How ewiz commerce helped a global FMCG giant ace long-tail procurement with a state-of-the-art eCommerce platform

Discover how ewiz commerce (A Powerweave Brand) deployed a custom, efficient, and all-inclusive eCommerce solution, Primemart, for enhanced supply chain management.

Summary

Our client* is a renowned leader in the global consumer goods market, boasting an extensive and varied product portfolio. Known for its commitment to sustainability and innovation, the client operates in over 190 countries. Its products, ranging from nutritious foods and indulgent ice creams to household care items and famous beauty brands, touch the lives of billions every day. This vast global presence and diverse product range present unique challenges in supply chain management, necessitating cutting-edge solutions to stay ahead in a competitive market.

Herein lies the core of their transformation, spearheaded by ewiz commerce, that reimagined procurement through the lens of advanced technology and strategic innovation. Primemart, a custom-developed eCommerce solution by ewiz commerce, emerges as the hero of this narrative, offering not just solutions but a new direction in procurement for our globally renowned FMCG client.

* Client confidentiality is paramount for us, and due to NDA commitments, some customer names cannot be disclosed publicly.

The Challenge

• Global scale and complexity: Managing a vast and diverse supply chain with a €600 million annual expenditure across 80 countries and over 2000 suppliers
• Procurement and quality control issues: Overseeing a cumbersome system with over 10,000 SKUs and recurring product recalls due to quality control challenges.
• Limited operational visibility: Struggling with inadequate global purchasing visibility, inefficient tools, and fragmented procurement processes.

The company's procurement landscape, before the advent of Primemart, was fraught with complexities and inefficiencies that hindered its global operations. With an annual expenditure of €600 million across a vast network of over 2000 suppliers in 80 countries, the challenges were daunting. The procurement process, burdened with over 80,000 transactions annually, was plagued by a cumbersome system managing an extensive array of over 10,000 SKUs. This complexity was exacerbated by a suboptimal quality approval process, evidenced by many product recalls in different regions. Additionally, a significant lack of global purchasing visibility led to missed opportunities in demand aggregation and a repetitive approach to designing marketing materials.

The limitations of an online tool they used in Europe further compounded these challenges due to its insufficient automation, user interface, and aggregation functionality. These issues, combined with zero spend insights, difficulty in consolidating suppliers, the prevalence of

offline purchases, and poor adoption of legacy ERP systems, painted a clear picture of the need for a transformative solution in company’s procurement process.

The Solution

Primemart – a comprehensive eCommerce platform customized for global needs

In response to intricate procurement challenges, ewiz commerce deployed a state-of-the-art eCommerce platform, Primemart, transforming the procurement landscape into a model of efficiency and innovation.

This bespoke solution centralized supplier catalogs, significantly enhancing product and price discovery while enabling insightful comparisons across a multitude of suppliers. A key feature was the support for volume-based pricing, which, in tandem with global demand aggregation, allowed them to capitalize on its extensive market presence for better deals. The platform's integration with the client’s quality partner, Datalink, ushered in a new era of risk management and quality assurance at a global scale, ensuring compliance and high standards across all products.

Furthermore, the system's intuitive B2C-style interface streamlined the procurement process, bolstering user adoption and accelerating decision-making. Additional functionalities like API connectivity for external data integration, as demonstrated in markets like China and Mexico, offered unparalleled flexibility and market responsiveness. This comprehensive solution, culminating in controlled product management workflows and detailed order history reports, not only addressed the immediate challenges but also set the stage for sustained procurement excellence.

The path to transformation: Implementing the Primemart solution

Primemart's journey to revolutionize the procurement system commenced with an in-depth assessment of the existing procurement workflows. This critical analysis laid the foundation for the impactful integration of the new eCommerce platform. Meticulous attention was then devoted to customizing the technical aspects of the solution, ensuring it met their specific needs. This phase was followed by a rigorous testing process in a User Acceptance Testing environment, guaranteeing functionality and reliability. The final stride in this transformative journey was a strategic, step-by-step rollout across the company’s global operations. Accompanying this rollout were comprehensive training programs designed to ensure adept usage and widespread adoption of the system. This strategic implementation marks a significant milestone in their history, showcasing a journey of innovation and efficiency and positioning Primemart as a cornerstone in the reinvention of their procurement landscape.

The Result

Achieving excellence in streamlining long-tail procurement

Results demonstrated over 5 years of usage.

Primemart's implementation marked a significant leap in procurement efficiency and effectiveness. By centralizing supplier catalogs and providing a sophisticated eCommerce experience, Primemart enabled a more streamlined and insightful procurement process. This approach supported volume-based pricing, allowing our client to leverage its scale for better pricing and cost savings.

Strategic impacts:

Enhanced decision-making: The ability to compare products and prices across suppliers led to more informed and quicker purchasing decisions.

Quality and compliance: Integration with quality partners like Datalink ensured higher standards and compliance, reducing risks significantly.

Global efficiency: The system facilitated global demand aggregation, offering them the advantage of lower prices through bulk procurement.

Data-driven insights: With API connectivity and comprehensive order history reports, Primemart provided valuable data insights that were previously inaccessible, aiding in strategic planning and forecasting.

Overall, Primemart's solution streamlined the procurement process and brought about substantial improvements in decision-making, cost efficiency, and risk management.

Looking ahead

Collaborative innovation with AI-enhanced procurement

As we continue to advance our strategic partnership, the focus is set on taking the procurement system to the next level by incorporating advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Our vision includes the development of a comprehensive analytics dashboard, providing an all-encompassing view of procurement activities. This platform will facilitate detailed analysis and visualization, covering critical areas like expenditure, vendor performance, location-based analytics, and market trends.

The future of Primemart involves harnessing AI and Machine Learning to revolutionize support, adoption, and decision-making in procurement. This innovation will allow for the automation of key decision processes, utilizing a blend of internal operational data and external market insights. This approach will empower Primemart to suggest the most effective procurement strategies, optimize contract negotiations, and enhance vendor selection processes.

Moreover, there’s scope to use Generative AI and LLMs to automate the generation of procurement documents and create dynamic supplier evaluation metrics, leveraging real-time data for precision and efficiency. This transformation is not merely about automation; it's about elevating Primemart into an intelligent, forward-thinking platform that enhances strategic decision-making. With these AI-driven enhancements, Primemart is poised to become a more adaptive, efficient, and strategically predictive tool, perfectly aligned with the dynamic and complex needs of global procurement.