Edifice and The Finish Line, Inc. Discuss Retailer-Supplier Collaboration Successes at VICS CPFR Committee Meeting
Executives from both companies described how improved retailer-supplier collaboration has enabled improved inventory performance and better execution of strategic imperatives
RIVERDALE, NJ - Apr. 30, 2009 - Edifice Information Management, an information services company specializing in the collection, analysis and distribution of demand data used by retailers and suppliers to improve supply chain efficiencies, today announced that executives from both Edifice and The Finish Line, Inc., one of the largest athletic specialty retailers of footwear, apparel and accessories in the U.S., presented jointly at the semi-annual VICS CPFR Committee meeting held in Cincinnati, Ohio this month.
Edifice and Finish Line focused on how improved retailer-supplier collaboration efforts have enabled Finish Line to execute strategic imperatives such as:
- Improving localization of product assortments down to the store level
- Improving the company’s ability to hold prices and maintain customer loyalty
- Optimizing inventory levels across the chain
- Allowing buyers and merchandisers to focus on making better decisions
- Enabling faster insight into sales and inventory performance
- Cultivating better supplier relations
"By sharing demand data with our brand partners, we're empowering them to help us optimize inventory levels," said Jenni Dillon, Vice President of Planning and Allocation for Finish Line. "With Edifice's technology, we are able to coordinate our internal business knowledge with our brand partners perspective on the marketplace and utilize those learnings and recommendations to enable us to reduce out-of-stocks, increase turn and maintain prices."
"Edifice's expertise in facilitating CPFR execution and making it a reality is more important than ever before, given the current economic landscape," said Joe Andraski, president, VICS. "Finish Line's success in improving the collaborative retail-analysis process by using the Edifice service is a testament to both companies' dedication to increasing supply chain efficiencies, reducing costs and improving inventory performance."
Steve Cornwell, VP of Marketing at Edifice, added, "We are honored that the CPFR committee invited us to participate in this exciting and timely event, and we look forward to contributing further to the committee's ongoing CPFR research efforts and to sharing best practices for reducing supply chain costs and increasing supply chain efficiencies through improved retailer-supplier collaboration."
About VICS
The Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association has enabled companies in the retail and consumer-focused industries to eliminate billions of dollars of waste and delay. By creating voluntary guidelines, often referred to as "standards," VICS has created new best practices that ultimately lead to lower costs and better availability of products for consumers. VICS' volunteer members improve the flow of products and information throughout retailing and the consumer-focused industries that supply retail. The Association provides leadership and an environment in which executives can make a difference in their industries, their companies' performance and their personal commitments to make the world work a little better. VICS' members help define the next best practices in the industries and thus anticipate and optimize business processes and costs. Additional information can be found at www.vics.org.
About The Finish Line, Inc.
The Finish Line Inc. is one of the largest mall-based specialty retailers operating under the Finish Line and Man Alive brand names. The Finish Line Inc. is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol FINL. As of March 27, the company operates 685 Finish Line stores in 47 states and online and 81 Man Alive stores in 19 states and online. To learn more about these brands, visit www.finishline.com and www.manalive.com.
About Edifice Information Management
Edifice is an information services company specializing in the collection, analysis and distribution of point-of-sale (POS) data used by retailers and suppliers to improve supply chain efficiency. Through our POS reporting, analysis training and support services, we enable retailers and suppliers to work from a common data set to quickly identify opportunities for increasing sales, optimizing inventory and reducing costs. Our broad industry perspective - which includes apparel, footwear, sporting goods, home goods, cosmetics and home improvement products - allows us to help both large and small companies realize the benefits of POS-based retail analysis.