Trade Purchases . “ With a total annual historical spend of $ 9.8mn in 2016 and $ 19.5mn in 2017 , after the introduction of Ivalua ’ s solution , we achieved year on year savings of 14.3 % in 2016 and 10.8 % in 2017 ,” confirms Gupta . “ Now all our internal stakeholders can see the results , we are further driving collaboration to continue cost reductions and get better services from our procurement function , productivity and efficiency .”
Gupta maintains the most important achievement in the process has been to bring the purchase of raw materials for apparel manufacture – fabric , interlining and buttons – and the quality parameters expected from historical vendors , into the online space : “ With certain kinds of base articles , we need to ensure these are NOS ( never out of stock ) as we work towards our two seasons – autumn / winter and spring / summer . Whenever a customer visits a store , certain products , around 20-25 % of our merchandise which features in the Mainline range , are always available in store . We have been able to identify certain vendors to deliver those base fabrics and trims to us so we can reduce down procurement costs from their historical higher levels .”
Gupta believes solutions like Ivalua are at the forefront of a key industry trend , bridging the gap between procurement and sales functions . “ If I have to keep stock at my warehouse for a future store delivery my procurement function needs to be aligned in such a way that ensures I won ’ t have to hold it there for more than 10-15 days ,” he explains . “ Longer than that means it is the increased consumption of working capital in the stock parameter which is going to give me the sale . That ’ s the challenge Ivalua can help us tackle , to reduce costs by bringing procurement closer to sale .”
Blackberrys operate on a production cycle of 120 days , so whatever it is planning for each season requires three to four months to build up that stock . “ We work in different channels – wholesale , retail , ecommerce – so
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