How to adapt your supply chain for high demand products
How do you adapt your supply chain to better serve customers who are purchasing high demand products? By making sure that your systems and processes are suitably agile, and implementing a demand-driven supply chain (DDSC). On the demand side, you’re looking at identifying demand signals which are closer to the source (and hence more accurate), and also shaping demand by using promotional and pricing strategies. On the supply side, you’re looking at lessening reliance on your forecasts, and also increasing the company’s agility and reducing the response time involved in production.
Inventory optimization is another key factor when it comes to adapting your supply chain for high demand products. The simplest and most effective way to go about doing this is to use an inventory management system such as QuickBooks Commerce. You’ll be able to easily generate metrics for reorder point, order quantity, lead demand, stock cover, and other optimization data – and because the system is equipped with fully-automated demand forecasting, you’ll be one step ahead, and won’t be caught off guard with the orders that are surging in for your high demand products.
Other than looking into your manufacturing supply chain and operations, wholesalers also need to ensure that customers have a proper ordering system that allows them to place orders efficiently and effectively. In a case study of a global manufacturer of consumer packaged goods, it was identified that the manufacturer’s customers did not have the resources to manage their order levels properly – and that this led them to sporadically place unnecessarily large orders.
The manufacturer realised that it was crucial to have their sales and supply chain personnel work together more closely in order to achieve a better ordering process for customers. Once both the sales team and supply chain team was aligned and on the same page, they were able to come up with a better system that could smooth the flow of orders – hence leading to less order fluctuations.
Wholesalers selling high demand products can learn from this example, and similarly, ensure that their own ordering processes are up to date and easy to use. By doing so, they’ll be able to maximize revenue, whilst minimizing volatility from orders for high demand products. If you’re not sure how to get started with this, QuickBooks Commerce’s B2B platform will allow your retailers and distributors to place orders with you easily and efficiently.
Last but not least, wholesalers might also want to consider implementing a backordering system for high demand products. In the unfortunate event that you’re unable to have products ready on hand, it’s better to offer your customer an alternative (to pay first, and receive their items after a certain period of time) rather than to simply close yourself off to sales completely.
This can be easily done with QuickBooks Commerce's backordering features. Using QuickBooks Commerce, all sales orders for an unavailable item will be consolidated and converted to one purchase order per supplier. You’ll also be able to see items that are unfulfilled at one glance – across both sales and purchase orders.
In this day and age, social media and social sharing are forces to be reckoned with – and wholesalers who can capitalize on products made trendy or viral by this will definitely stand to increase their revenues significantly. If you want to take advantage of these opportunities and optimize your business for high demand products, use QuickBooks Commerce to take your forecasting, operations and processes to the next level.