Marketers often spend so much time identifying their target market, selecting the right message, and designing the perfect piece of collateral, that the actual task of program execution fails to make an impact. While effective collateral is important, successful marketers know that proper inventory management is what really makes or breaks their bottom line. More marketing departments are turning to online inventory management portals, ore-stores, as an essential component to their marketing execution programs. An e-store is a portal that allows marketing departments to manage their order and fulfillment processes in real-time to help alleviate excessive costs and poor inventory management. An e-store gives partners, sales force members or retail stores online access to order marketing materials, POS/ POP, samples and any other sales support tools they might need, when they need them. An e-store is a portal that allows marketing departments to manage their order and processes in real-time to help alleviate excessive costs and poor inventory management. And, in today's economy, marketers are looking for ways to do more with less - with an end goal of receiving and disseminating information faster, streamlining existing processes, and most of all, reducing operational costs. Implementing an online inventory management portal can help marketers accomplish this and much more. On paper, inventory management andfulfillment servicelooks easy. Simply keep enough products on hand to fill orders as they come in. But in reality, having the right amount of product available requires a highly coordinated effort involving online order entry and processing; forecasting and demand planning of production quantities; customer knowledge and support; strong channel relationships; as well as reporting and analytics to help evaluate performance and plot future strategies. During the best of times, inventory management requires balancing the right amount of materials going in versus the amount of materials going out. However, a study conducted in January 2009 by IBM and Oracle reports that one in three sales and operations planning (S&OP) professionals believe the recession has caused inventory levels to increase in excess of 25 percent. In addition, more than 49 percent indicate a uniform slow- down across all product lines when asked what impact the recession has had on product demand. These statistics demonstrate the huge inequity that can occur when it comes to supply and demand, especially during more turbulent times. Being able to respond quickly when issues arise make it critical for organizations to invest in tools that offer complete visibility into inventory. Further illustrating this point is a March 2009 survey conducted by Capgemini Consulting, where more than 65 percent of the 300 supply chain managers interviewed cited the country's financial crisis as the most pressing business driver today. One strategy companies are using to help them cope with the economy's effect on their businesses is inventory management. According to the survey, 48 percent of respondents claim that implementing inventory optimization programs have become their first priority when it comes to handling current market conditions. Additionally, in a separate report released by the Aberdeen Group in May 2009, surveyors found that inventory reduction is the top action companies are taking in response to the recession. In Aberdeen's survey of 170 companies, 54 percent stated that stricter inventory control was the best strategy for adapting to economic instability. Reports Show There is Room for Improvement:• The recession has caused inventory levels to increase by over 25 percent • More than 49 percent of S&OP; professionals surveyed indiciated a slow-down across all product lines • More than 65 percent of respondents cited the country's financial crisis as the most pressing business driver today • 48 percent of respondents claim that implementing inventory optimization programs have become their first priority • 54 percent of surveyors indicated that inventory reduction is the top action they are taking • Reseach shows most companies scrap approximately 30 percent of their printed materials annually • For poorly managed programs, it is estimated that for each dollar spent on marketing collateral another $6 is spent on related services, such as warehousing and archiving, creative services, management and review, fulfillment and distribution as well as other administrative costs As demonstrated above, online inventory management, or e-stores, can offer stability to your organization during uncertain times. Not only do e-stores drive present marketing programs, but they provide a roadmap for future initiatives. If your marketing department has ever wondered what marketing materials are being used, by whom, and with what effectiveness, an e-store can provide answers to those questions. Having a single, centralized e-store drives communication between corporate offices and the sales force. An e-store also gives marketing departments an effective vehicle for promoting corporate marketing messages and branding standards, while the sales force can rest assured that they have the most current materials available. As a marketer, visibility and flexibility into your total marketing program also is critical to keeping expenses under control. The biggest waste of your marketing dollars comes from inaccurately forecasting production demand, resulting in either obsolescence/scrapping because of overproduction or short-run reprinting because of underproduction. Although material obsolescence varies by industry, most companies scrap approximately 30 percent of their printed materials annually. In fact, some companies waste millions of dollars every year because of their inability to accurately forecast print demand. Although material obsolescence varies by industry, most companies scrap approximately 30 percent of their printed materials annually. The money spent procuring print is only part of the total cost of your marketing collateral. It is estimated that for each dollar spent, another $6 is spent on related services, such as warehousing and archiving, creative services, management and review, fulfillment and distribution as well as other administrative costs - so it pays to look at your marketing expenditures in a holistic manner and plan accordingly. A Recipe for Success A leading food producer is an excellent example of how to leverage an e-store to get maximum results. The client wanted an order and inventory management system that gave their sales force access to the food samples and marketing collateral they needed for retail/food service initiatives, customer development and retention efforts. The client customized e-store solution to help meet their business requirements. The e-store's reporting function helps the client save money in three ways. First, it allows them to assign budget levels to individual sales representatives to ensure they are not ordering unnecessary materials or hoarding collateral. Second, the e-store's forecasting ability enables the client to better predict inventory quantities, which saves on printing, production and shipping costs. Finally, by using one centralized system to manage its inventory, the client has greatly reduced its technology spend. In addition, value-add services, such as inventory aging reports; assessments of abnormal inventory depletions; product quality inspections; and notification of inferior packaging, all help theclient maintain quality and brand integrity while significantly controlling costs. Marketers view e-stores not only as a means to display and distribute an organization's marketing collateral, but as an excellent tool to help with demand planning, forecasting, auto- replenishment, vendor management and more. However, not all e-stores are created equal. To realize the maximum benefit from your e-store, make sure the solution you choose can be customized to work the way you do. Today, e-stores are helping marketers deliver more marketing programs, more leads and more sales tools while still eliminating excess overhead, waste, inventory and fulfillment costs. Doing more with less requires marketers to make sound choices when it comes to inventory management, eliminating the least effective methods and shifting their focus toward solutions, like e-stores, that deliver the most bang for the buck. Improve Your Marketing Efficiency with Archway Fortune 500 companies are turning to Archway Marketing Services to help them manage their marketing operations. After doing this for more than 55 years, Archway has perfected outsourced marketing operations management and has leveraged its knowledge across a variety of clients and industries. Allowing Archway to do what it does best frees up companies to do what they do best - grow their bottom lines. Archway offers end-to-end marketing operations management and fulfillment services that are providing streamlined processes with automated technology to eliminate unnecessary costs, speed time-to-market, and improve brand experience. As a business partner, Archway provides the decision support tools that executives need to gain instant access to data that determines the overall effectiveness of a marketing initiative. Archway's marketing operations management services include: • Business Assessments• Market Planning• Sales Portals• Product Procurement• Vendor Management•Fulfillment Servicesand Product• Logistics Management• Reporting and Analytics• Decision Support Tools For more than Five decades, Archway has helped some of the largest companies in the world develop and implement marketing operations strategies with the highest efficiencies and effectiveness. As modern marketing continues to evolve, Archway will stay at the forefront of business trends and technology to ensure that your successes become their successes. ...read more

Transforming Marketing Departments into Marketing Powerhouses The role of marketing is constantly changing. As budgets shrink and demands grow, departments across the country are being carefully scrutinized for their effectiveness. Top executives are holding marketers more accountable, which means they must not only deliver results, but also find ways to measure the actual bottom-line impact of their marketing initiatives. Previously, the success of an initiative was primarily judged on the tangible deliverables the marketing team produced, such as media coverage at an event. However, those days are long gone. As the discipline of marketing evolves, practitioners are becoming far more sophisticated in terms of their ability to deliver measurable results and a solid return on investment (ROI).In addition, advancements in technology also help elevate marketing to a more exact science by replacing campaign-by-campaign reporting with the ability to establish meaningful metrics at the beginning of a mar-comm program, at key points throughout its execution, and at the program's conclusion. Such technology allows marketing teams to look at campaign performance in real-time, evaluate the success or failure of a particular initiative, and make changes accordingly. As the trend toward merging marketing "creativity" with "science" continues, more companies are expanding their marketing departments to include a marketing operations management (M.O.M.) function, which directly links its marketing programs to concrete business results. Adding marketing operations management andfulfillment servicesto a company's marketing mix enables it to run its marketing department as a viable, accountable business unit within the organization where people, processes and technology are fully leveraged to help make marketing outcomes more predictable. The Benefits of Marketing Operations Management (M.O.M) Marketing operations management is an emerging discipline that is growing both in popularity and in practice as more companies struggle with ways to optimally leverage their department's shrinking resources. As more organizations are discovering, implementing mar-comm operations management into a company's infrastructure can help transform a department into a powerhouse. How do marketing departments go from practiced to powerful? M.O.M "builds a foundation for excellence by reinforcing an organization's marketing strategy with metrics, infrastructure, business processes, best practices, budgeting and reporting." The obvious desired outcome of M.O.M. is to achieve a measurable return on marketing investment (ROMI). To achieve ROMI, a "marketing dashboard" of sorts must be created, which enables employees to utilize technology and metrics to monitor the status of all ongoing marketing initiatives at any given time. With mar-comm activities being evaluated in real-time and directly linked to business results, "marketing departments are in the perfect position to influence strategic decisions and help increase organizational revenue, decrease costs and maintain high levels of customer and employee satisfaction." [2] Overall, building a solid marketing operations infrastructure facilitates informed decision-making and accountability within an organization. Aside from the many benefits, the in-house execution of mar-comm operations can be costly to manage and is often outside the company's business scope. Because of this, many Fortune 500 companies are turning to third party service providers, to outsource components of their operations. Improve Your Marketing Efficiency with Archway Fortune 500 companies are turning to Archway Marketing Services to help them manage their marketing operations. After doing this for more than 55 years, Archway has perfected outsourced marketing operations management and has leveraged its knowledge across a variety of clients and industries. Allowing Archway to do what it does best frees up companies to do what they do best - grow their bottom lines. Archway offers end-to-end marketing operations management, providing streamlined processes with automated technology to eliminate unnecessary costs, speed time-to-market, and improve brand experience. As a business partner, Archway provides the decision support tools that executives need to gain instant access to data that determines the overall effectiveness of a marketing initiative. Archway's marketing operations management services include: • Business Assessments• Market Planning• Sales Portals• Product Procurement• Vendor Management•Fulfillment Services• Logistics Management• Reporting and Analytics• Decision Support Tools ...read more

Getting the Job Done with the Best Fulfillment Services in the Industry  Archway order fulfillment services,fulfillment warehousing serviceand inventory fulfillment services are based on industry best practices and decades of experience servicing multiple industries. We fulfill marketing collateral, POS and POP, products, samples, trade rebates and other materials needed to support in-store marketing, field sales representatives and channel partner sales efforts. We also provide direct-to-consumer fulfillment services. Archway provides the following operations to support your B2B fulfillment programs:Push OrdersPull OrdersKitting&AssemblySpecial HandlingReverse LogisticsCross DockingDrop-ShippingStorage & Warehousing Signage Fulfillment With Archway, your signage fulfillment, POS fulfillment and POP fulfillment is executed correctly, efficiently and most importantly, on-time and on budget.Literature FulfillmentArchway bridges the gap that often exists between marketing and sales teams with a solution designed to help control, manage and disperse marketing materials in a cost-efficient and easy-to-use manner.Product and Sample FulfillmentFrom storage and product fulfillment warehousing, to inventory management, to e-commerce sites, Archway is equipped to handle any type of product our clients offer.Pharmaceutical FulfillmentArchway meets all your pharmaceutical fulfillment needs in a variety of channels including direct-to-consumer, direct-to-physician, direct-to-field sales representative and conventions.Gift Card & Prepaid Card FulfillmentAs the industry leader in gift card fulfillment, Archway distributes cards to retailers, channel partners, consumers and businesses across North America.Book DepositoryArchway's extensive experience with single and multiple-state adopted books enables us to provide service to over 2,000 school districts and about eight million children. ...read more