Eqos launches FastTrack sourcing, enabling retailers to scale private label programmes in 30 days

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Eqos launches FastTrack sourcing, enabling retailers to scale private label programmes in 30 days.

In response to the economic downturn, Eqos has announced the commercial availability of FastTrack Sourcing. FastTrack is a one-stop solution for retailers that would like to quickly scale their private label business.

Designed to improve visibility across the business, reduce the risk of non-compliance, and decrease product lead times, FastTrack unites and streamlines retail sourcing operations across buying teams, including local and global agents and suppliers. Deployable within 30 days, the web-hosted solution supports private label operations for all retailers, including cross-category, apparel, grocery and general merchandise.

FastTrack is designed to meet the needs of mid-tier retailers and divisions within large retailers - specifically those who will better compete and weather todays economic climate by increasing sales of private label merchandise, says Jane Biddle, chief marketing officer and vice president of U.S. operations. Based on industry best practices gathered from our work during the past decade with leading retailers worldwide, FastTrack offers an intuitive, preconfigured, scaled down sourcing solution that automates and streamlines key revenue-generating business processes.

According to AMR Research, Retailers continue to invest in IT initiatives that deliver identifiable, meaningful, and fast ROI. (Economic Troubles Causing Widespread IT Cutbacks? Not Really). FastTrack provides rapid, quantifiable ROI by enabling retail buying teams to focus on performance management, a critical factor for surviving and thriving in todays difficult economic climate. With FastTrack, retailers can expect ROI in the following areas:

*Reduced supply chain inventory due to shorter sourcing lead times;

*Improved market responsiveness with better visibility across all activities;

*Increased import volume with standardized processes across categories;

*Reduced risk of poor quality merchandise due to rigorous specifications;

*Increased margins due to better informed supplier negotiations;

*Smarter buying decisions due to ability to manage by exception.

We are pleased to see that our long-standing partner, Eqos, is proactively offering the mid-tier retail segment a recession-proof solution that enables these companies to get their private label programs up and running quickly, says Bill Gonzalez, Microsoft, General Manager, Worldwide Distribution and Services.

Biddle added, FastTrack is tailored to meet the requirements of the business user: rapid deployment without IT assistance at a price that makes scalable sourcing more affordable than ever before. And it delivers precisely what retailers need to efficiently connect their buying teams, get private label programs up and running quickly and build the infrastructure for future company growth.

FastTrack prescribes best industry practices to support core private label sourcing functions including: 

*Design/Specification - enables supplier collaboration, ensures accurate specifications and facilitates supplier performance improvements;

*RFQ & Quotation - enables better negotiations with suppliers by simplifying/standardizing the quote comparison process;

*Order Visibility - keeps all parties advised of progress through sampling, quality assurance, production and final inspection;

*Logistics Visibility - tracks merchandise movement from factory to warehouse; and

*Dashboards & Alerting - provides the ability to oversee and manage global and local sourcing operations.

About Eqos

Eqos is a leading provider of PLM, global sourcing, and supplier management solutions for the retail supply chain. Eqos on-demand software enables retailers to work collaboratively with trading partners to enhance product innovation, improve supplier performance, accelerate time-to-market, and ensure product quality and factory compliance. By layering over existing applications, Eqos facilitates cross-enterprise, streamlined collaborative processes between retailers, sourcing offices, agents, factories, suppliers, and third party service providers. The definitive solution for multi-category retail segments, including apparel, grocery and general merchandise segments, Eqos supports millions of transactions daily for 15,000 users, managing more than $50 billion in inventory for the world's largest, most recognized global retailers. Customers include Edcon, H-E-B, Lidl, Michaels, Sainsbury's and Tesco. Founded in 1997, the company has offices in Boston, London and Hong Kong. More information can be found at www.eqos.com.