the Odd Man Out' Word Game

May 17, 2010 1 comment

Have you ever watched a merchant approach a computer during a training session for new software deemed imperative to the corporate strategic initiatives?  There’s the cat-like circling motion and narrowed eyes as he sniffs at the latest Holy Grail of technology.  It’s an easy read of body language– suspicion, fear and loathing.  The hair stands on end across an arched back.  There is hissing.  The paw swipes at the keyboard.  Finally, resignation settles in and he accepts his fate.  It is the equivalent of getting him in the pet carrier for a visit to the vet.   As the vendor of the software, it’s best to wear long sleeves and gloves.

Last month we heard a different story.  Sandwiched between the volcano in Iceland and the threat of a tornado, TradeStone customers gathered in Nashville just before the rains – and the floods – came.   Nothing, however, could dampen the enthusiasm of the STARS attendees.  There was plenty of time for case studies, demos, networking, workshops and some terrific presentations.  Some of the highlights included a great panel on building success and gaining user adoption of technologies moderated by IDC analyst Leslie Hand.  Panelists included vice presidents from Macy’s, Guitar Center and American Eagle who answered questions on how they developed internal support for their PLM, Sourcing and MLM projects, set executive and user expectations, and built a compelling story their CEOs could communicate to Wall Street about the value and success of their technology initiatives.  A big take away was Money Talks and Private Label delivers– margin, sales and profits.   And that makes the execs who supported the PLM and MLM initiatives Happy.

We also heard how $9 Billion auto parts and office supplies company, GPC amassed a seven page document of benefits (wish we had sold that deal on a percentage of ROI basis) that drove multiple divisions to the door of the newly created corporate global sourcing services group.   And to show you what a small world it is, this week I am in Australia where I met the CEO of an automotive parts retailer who is now buying parts from GPC’s sourcing operation – and is impressed by how well managed the buying and delivery is.   Which makes the people using the global sourcing services, Happy.

Another interesting take on promoting success came from Mr. Price of South Africa, a billion dollar apparel, soft home, and sporting goods retailer.  Mr. Price is among the best of our more recent customers that are implementing the TradeStone Model, our pre-configured delivery of best practice solutions based on commodity (apparel, soft home, hardlines) and retail segment.  They opted to go 100% model, no deviations and the results are impressive.  In addition to the time and dollar savings (only 4 months to go live across the entire TradeStone suite), the merchant satisfaction is a joy to behold. Our speakers were grounded by the volcano but sent their case study via video.  The five minute film showcased merchants talking about TradeStone’s PLM technology in the same happy voice usually reserved for cooing to newborns or wrestling with a litter of puppies.   Words like Fun, Exciting and Happy fell from the lips of buyers and planners as they shared their experiences in piloting and rolling out the software across Mr. Price’s apparel division and out to its suppliers.   At the end of the film, I swear I could smell lilacs, hear birds singing and feel the sun shining.  

At TradeStone, we continue to explore new and innovative ways to engage the merchant community .  At STARS we introduced our first foray into social media and game playing.  And as TradeStone continues to build out commerce communities for our retail customers – uniting retailers, suppliers, factories, inspection companies, color companies and now consumers,  our goal is not to just unite them, but to make them happy.

Merchandising, Product Innovation, Retail , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Blog – Why, Oh, Why Would I Do This?

April 6, 2010 3 comments

As many of you know, I have been resistant to blogs, tweets, Facebook and other micro communication tools that I viewed as intrusive, inane time wasters.  There was no place for such frivolities at TradeStone as we focused on the serious business of being the technology platform to support retailers and suppliers efforts in the design, sourcing and delivery of branded and private label merchandise.  It was a higher calling that surely must require more than 140 characters to explain and define.  Surely?  

Actually, surely not.  Having recently attended a very thought provoking conference put on by RetailConnections, I am in with a vengeance!

Why the change in heart?  Because social media, playing games and mobile capability is dramatically redefining retail and the way retailers think about their business.  The leaders – and innovators – are companies like Wet Seal and Pizza Hut, two retailers recognized as innovators by the NRF and Gartner.   It isn’t just what they are doing; it is how they are using this media to change basic precepts about the job of being retailers. 

In the case of Pizza Hut, it is making ordering pizza fun.  Not a trivial task and I will leave it to the reader to go to www.pizzahut.com and experience this seismic event for themselves.   All I know is I planned to order a plain pizza and ended up ordering 2 pizzas with an unholy combination of ingredients that no taste bud has every craved.  And I don’t even like pizza (I recognize it is un-American, possible even un-human so please save your text message quota and skip the SMSs about how your favorite pizza is sure to make a pizza lover out of me).  The point is, we will now be having pizza day at TradeStone a little more often when I am in the office.  But only if I get to order!

Wet Seal meanwhile, is standing the very basics of retail merchandising on its head.  In the process they are redefining the concepts of how merchants and buyers think about the goods they put into stores.  Visit www.wetseal.com and you will be caught up into a “build an outfit frenzy” that every month results in over 40,000 outfits being created by their customers from current stock.  Their consumers don’t just think or shop a “merchandise category”; they buy the outfits that are hot, put together by their peers – even right down to a specific geography.   So their merchants are now learning to think across merchandise categories to design, order, and deliver the complete package.

What does all this mean to TradeStone and our customers?  First of all, effectively immediately, we are setting aside specific times for all employees to just play – even Farmville is allowed.  We want to get everyone’s creative juices flowing to encourage a mind set that can meet the challenge of  building a technology platform that can support the new ways designers will design goods across merchandise categories;  how buyers will create orders based on outfits, not just customer choices within a merchandise category; and how retailers will harness the crowd sourcing expertise of its consumers and exploit the predictive expertise of those customers who “level up” (another phrase recently incorporated into the TradeStone lexicon).   It is a new language, a new communication and collaborative environment and it is all pretty exciting. 

So, I blog.  And I will be tweeting (you can follow me on Twitter at SueWelch).  But most of all, I am looking forward to the fun stuff ahead.  And in the process supporting – and changing – the way retailers and suppliers do business.

Sue Welch, CEOAbout Sue Welch
CEO TradeStone Software, passionate about all things retail and how the right mix of private label and global brands deliver profits and market share.

Merchandising, Product Innovation, Retail, Social Media , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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