Internet Applications Buying Group Case Study

Foto Source Canada Inc.

Foto Source is Canada's largest buying and marketing group for photographic retailers. As a leader in the photographic industry, Foto Source wanted to automate the ordering and invoicing process for their 225 retail stores and many vendors.

Challenges

To be effective, the system would have to be utilized by many users from many different companies. Large vendors would require complex integration with their enterprise systems, but small vendors would not have any enterprise system to integrate with.

The functionality would not only have to differ for retailer users versus vendor users, but would also be dependent on the responsibilities of different users within a single company. A vendor may have an inventory control department responsible for maintaining products, a sales department responsible for placing retailer orders, and an accounting department responsible for invoicing Foto Source. Likewise, retailers would often have different people responsible for placing orders than those who would look after paying invoices, for example.

Although the system would be operated primarily by vendors and retailers, Foto Source head office users would require special access to support the user community and administer the system. All the financial transactions generated by the system would have to be accounted for by head office. In addition to purchases from vendors and sales to retailers, the system would have to enable head office to sell to vendors, for things like trade show booth space.

Solution

Interprise Software provided an on-demand enterprise system to be used by Foto Source head office, their retailers and vendors. Being completely Web-based, the solution is available from any location at any time, requiring only an Internet connection and a browser.

The solution has functionality for different companies, organized in portals. Small vendors can use the vendor portal to upload and/or edit the product and pricing and to invoice orders. Large vendors can send product information and receive invoices through a direct EDI connection to their enterprise systems. Retailers can use the retailer portal to place orders and make payments.

The company portal includes a complete web-based accounting system for head office, which accounts for all financial transactions. Advanced accounting features enable head office users to record both sales and purchases to either retailers or vendors, and to automatically generate retailer invoices from vendor invoices. Head office users can also impersonate any user from any company to see the system exactly the way it is seen by that user.

The system is designed to be completely self-maintained. Vendors and retailers sign-up online to use the system. A sign-up notification email is sent to head office with an approval link. Once approved, vendor and retailer administrators can create roles and define the functionality of each role. They can then create as many users as needed and assign them to the role of their choosing. Administrators can also define which users should receive orders, invoices and other documents sent by the system. Users even have the ability to sort and search for transactions in the system and generate their own PDF and Microsoft Excel reports.

Based on the success and reliability of the solution, an additional, consumer portal was introduced. Without compromising the corporate brand, each retailer is able to have their own web presence with a unique URL and their own custom content.

Through the retailer portal, retailers can identify the services, brands, products and prices offered at their store and can even use a WYSIWYG content editor to add their own custom web pages. Consumers visiting the store website can quickly find the products and services offered by their local retailer, as well as contact information and a map to that store. They can enter contests, sign-up to receive e-newsletters and order prints and other photographic products from the store.

What About You?

If you operate a franchise or buying group, contact us to find out how you, your vendors, your retailers and their consumers can all benefit from an integrated on-demand system provided by Interprise Software.