With 1,350 stores throughout 47 states and 3,000 weekly transportation loads, Big Lots is a four billion dollar company and the largest broad line closeout retailer in the US. One of its various processes critical to the company’s success is to efficiently deliver goods from all vendors to the sales floor, improving inventory turns and meeting customer demand.

In an effort to improve inventory turns and under the guidance of Katy Keane, Vice President of Transportation, Big Lots initiated a “Flow-Through Project” to cross-dock merchandise through their distribution centers, minimizing the handling of floor-ready merchandise. But there was a problem—success depended on vendors regularly sending accurate and timely EDI data (including advanced ship notifications, or ASNs). With a little research and creativity, Big Lots found their solution. Big Lots deployed Inovis Partner Performance Management on-demand software used to monitor the near-real-time flow of transactions with its vendor community, automate vendor deductions and provide workflow to remediate poor performing partners. The solution was integrated into Big Lots’ newly created enterprise service bus (ESB). Big Lots obtained satisfactory results. Through Inovis Partner Performance Management, Big Lots gained shared visibility of multienterprise transaction quality and compliance data. This, combined with workflow-driven remediation, helped them to drive down B2B transaction error rates. Many businesses today face the challenge of partners only spending a set amount of time on process improvement. Due to this challenge, picking the RIGHT rules and metrics with the largest return is critical.

Watch the video to hear Katy Keanes personal thoughts on Big Lots’ dilemma and solution.

Watch the video to hear Steve Connelly's on Big Lots solution.