Art of Commerce™

The Art of Commerce™ merchandising system provides a full cycle, end to end management system for the product development and distribution industry.

The fusion of merchandise inventory, development and presentation, sales channel integration, logistics and fulfillment workflows with both retailer specific and supply chain centric industry requirements in a web and desktop enabled system surrounding a powerful and expandable database foundation.

The integration of the multi-faceted merchandising enterprise into a cohesive and all encompassing system for the demanding requirements of a modern day product oriented enterprise that focuses on the integration of the bricks and mortar established platforms and the virtual online sales environments that have become the new standard.

Picture a dynamic business that moves its merchandise through diverse channels in order to satisfy its customers. A business with Retail Stores, Mail Order and Trade Sales Departments and Internet E-Commerce sites each working with customers and inventories in their own fashion. The facilities of this enterprise would include Offices and Store Fronts, Distribution and Picking Centers, Replenishment Centers and Warehouses. All of these components work in concert to make this enterprise flow, with the cohesion of people and technology.

Products are the center of the system, unfolding into the presentation, fulfillment, financial and management functions of the enterprise. When combined, the cooperative advantages and opportunities come into action such as automated replenishment and forecasting of inventory and web site real time update.

The merchandise database provides for many elegant and straight forward ways to describe and present the product. The Image++ component provides a digital media library with active objects such as a product image and rich text description that are equally useful on the desktop and on a web site. Image++ also provides the ability to store any digital media file, such as drawing files, specification and instruction documents, streaming media such as video and sound and any other computer generated file. A system publishing control allows for items to be marked as public or remain private to the business, which also controls their availability at the web site level.

At the heart of the system is a common core data repository surrounded by both web enabled and desktop applications that are easy to access and highly available for enhanced customer, resource and business relationships.

The Art of Commerce™ System defines an enterprise by its facilities and then controls the use of those facilities with an organizational overlay comprised of three-tier hierarchical structure of Client, Line of Business and Store or Storage Point. A Client refers to a financial entity and the system supports an infinite number of them providing many systems in one. The Line of Business (LOB) refers to a business channel such as Retail, Mail Order, Trade Sales, Internet Sales and allows these channels to operate in unique or similar business flows within the same enterprise. A Store refers to a profit center or cost center, which may or may not bear inventory.

The design and architecture of the system overlaid upon a collection of enterprise facilities defines the environment that the enterprise exists within, in terms of physical structure, geography and systems network. This permits the system and its users to work with discrete enterprise units, entire business lines, and groups of units within lines or in a global fashion. Such examples would be setting pricing for a specific stores or sales department while leaving the balance of the enterprise unchanged, configuring lines to use diverse currencies such as multiple currency e-commerce sites, or a warehouse manager that replenishes the warehouse by business line.

The architecture provides the ability to define the business flow for the enterprise, organize and define the supply chain into a logical network, provide for the unique customer requirements of each channel and make the Internet an integral line of business that is equally essential to the enterprise as any Sales Departments or Store.

The Internet provides a Line of Business for all enterprises and new businesses that rely on it as its sole purpose. Art of Commerce™ embraces this, the Internet is integral to the system as any other business model. This resulted in the creation of powerful tools such as Image++ where multi-media digital objects and documents become part of the Art of Commerce™ merchandise landscape and the centre for Internet Commerce Interfaces. The foundation for an Internet Store in the system will allow any enterprise to create a customized site(s) with mainstream business management ingrained. Opening a store on the Internet is a straight forward process. All of the merchandising and retail management is done within Art of Commerce™, E-Store delivers it to the Internet. Your B2C line of business can be defined to support multiple currencies and multiple tax jurisdictions for the present and future of your E-Commerce initiative.

E-Sales/E-Trade provides your enterprise with the ability to support access to your business customers and sales resources through the Internet. Your customers will be able to access your enterprise system through an Internet Window in an on-line and real time environment. Your sales resources will have the same capabilities along with an enhanced customer navigation tool that allows them to work within a customer isolation.