The private label, the set of products that a distributor markets with proprietary brands, is increasingly present on the shelves of large-scale distribution and organized distribution.
Each distributor manages several brands, differing depending on product types, market segments to which they are addressed (and hence price), regional typicality, and other features.
Strengthening one's own brands has therefore become an important objective for being recognized and chosen by the consumer. It is essential to "keep the promise" of the brand, not only for premium products, but for each branded product: guarantee and responsibility on the chain of custody, on the product but also on the raw materials employed, on the manufacturing and transport processes, as well as on verifying suppliers and their sustainability practices, are ultimately the responsibility of the brand itself that puts the final product on the shelf or in the fridge of your store, and determines its reputation.
This business model, which is constantly growing for all large chains, requires equipping themselves with management and monitoring tools for the entire process and a new way of relating with suppliers, introducing not only a concept of collaboration, but even of a community of partners, who do business together and thus need to share objectives, data and operational tools.
WHY iCHAIN TO TRACK AND MANAGE THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF BRANDED PRODUCTS?
iCHAIN ALLOWS:
- collaboration on a single platform of different companies that collaborate on the same supply chain; for example, the data of a finished product manufacturer and its suppliers of raw materials or any subcontractors, transporters, of any inspections performed can be merged, guaranteeing the sharing only among the actors who need certain data for their process:
- the GDO can directly access the data of its interest collected along the supply chain, with maximum security for itself and for its suppliers;
- suppliers can upload the requested data on the platform in different ways, both by sending structured files and manually, and use iChain to share this data with their customers or to activate their own supply chain;
- the analysis of these data according to the most innovative and effective Analysis and Business Intelligence techniques.
All of the above in a single environment, structured according the needs and easy to use thanks to careful design and a pleasant and intuitive user experience, customizable for each user.
What operational advantages are obtained with the use of iChain?
iChain can be used for various business processes, also implemented gradually:
- To manage the traceability of products and/or batches from raw material to finished product (from farm to fork) at different levels of information granularity;
- to collect and analyze supplier data and to verify any anomalies, to compare the performance of the various suppliers, to detect points of attention in real time or to make comparisons with best practices;
- to make internal processes more efficient;
- to share data between different participants in the supply chain to obtain real-time information and react faster to any anomalous events;
- to associate all commercial, health or inspection documents up to the single event both at the lot level and at the level of single item or company that adheres to the platform;
- to accelerate and consolidate a new relationship model with its partners, sharing objectives and supporting them in technological growth based on innovation, especially towards smaller and less structured companies from an IT point of view;
- to activate marketing campaigns by demonstrating the transparency of the chain, for those who focus on Made in Italy, the origin and places of processing (among other things).
How to measure the benefits of adopting iChain?
Beyond improving efficiency and reducing waste and cost, the use of iChain as a traceability and transparency system strengthen the corporate image towards consumers, business partners and the community in general.