Syscom PLC has announced the release of their latest web-based order management module, Web Wardrobe, designed to help corporate wear and personal protective equipment companies win business. The module will enable suppliers in these markets to create a web portal in minutes, offering their customers a dedicated website where employees can place orders for garments, check stock availability, track orders, make returns and amend their details online. Web Wardrobe will integrate fully with Syscom’s specialist business management system for clothing and textile companies, SyscomERP, already popular with leading corporate wear suppliers.
Web Wardrobe will enable corporate wear suppliers to:
- Offer enhanced customer service
- Differentiate themselves from the competition during the tendering process to win more contracts
- Set up dedicated branded customer websites quickly and easily
- Streamline the sales order process and reduce administrative costs
- Maximise sales opportunities with a 24/7 presence
An online presence - a prerequisite
With over 30 years experience in the textile, clothing and apparel industries, Syscom developed Web Wardrobe in response to growing market demand. “As the online shopping phenomenon continues to increase, offering an online ordering service is fast becoming a pre-requisite for suppliers wishing to maintain a competitive edge,” says Sally Reynolds, Marketing Manager of Syscom PLC. “Most corporate wear buyers are now including web-based order management as a necessary element in their supplier selection process and, as the sector becomes increasingly familiar with the benefits of this facility, this trend will continue to increase.”
A web portal in minutes
Of course creating a dedicated customer website can be a time-consuming, costly process. “In the past companies may have had to weigh the expense of setting up a web-ordering system against the value of a particular contract,” says Sally. “However, with Web Wardrobe it only takes suppliers a few minutes to set up customer websites, with no need to hire a web developer.” The application is template driven, allowing users to define website characteristics, such as text font and size, background colour, images etc quickly and easily. “Everything can be tied in with a customer’s corporate branding so their employees need not even know they are on an external site. You can even set up client specific messages, such as messages from the chairman.”
The competitive edge
As well as allowing corporate wear suppliers to compete for contracts that require this facility, the module will help companies to distinguish themselves from the competition. “Corporate clothing suppliers can use this module to their advantage in the tendering process,” says Sally. “Not only does it allow for a 24/7 online presence, enabling employees to place orders outside normal working hours, Web Wardrobe also enables suppliers to simplify the ordering process for customers. Catalogues can be viewed online, along with information on entitlement and garment aftercare.
Suppliers can offer different purchasing rules to support different customer contracts, with aspects such as entitlement duration and systems, be they points based or fixed allocation, easily modified according to customer needs. Credit card transactions can also be processed for customers that require their employees to buy their uniforms.”
Web Wardrobe offers corporate wear customers control over employee uniform ordering from a full kit of garments to single items and provides detailed order tracking and reporting on orders, returns and employee use. Access is controlled through secure, tailored log-ins and garment selection can be restricted according to grade or branch, with the option for purchasing to be controlled on an individual, departmental, branch, cost-centre or regional level.
Leaner operations
As well as taking the headache out of uniform purchasing for customers, Web Wardrobe can help suppliers streamline the sales order process. The integration of Web Wardrobe with SyscomERP facilitates the automatic generation of picking lists and stock allocation each time a customer places an order, with different replenishment rules catered for according to company practices. Key performance indicator reports, on aspects such as delivery performance and client spend, can also be generated instantaneously. “In the current economic climate it is crucial that companies maintain lean, efficient operations,” says Sally. “Web Wardrobe means things like new starter ordering, repeat ordering, order tracing and returns can all be done online by employees. With their customers doing more of the sales ordering online, suppliers can cut down the administrative costs associated with the order entry process and offer a much quicker turnaround as staff can concentrate on order fulfilment. It’s a win-win situation.”