Electronic ordering comes of age

Cheers, April, 2005

Operators have been hearing for years that beverage ordering's inefficiencies would be driven out by electronic ordering. Finally, according to an E-commerce panel, moderated by David Commer, president of Commer Beverage Solutions, the day might be here.

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The workshop outlined E-commerce gains being made in all three of the industry tiers: in ordering, tracking inventory management, improved buying and cost controls, as well as in accurate sales and pricing information. Debbie Allison, director of food and beverage procurement for Darden Restaurants, pointed out the various problems of current systems--labor costs, manual inventory and ordering, incorrect brand mix, high cost of waste among them. By eliminating misorders that create slow product turnover, and the lack of clear data for specific brand sales, restaurateurs could benefit greatly from the opportunities of electronically centralized ordering. Not the least of which, she said, was freeing time to deliver more to the guest experience, reducing costs and improving quality of service.

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Wholesaler Bill Edwards, vice president, national account sales for Southern Wine and Spirits, outlined the ever-increasing complexity of product selection and delivery (he pointed out that with new products being continuously launched, companies like Southern carried more than 15,000 separate skus [stock-keeping units]). With that many units, and so many opportunities for errors, manual systems can't keep up with the demands of today's businesses, he said. Usage data, forecasting, reduced errors and better communication are only a few of the goals efficient electronic ordering promises, he said.

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The supplier perspective was addressed by Craig Williams, director of national accounts for Diageo, who outlined how the sales information that electronic ordering could help aggregate, together with greater resources, should lead all involved to higher quality decisions, as well as speeding the decision making process.