Europe's leading department store and mail order group to implement "One Way to Buy"
Gloucester, MA — February 10, 2006 — The sourcing arm of European retail giant KarstadtQuelle this week announced it has selected TradeStone Software to provide a part of the technology backbone for its global sourcing operation.
The TradeStone Unified Buying Engine is expected to serve as the platform for KarstadtQuelle's sourcing operation, and will be augmented by the addition of TradeStone's modular applications for Product, Sourcing, Logistics, Finance, Unified Order Management and Product Lifecycle Management.
Initially KarstadtQuelle International Services AG will use TradeStone's Finance Module to streamline its financial operations. This is important because KarstadtQuelle International Services AG offers its sourcing services to other independent retailers and must comply with those retailers' unique billing and documentation requirements, as well as internal invoicing and vendor payment for goods bought on its own behalf.
For example, the Finance Module will enumerate all the line items of an original order and, in turn, trigger the generation of other documents such the packing list, advance ship notice (ASN), the bill of lading, the commercial invoice and the service invoice. KarstadtQuelle said these documents — and the detailed information regarding carriers, shippers, country of origin, export country, import country and final destination — are essential for meeting global trading security standards and clearing customs without delay.
"Sourcing globally is complex for any company, regardless of whether that company is located in the Americas, Europe, Asia or Africa," said Sue Welch, CEO of TradeStone Software. "A retail giant like KarstadtQuelle not only needs to carefully manage the international sourcing process, but also meet the financial demands of special regulations which require meticulous accounting and tracking. Only by integrating all the pieces can this be possible."
The implementation of TradeStone's Unified Buying Engine and Finance Module is KarstadtQuelle's first step toward migrating its entire sourcing operation to the TradeStone Suite, an order management application that marries product planning and refinement, sourcing, and lifecycle management with logistics and finance.
"We want to offer our customers the best merchandise from around the world, with consistent quality and good prices," stated Carsten Wolff, managing director of KarstadtQuelle International Services AG. "Investing in the TradeStone Suite is part of our continued drive to improve our sourcing capabilities and services."
Additional Articles of Interest
- For more information on the current state of the sourcing market, see the article "The Analyst Corner: Sourcing" in the June/July 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
For more information on the global supply chain, with a focus on security issues, see "Building the Secure Supply Chain," the Net Best Thing article in the June/July 2003 issue of iSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive).
For more information on the challenges and opportunities presented by increasingly global supply chains, see the special in-depth report in the August/September 2004 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive, which includes the following articles:- Making Global Supply Chains Work Supply and demand chain practitioners take on the challenges and opportunities of world marketplace.
- The Hidden Costs of a Global Supply & Demand Chain - Veteran industry observers warn of potential hidden costs of offshoring.
- Mastering the Complexity Challenge in the Global Supply Chain - While many companies are acting globally, they are still thinking locally.
- Ensuring Security of Supply in the Lean Supply Chain - Balancing the demands of security with the requirements of today's lean supply chains
- The World Is Enough - Making the global high-tech supply chain more accessible.
