Second to the well-known saying in retail of "buy good or goodbye" is ensuring goods bought are received as invoiced, as per the order terms, and that any deviation is identified no later than on receipt of goods.
Lack of proper controls and management in receiving has been the demise of many retailers, therefore control in the receiving bay is critical for running a profitable and sustainable operation. The top priority in the receiving bay is to ensure the goods invoiced by suppliers correspond with what was actually ordered, but also what is invoiced is actually delivered and in the right quantities. Traditionally, retailers have opted to appoint trusted and skilled employees to mitigate these challenges, but due to human nature, there is slippage that leads to unnecessary losses being incurred.
To address these challenges faced in receiving, Spinnaker has developed the Arch Mobile (AM) application, an extension of Arch Retail. The application runs on smart devices over a WiFi network, offering users the ability to perform designated functions and transactions in real-time, anywhere in a store that is covered by WiFi.
The following diagram summarises the application of AM in the receiving process:
The Arch Mobile goods receiving function allows a user to scan received items in any of the pack sizes, thereby eliminating the need to open cases or shrinks, which in turn creates security risks, while also ensuring correct items are scanned. Items received on AM are validated against the original purchase order as well as the supplier invoice, and where applicable, recounts are automatically issued against quantity mismatches. Goods rejected claims are automatically raised where suppliers delivered products that were not ordered (stock dumping), but can, however, be accepted via a management override function.
Apart from the obvious benefits of managing short deliveries better, the benefits of preventing stock dumping by suppliers will greatly prevent over- and dead-stock holding arising, which will place strain on cash flow and results in losses. The scanning function eliminates common user errors where the incorrect item is often captured, creating stock and pricing issues, often only realised months later during a stock count when losses have already been incurred and the proverbial horse has bolted.
In addition to its rich functionality in receiving, Arch Mobile also offers other benefits listed below over the previous generation batch mode PDTs:
* Product lookup file uploads not required;
* No need to connect to a back-office PC to download captured information;
* Real-time lookup of stock on-hand, sales, purchases, sale price and margin information; and
* Real-time transactions on the floor, such as price changes, stock adjustments, stock take, receiving, transfers, requisitions (pick lists), etc.
If more information on Arch Mobile is required, click here.
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