Why do Brands Struggle in the Retail Supply Chain?
Brands are successful when they produce quality products and cultivate positive consumer experiences. Brand success is not easily attained - there is a lot of challenging, not-so-glamorous work that happens behind the scenes. For example, many brands struggle with product content syndication. Here’s why.
More Product Attributes = More Time and Opportunities for Error
Unique products possess many unique product attributes. Brands manually compile thousands of product attributes into spreadsheets that will eventually get sent to retailers. Imagine a brand needs to input 100 products with 50 attributes each to be shared with 10 retailers. That adds up to 50,000 pieces of information, or 50,000 opportunities for error and chaos.
Retailers Have Specific, Ever-Changing Rules & Requirements Associated with Spreadsheets
Once a brand has compiled all of its product information, it must transfer that data to its retailers. Brands run into problems when the standards governing their spreadsheets do not align with a retailer’s specific standards. When this happens, brands return to their spreadsheets to transform the information to meet retailer requirements. This adds another layer of tedious, manual labor and takes valuable time away from brands’ speed to market.
Brands experience so much friction in product content syndication that the whole process may never fully “end” for them
Let’s say that you’re a brand that makes jewelry and you want to sell your jewelry through Walmart. There are plenty of Walmart brands, so you managed to find a spreadsheet online. You spend 3 months inputting your jewelry information into the spreadsheet to send to Walmart to request your products to be sold in their stores and site, but a couple weeks later, they respond saying you used the wrong spreadsheet. You shrug it off and put in another 3 months of work, and finally, your jewelry is on Walmart’s website and stores.
Then, you notice something is off: the names of certain products are mixed up and some of their measurements are wrong. You email Walmart about the issue, only to receive another spreadsheet. You get the drift: there’s a lot of back-and-forths and delays within the traditional supply chain, which can make the process last forever..
Why Tolerate Product Content Syndication Processes that Take Months to Complete?
Imagine how inefficient the banking system would be if it took say 9 months to communicate a transaction. Nowadays, all you need to do is take a picture of a check on an app, and the money would shortly be at your disposal within 1-3 business days. Back in the 70s, you could deposit and withdraw money by going to an ATM, if not the bank itself. If a 9-month process like this isn’t tolerated in the banking industry, it shouldn’t be tolerated in supply chain management either.
A Friction-Free Digital Supply Chain
Here at Venzee, we are building a friction-free digital supply chain with the help of automation. Once Venzee receives your product information, we can quickly and easily transform the data for you so that it’s accepted by all retail channels. We’ll even cover your last mile by synthesizing the data and sending it out ourselves.
Interested in a frictionless digital supply chain?
Simply connect with retailers with the click of a button at syndicationsolutions.com or learn more at venzee.com.