Process: Manufacturer
Flow
The manufacturer is the owner of the demand chain hub. The manufacturer sets up the site; maintains the catalog; recruits distributors who will participate in the demand chain network; and provides hosting services to resellers. Distributors use the demand chain hub to obtain quotes, to transfer shopping carts or orders, to receive batch inventory updates, and to receive order status updates from resellers. The manufacturer approves reseller registration requests, monitors reseller activity, and monitors shopper activity. The manufacturer may also monitor the content of hosted stores.
The demand chain hub provides the manufacturer with insight into reseller sourcing patterns, and information about distributor's inventory. Additionally, the demand chain hub is more efficient for resellers than a telephone or fax based sourcing process. If the manufacturer monitors activity in hosted stores, then the manufacturer also has access to information about the resellers' customers and their buying patterns. The demand chain hub is also an efficient method for
the manufacturer to communicate with the reseller base. The manufacturer can highlight company news and product news on the hub, and can advertise promotions. The manufacturer and resellers can run cooperative marketing campaigns. These campaigns display on the store pages of reseller hosted stores.
Subprocesses
- Business intelligence
- Catalog management - Manufacturer
- Channel management
- Marketing
- Workspace management
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