As a certified partner, Dot Foods, Mount Sterling, IL, will offer all of its more than 1,000 distributor-customers that have Retalix (formerly IDS) applications an enhanced seamless electronic interface to enable electronic ordering. By being able to access Dot Foods' Virtual Storefront of dry, frozen and refrigerated products as well as equipment and supplies, distributors will be able to increase their operator sales by offering up to 20,000 additional items to their operator-customers without stocking the product.
A version of this process has been available to its distributor customers via the online Dot Expressway, explained Evans R. Hammond, corporate account manager at the redistributorship. However, now the interface, which he said should be operational in 60 days, is an integrated approach so that all of the sales and purchasing steps can be automated.
"There is very little IT work necessary by the distributors to get this information right through to their sales screens and their sales automation software. It's a complete, electronically integrated step above the Dot Expressway downloads," Hammond told ID Access during the Retalix International Customer Conference earlier this week.
Hammond said the process would provide its Retalix software-equipped customers with an electronic interface as part of their Power Integrator application and allow them to communicate with Dot Foods on electronic order processing, without costly EDI, thereby saving distributors money and increasing efficiency.
"At the same time, it's a great way for us to send inventory information to a distributor that wants to use the virtual storefront concept," Hammond said. "The Virtual Storefront concept means being able to see our inventory. The distributor can see our products in his system and set them up as inventory that can be ordered by his sales staff and customers."
Dot shares product and price information with the distributor, allowing the distributor to sell a wider amount of products to operators. These products are warehoused by Dot Foods and can be specially picked for cross dock handling and quick delivery by the distributor to their operators.
"Dot continues to look for tools our distributor customers can use to benefit their business growth and profitability," Richard Tracy, Dot Foods vice president, said in a prepared statement. "The system interface soon to be available thru Retalix will be an additional way to provide electronic visibility for all Dot Foods products so that these "virtual" items can be successfully sold to operator customers without slotting them. The end result being a greatly expanded product offering at a relatively low cost to serve."
In addition, according to Retalix, shared customers can also conduct electronic order management directly with Dot Foods via Retalix Power Integrator, enabling purchase orders, confirmations, ship notices and invoices to be shared in a fully integrated environment. The application helps eliminate paper and automates many manual tasks that buyers and accounts payable personnel manage today. For a complete story about the Retalix International Customer Conference, see the Friday, Sept. 23, edition of ID Report .
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