Trace One, a global leader in private label product lifecycle management solutions and transparency software for retailers, conducted the proprietary research in October 2014 by surveying executives of global companies that serve as private label retailers, manufacturers and suppliers in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Canada. In addition to inquiring about communication and collaboration tools, the survey examined their supply chain transparency barriers, key management concerns and how greater stakeholder visibility improves business and product operations, as well as customer loyalty. Overall the respondents, representing Fortune 500 companies, confirm the value in collaboration and found a direct correlation between transparency, productivity and consumer spending.

“It’s clear that organizations continue to struggle to achieve real-time communication and access to their supply chain partners,” said Jerome Malavoy, founder and CEO of Trace One. “To succeed in the private label industry, organizations need to have full transparency through the use of online tools in order to have access to all partner documentation, sourcing information, audits and more so they can react to potential crises and ensure product quality and improve productivity.”

Key findings of the “Global Private Label Supply Chain Transparency” survey include:

• More than half of the respondents attribute transparency to improved customer sales and loyalty with 83 percent saying transparency impacts consumer confidence and buying behavior

• Overall, 81 percent said their organizations are more productive because of their ability to collaborate

• A majority of offline users reported a lack of communication as a top collaboration challenge and 43 percent of respondents said their organization uses offline tools, such as spreadsheets and the telephone, as their primary form of communication

• Overall, 49 percent of respondents reported that their organization primarily uses basic online tools like Dropbox or Google Docs, and 8 percent primarily use online tools created specifically for the product lifecycle process

• The top three PLM development challenges listed were: a lack of communication (47 percent), multiple technologies, tools and software (44 percent), and speed to market (41 percent)

• Thirty-eight percent said they cannot identify or collaborate with their direct supplier network and about one in four rated their collaboration as “fair” or “poor”

• “Cost control” is a key business concern followed by reduced product risk/increased safety (50 percent) and regulation and compliance (45 percent).

Source: Trace One