With retailers forced to keep inventory levels lean this holiday season, the risk of stock-outs that disappoint customers is at an all-time high. To help retailers address this issue, Sterling Commerce introduced a new solution, Sterling Always in Stock.
Combining advanced cross-channel order management with seamless integration capabilities, the solution is designed to enable retailers to improve the customer experience and preserve customer loyalty and optimize inventory efficiency.
Long time Sterling Multi-Channel Fulfillment customer Best Buy supported the value of solving the out-of-stock challenge, saying. “Our customer satisfaction and loyalty is much improved when we can offer multiple fulfillment options to solve an out-of-stock or make the purchase more convenient,” said Chap Achen, Director of Multi-Channel Order Management at Best Buy.
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Sterling Always in Stock is a preconfigured solution that combines modules from Sterling Multi-Channel Selling and Sterling Multi-Channel Fulfillment for sales associates and call center agents to optimize the entire “save-the-sale” business process. The solution utilizes a special order process designed to accommodate ‘endless aisle’ items. Once the transaction is complete, Sterling Always in Stock automatically triggers fulfillment from the designated location and provides complete order status visibility for the customer and the sales associate.
The preconfigured solution is designed to enable the sales associate or call center agent to find an item in the retailer’s network, while offering the customer the ability to choose their fulfillment method.
“Retailers are walking a fine line in the current economy, trying to balance reduced inventory levels while delivering a superior shopping experience,” said Jim Bengier, Retail Industry Executive at Sterling Commerce. “Until now, store associates facing a stock-out had no effective means of saving the sale. Sterling Always in Stock demonstrates that Sterling Commerce not only understands the challenges of the retail industry but can deliver innovative solutions to solve them.”
Bengier added that Sterling Always In Stock can be configured as a point solution for retailers who are not ready to make a full replacement of their existing order management system. As a point solution, Bengier said it has been configured for ease of integration and fast ROI. “We expect to be able to get this integrated at a large national chain in 14 weeks and we expect clients will see ROI within a year.”
