Portalogue takes legwork out of orders
A new web-based order management system looks set to revolutionise the way fashion companies, large or small, do business. Registered trademark Portalogue was developed by Portalogue managing director Tim Pope, who confirms the system, combining the web-specific word "portal" with the "catalogue" concept, now boasts over a thousand registered retailers.
Pope said Portalogue's popularity lay in its ability to streamline ordering functions and enhance business owners' ability to track their purchases. Unlike many business-to-business (B2B) systems, which favoured one trading partner over the other, Portalogue had also been designed to be "a true win-win for suppliers and retailers," he said.
It also promised to put an end to price lists, catalogues, order forms and stock lists provided by suppliers across a "fragmented mish-mash" of Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, CDs, Power Point slides, printed flyers and brochures, while providing a more reliable data management and communications interface than the outdated fax machines still used by many fashion businesses.
"Portalogue has successfully made the complex issues of buying and selling easy and it does not require any special software or hardware, simply an internet enabled computer.
Imagine being able to go to one website where you can access your preferred supplier's current price list, with pictures of each product and colourway; where you can see if inventory is low or unavailable and place orders simply by entering the quantities and delivery dates you require for the styles you select."
The Portalogue system will keep a running tally as orders are added to, in units and dollars by month, automatically collate purchase orders by supplier and delivery period and allocate a unique order number. As soon as the order is submitted - with a click of a button - an email alert is automatically sent to the supplier."
The system also included handy features such as "Quick Links", whereby a single click created an instant list of all orders due for delivery in a given month. For indent orders, picture references on every order were designed to help retailers coordinate merchandise and avoid duplications or poor allocation of open-to-buy dollars.
Stock service products could be "flagged" and found with a click of the mouse for regular re-orders, while Portalogue also enabled suppliers to sell clearance lines and specials on a "first-in, best dressed" basis.
Portalogue will showcase its service at FASHION EXPOSED from 14-16 February 2010, at Sydney Exhibition Centre.