In the world of fashion retail, seasonal sales can make or break a brand. With peaks during holidays, special promotions, and new collection launches, it’s crucial for retailers to be prepared to meet increased demand. Infor Warehouse Management System (WMS), part of the comprehensive Infor CloudSuite Fashion, offers a variety of features that help fashion brands streamline operations and maximize sales during these critical periods. Here are several ways Infor WMS can support retailers during peak seasons.

1. Automated Replenishment

During peak seasons, ensuring that shelves are stocked with the right products is essential. Infor WMS automates the replenishment process by predicting inventory needs based on historical sales data and current trends. Integrated with Infor CloudSuite Fashion, this system allows retailers to keep inventory flowing smoothly, reducing the risk of stockouts and capitalizing on high-demand items.

2. Efficient Returns Management

Returns can spike during seasonal sales, complicating inventory management. Infor WMS, with its seamless integration in Infor CloudSuite Fashion, streamlines the returns process by providing clear visibility into returned items and their status. The system quickly processes returns and updates inventory levels, enhancing customer satisfaction with a hassle-free return experience.

3. Cross-Docking Capabilities

Cross-docking minimizes storage time by transferring products directly from inbound to outbound shipping. Infor WMS supports this practice, enabling fashion retailers to manage inventory efficiently during peak periods. By ensuring quick turnaround times for high-demand items, brands can reduce storage costs and accelerate delivery, making them more responsive to customer needs.

In the fashion industry, supply chain efficiency is paramount. As consumer demands shift and trends emerge at lightning speed, retailers must adapt quickly to stay competitive. The Infor Warehouse Management System (WMS) is a powerful tool that is revolutionizing how fashion brands manage their supply chains. Here’s how Infor WMS is shaping the future of fashion.

1. Enhanced Inventory Visibility

One of the critical challenges in the fashion industry is managing diverse inventory across multiple channels. Infor WMS provides real-time visibility into inventory levels, allowing retailers to track products from the warehouse to the customer. This transparency ensures that brands can respond swiftly to demand changes, reducing the risk of stockouts or overstock situations. With accurate inventory data, retailers can make informed decisions, optimize stock levels, and improve overall operational efficiency.

2. Streamlined Order Fulfillment

In an industry driven by quick turnarounds, efficient order fulfillment is essential. Infor WMS automates various processes within the warehouse, from picking and packing to shipping. By leveraging advanced algorithms and automation technologies, the system enhances picking accuracy and speeds up fulfillment times. This means that fashion retailers can deliver products faster, meeting customer expectations for speedy service while reducing labor costs.

3. Improved Labor Management

Workforce management is crucial in the fashion supply chain, particularly during peak seasons. Infor WMS offers tools to optimize labor allocation based on real-time workload and productivity metrics. Retailers can better manage their workforce by forecasting busy periods and adjusting staffing accordingly. This not only boosts productivity but also enhances employee satisfaction, leading to a more engaged workforce.

To thrive in the fashion apparel retail sector, businesses need efficient systems to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and facilitate informed decision-making. Acumatica ERP is designed specifically for the unique needs of fashion retailers, offering a range of features that can transform business processes. Here are the top five benefits of using Acumatica ERP for fashion apparel retailers.

1. Real-Time Inventory Management

Fashion retailers often deal with fluctuating inventory levels and seasonal demands. Acumatica provides real-time visibility across all sales channels, allowing retailers to track stock levels, monitor trends, and accurately forecast future needs. This capability helps prevent stockouts and overstock situations, ensuring that popular items are always available while minimizing excess inventory costs.

2. Seamless Omnichannel Integration

Consumers expect a cohesive shopping experience across online, in-store, and mobile platforms. Acumatica ERP integrates all sales channels into one unified platform, enabling retailers to manage orders, returns, and customer data effortlessly. This omnichannel approach enhances customer satisfaction by providing consistent service and accurate information across all touchpoints.

3. Enhanced Financial Management

Fashion apparel retailers face unique financial challenges, from fluctuating costs of materials to varying pricing strategies. Acumatica ERP offers robust financial management tools, including advanced budgeting, forecasting, and reporting capabilities. Retailers gain deeper insights into their financial performance, track profitability by product line, and make data-driven decisions that support long-term growth.

In the ever-evolving world of fashion apparel, staying ahead of trends, managing supply chains, and ensuring customer satisfaction are more challenging than ever. With fast-paced changes in consumer preferences and a global market, fashion businesses must leverage technology to streamline operations and enhance agility. Enter Acumatica ERP—a cloud-based solution that is revolutionizing fashion apparel management. In this blog post, we’ll explore how Acumatica ERP transforms operations for apparel businesses and why it’s essential for thriving in this competitive landscape.

The Unique Challenges in Fashion Apparel Management

Fashion apparel companies face a myriad of challenges, including:

• Rapidly Changing Trends: Keeping up with seasonal trends and consumer demands can overwhelm even the most agile teams.
• Complex Supply Chains: Managing relationships with multiple suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors across different regions.
• Inventory Management: Balancing stock levels to prevent overproduction or stockouts while ensuring timely deliveries.
• Quality Control: Maintaining high standards throughout the production process to uphold brand reputation.
• Regulatory Compliance: Navigating compliance with various standards related to labor, materials, and safety.

These challenges can lead to inefficiencies, increased costs, and missed opportunities. A robust ERP system like Acumatica can help alleviate these issues.

What is Acumatica ERP?

Acumatica ERP is a comprehensive, cloud-based enterprise resource planning system that integrates all facets of a business into one seamless platform. With a focus on flexibility, scalability, and real-time data access, Acumatica empowers fashion apparel companies to manage their operations more effectively.

This complete product lifecycle solution helps reduce the time from inspiration to the launch of new styles and SKUs for the fashion industry vertically.

Philadelphia, PA – February 26, 2024 -- Independent Computer Consulting Group, Inc. (“ICCG”) is pleased to announce the addition of Infor‘s best-of-breed solution - Fashion Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), to its solution portfolio for its Fashion, Home Décor, Footwear, and Luxury products customers. This, along with Cloud suite Fashion (Infor M3) and Infor Supply Chain Management suite, completes the solution suite for the Fashion Industry vertical. We extend Fashion to Home Décor, Furnishing, Footwear, and Luxury products.

Infor PLM for Fashion was created using the latest Infor technologies to help fashion brands, manufacturers, and private brand retailers develop styles more quickly and efficiently and improve speed to market. This is one of the key competitive differentiators for Fashion designers, manufacturers, and distributors.

ICCG Inc. is an Infor enterprise software-focused consulting firm with a global presence and a track record of over 2000 business transformation projects, with execution across not only Infor M3 ERP systems but also Supply Chain Planning Systems, Warehouse Management solutions, and now PLM solutions deployments.

The fashion business has unique demands, and one of the most critical is the need for a collaborative design and development process. This process must be able to function in an environment of complex global sourcing, whether a company is in high fashion, luxury goods, apparel, footwear, home textiles, accessories, or any other style-based products. What makes this unique—and quite complicated—for fashion companies, is the sheer number of varieties that typically exist within product lines, such as styles, colors, and sizes. This complexity compounds further when additional lines and collections enter the mix.

In this  blog post, we’ll explore the first step in reinforcing a collaborative network which is to establish a strong product lifecycle management process that helps manage collections, sustainable fabric compositions, and design specifications. 

In this podcast, Infor’s Guy Courtin and Christine Barnhart discuss how manufacturers are adopting learnings from B2C supply chains to be more responsive to end customer needs. From AI and machine learning to greater digitization of the supply chain, modern manufacturers must become more nimble and responsive—creating a true multi-enterprise network to meet their customers’ needs.

The headlines continue to predict the apocalypse of the physical store and assert that the new normal will belong solely to e-commerce, mobile, and omni-channel retailers. Because of all the fuss, many retailers today have a tendency to focus primarily on process and technology; but in turn, they forget about one of their most important assets—their people. It’s more accurate to say that retail is simply evolving—rebalancing amid a market where it’s tantamount that brands and retailers continue to focus on three key aspects of their businesses: people, process, and technology.