Working in conjunction with the FreeFlowAuctions.com platform are two cornerstone applications to FreeFlow's integrated inventory asset management suite. While aiming at different product life cycle phases (that is, still active inventory and EOL or obsolete inventory), both are fully hosted solutions that require no internal IT involvement and offer pay-as-you-use services that are easier on the budget. The solutions can be used on a monthly, flat fee subscription basis or on a transaction fee basis. As a business services provider, FreeFlow hosts the software application and provides all related administrative and operational process support. The user enterprise is in charge of the key decisions (such as what inventory to liquidate and at what target price), but the business services provider takes care of everything else. There is no software to install and maintain, and with a pay-as-you-use software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, users have no lengthy payback period to justify on a software license. Further, the user's staffers can remain focused on their core tasks, not on managing brokers and juggling spreadsheets, e-mails, and phone calls (see What Is Software as a Service?).
The first application, ChannelFlow, is a monthly, subscription-based intranet system (with fee structures based on throughput volume) for still active but at-risk inventory. Such excess inventory is promoted (offered) using channel partner direct bidding or the client's sales force to proxy bid on behalf of their accounts. The solution is a Web-based, private auction that provides inventory visibility and preapproved discounting to channel partners. Bidders are typically company sales personnel acting on behalf of the retailers and distributors they support. Data is uploaded manually or through system integration from the user company's inventory system, and extracted based on criteria agreed upon by the sales, finance, and supply chain management (SCM) organizations. The criteria are typically inventory policy (inventory in excess of an agreed number of weeks of supply) and product life cycle status (current, active products). Once the inventory listing is uploaded, authorized finance personnel will update the system with minimum pricing and, together with the sales organization, finalize the target quantities to be promoted. Visibility to the items' condition (new, re-boxed, etc.) allows promotion of new products as well as products not in original packaging. The turnkey convenience of ChannelFlow eliminates the inevitable administrative overhead related to marketing promotions, and saves time and money by moving product through the channel faster. Another major feature of the system includes the provision of sales representatives' performance tracking.
The secret to improved financial returns for any enterprise is its awareness of its product's pricing history, the current market, and its competition. This knowledge, which is critical to the manufacturer's go-to-market strategy for excess inventory, comes to the user enterprise in the form of FreeFlow Market Intelligence. FreeFlow Market Intelligence can be used to set price minimums, determine auction lot sizing, and (most importantly) identify the best buying community for the products. FreeFlow's ClearFlow-managed broker auctions provide the combination of flexible, Internet-based technology and years of market experience with a common result of consistently higher recovery and reduced inventory management overhead for the user. The solution is deployed as part of an enterprise's routine inventory review cycle and is integrated with the S&OP process. FreeFlow also provides optional system integration, approval automation, and list management to standardize and automate the inventory management workflow processes.
In addition, ClearFlow is a transaction fee based (although there is an average onetime setup fee of $20,000 [US]), extranet, private auction liquidation platform that efficiently moves EOL, obsolete, returned, or refurbished inventory that is otherwise sitting idle in warehouses and costing companies money. Its key features include secure private auctions (whereby web sites can be branded or anonymous); comprehensive market intelligence (broker performance reporting and recommended pricing, for example); competitive bidding for improved recovery and managed logistics; credit; collections; and settlement.
Whereas some customers elect to go to market anonymously with inventory sold on the standard www.FreeFlowAuctions.com site, other FreeFlow customers might elect to have branded sites powered by FreeFlow in a private label fashion. Powerful brands generate additional interest, which translates into measurable percentage point improvement in returns. A good example of a branded, private labeled auction site is one from ModusLink Corporation, a subsidiary of CMGI, Inc. In late 2005, ModusLink announced the official launch of its online auctions service, enabling clients to more systematically and proactively manage the high cost of product excess and obsolescence. By leveraging ModusLink's online auction portal, ModusLinkAuction.com, to solicit competitive bids from prequalified buyers, clients have been able to liquidate excess, obsolete, returned, and refurbished inventory more quickly, and to mitigate the high cost of traditional disposition methods. ModusLink's online auction service complements its existing remarket services, thereby providing clients with more choice and greater flexibility in determining how to eliminate excess inventory from the books.
The first application, ChannelFlow, is a monthly, subscription-based intranet system (with fee structures based on throughput volume) for still active but at-risk inventory. Such excess inventory is promoted (offered) using channel partner direct bidding or the client's sales force to proxy bid on behalf of their accounts. The solution is a Web-based, private auction that provides inventory visibility and preapproved discounting to channel partners. Bidders are typically company sales personnel acting on behalf of the retailers and distributors they support. Data is uploaded manually or through system integration from the user company's inventory system, and extracted based on criteria agreed upon by the sales, finance, and supply chain management (SCM) organizations. The criteria are typically inventory policy (inventory in excess of an agreed number of weeks of supply) and product life cycle status (current, active products). Once the inventory listing is uploaded, authorized finance personnel will update the system with minimum pricing and, together with the sales organization, finalize the target quantities to be promoted. Visibility to the items' condition (new, re-boxed, etc.) allows promotion of new products as well as products not in original packaging. The turnkey convenience of ChannelFlow eliminates the inevitable administrative overhead related to marketing promotions, and saves time and money by moving product through the channel faster. Another major feature of the system includes the provision of sales representatives' performance tracking.
The secret to improved financial returns for any enterprise is its awareness of its product's pricing history, the current market, and its competition. This knowledge, which is critical to the manufacturer's go-to-market strategy for excess inventory, comes to the user enterprise in the form of FreeFlow Market Intelligence. FreeFlow Market Intelligence can be used to set price minimums, determine auction lot sizing, and (most importantly) identify the best buying community for the products. FreeFlow's ClearFlow-managed broker auctions provide the combination of flexible, Internet-based technology and years of market experience with a common result of consistently higher recovery and reduced inventory management overhead for the user. The solution is deployed as part of an enterprise's routine inventory review cycle and is integrated with the S&OP process. FreeFlow also provides optional system integration, approval automation, and list management to standardize and automate the inventory management workflow processes.
In addition, ClearFlow is a transaction fee based (although there is an average onetime setup fee of $20,000 [US]), extranet, private auction liquidation platform that efficiently moves EOL, obsolete, returned, or refurbished inventory that is otherwise sitting idle in warehouses and costing companies money. Its key features include secure private auctions (whereby web sites can be branded or anonymous); comprehensive market intelligence (broker performance reporting and recommended pricing, for example); competitive bidding for improved recovery and managed logistics; credit; collections; and settlement.
Whereas some customers elect to go to market anonymously with inventory sold on the standard www.FreeFlowAuctions.com site, other FreeFlow customers might elect to have branded sites powered by FreeFlow in a private label fashion. Powerful brands generate additional interest, which translates into measurable percentage point improvement in returns. A good example of a branded, private labeled auction site is one from ModusLink Corporation, a subsidiary of CMGI, Inc. In late 2005, ModusLink announced the official launch of its online auctions service, enabling clients to more systematically and proactively manage the high cost of product excess and obsolescence. By leveraging ModusLink's online auction portal, ModusLinkAuction.com, to solicit competitive bids from prequalified buyers, clients have been able to liquidate excess, obsolete, returned, and refurbished inventory more quickly, and to mitigate the high cost of traditional disposition methods. ModusLink's online auction service complements its existing remarket services, thereby providing clients with more choice and greater flexibility in determining how to eliminate excess inventory from the books.
No comments:
Post a Comment