BarTender® software case study
EnglishGlobal, vertically integrated apparel retailer
streamlines its labeling process with BarTender®
An American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty apparel retailer offers an assortment of women’s, men’s and children’s apparel,
operating over 450 retail stores throughout the United States in addition to conducting business online and through catalogs.
The challenge: The company faced
important business challenges•The retailer’s supply chain is verticallyintegrated. It includes online sales, brickand mortar sales, catalog sales, apparel andaccessory vendors, as well as distribution
outlets and warehouses. It needed to find aconsistent and uniform method of labelingthe more than 150,000 items from over 500
separate merchandise suppliers that passed
through its doors daily.

•Suppliers were creating their own
homemade labeling, requiring extra
time and labor at distribution centers
for correction. The company wanted
standardized labeling, printed and affixedat the site of manufacture, to improve
supply chain visibility and velocity.

•The company had to keep up with thevelocity of merchandise seasonality —items, inventories and manufacturers arein a constant state of flux, based upon
new season fashions and adjustments tomerchandise between seasonal cycles.

The key was to find a more consistent andefficient method of labeling that would follow
merchandise from the site of manufacture to thepoint of sale, eliminating cross-dock labeling.
Goods from suppliers were often incorrectly andinconsistently labeled, and had to be relabeled at
the warehouse before they could head to retail
racks. These label edits consumed considerable
extra time in warehouse and distribution
centers, which slowed supply and added costs
to operations. The company looked for ways toincrease labeling accuracy and minimize time
consumed correcting, designing and affixing
labels in warehouse and distribution centers.
There was also a second cost problem. The
company licensed their legacy labeling system
based on number of users. Since every seasonal
shift in supplier also meant that different
vendors were creating the labeling, the retailer
was paying for technology that went unused
most of the year.

The solution: finding a better way to label•

The company wanted a labeling solutionthat would align more effectively with its
business needs and address its labeling painpoints. The company determined that their
new labeling system should:•

Produce consistent and accurate labeling forthe volume of merchandise items that camethrough sales and distribution points daily.

•Be implemented in a straightforward anduncomplicated manner with minimaltraining. The company’s worldwide groupof suppliers ranged from home-based
microbusinesses in the developing world tolarge, traditional apparel manufacturers,
with a wide variety of technologicalinfrastructure and skill among them.

••

Be compatible with a wide spectrum ofprinting technologies, since the level oftechnological sophistication varied among
the company’s constantly changing rosterof suppliers.
Create a seamless interface to the diverse
collection of supplier printers, so that theretailer’s own warehousing and distribution
personnel no longer had to step in tocorrect and reprint incorrect labeling work

— suppliers would have label templates andsoftware that would enable standardization
among their supplier community and, inturn, speed processes and reduce errors.
•Offer a licensing agreement issued on a perprinter instead of on a per-user basis. The
roster of suppliers was in continuous flux
due to seasonality and other considerations— to avoid paying for unused labelingtechnology during a supplier’s “off-season,”the company could assign licenses to active
manufacturers.

BarTender delivers on cost andoperational efficiency
After completing an RFP and systems evaluation
process, the retailer chose BarTender® to manage
the implementation of the new labeling system
for their global supplier base.
With BarTender, the retailer can integrate
the new labeling program deeply andcompletely into its business processes, enabling
interoperability, consistency, economy andefficiency of operations.
BarTender’s per-printer licensing resolves paying
for idle technology used only seasonally.

Standardizing labeling around the world with
BarTender’s Print Portal
To create uniform templates for labels that its everchanging corps suppliers could access and use for labelingmerchandise at their local facilities, BarTender label
templates were created and then disseminated using
BarTender’s web-based Print Portal.
With Print Portal’s print time forms, suppliers can selecta label format, and then using pre-populated menus,
select the appropriate data to include on the label.
Standardizing labeling across all suppliers eliminates
the homemade (and inconsistent) label making that had
occurred previously. The Web portal supports interfaces
to a broad assortment of browsers, including Safari andInternet Explorer/Edge, which also gave users flexible
alternatives based on available technology.

Interoperability with a diverse range of printersand operating systems
Since its global supplier base changes continuously, theretailer was never certain which printers and operating
systems its vendors were using. The company createdinterfaces between BarTender and a broad variety ofprinters, providing support to print on Windows and iOS
operating systems, positioning itself for any situation,
and adding agility to its printer and labeling businessprocesses.

Optimization of label printing
Labeling now resides wholly with its supplier base. By
designing an easy-to-use business process engineered
to eliminate mistakes and workarounds, the company isable to achieve its goals of goods arriving at warehouseand distribution points correctly labeled, gaining new
efficiencies and saving resources, time and money.

Synopsis multi-national retailer needed to find a consistent andA
uniform method of labeling 150,000 items from over 500
separate merchandise suppliers each day.
T he company wanted standardized labeling that followed
merchandise from the site of manufacture to the point of sale, toimprove supply chain visibility and velocity, and to reduce errors.
T he retailer’s merchandise came from different vendors
during different seasons. They wanted to avoid paying forunused technology during a supplier’s “off-season.”T he company required a labeling system that could work withthe varied levels of technological infrastructure and skill in
its supplier community, with simple adoption and minimal
training required.

Americas:
Sales@SeagullScientific.com+1 425 641 1408

www.SeagullScientific.com

EMEA:
EMEASales@SeagullScientific.com+34 91 198 4600

Agility of training and deployment
The company needed a streamlined implementation
process that would quickly get vendors on board withlabeling. BarTender can print to virtually any output
device — it operates at a plug-and-play level with mostprinters. The company created predefined templates in
BarTender. They’re readily understandable with simple,automated production, even if English isn’t the supplier’s
native language. The company backs this up with video
training for the labeling system that it includes as part ofits supplier onboarding process.

Benefits
Because business rules and processes are quickly revisedand shared using BarTender, the company has increased
its agility, enabling rapid response to any future businessscenarios that could unfold. This agility enables theretailer to get to market with its goods faster, respond tofashion trends more quickly, and streamline operations
from supplier points of origin through warehouses,
distribution centers and onward to online, catalog andretail outlets, saving time, resources and money.
Labeling, the carrier of item traceability data throughout
the supply chain, is consistent and standardized,
regardless of the printer or operating system used, or thetechnological understanding of the supplier doing thelabeling.
Solving critical issues in labeling, licensing, deploymentand execution have enabled the retailer to focus on
business growth and maintain its reputation as a retailmarket leader.

T he company chose BarTender. Now, labels are disseminatedglobally through BarTender’s browser-based Print Portal. The
supplier enters a SKU, generating the appropriate labels
automatically.
T he system can print to virtually any printer, including
Windows and iOS.
S hifting licenses to active manufacturers avoids the cost ofmaintaining unused technology.
T he system is easy to learn and easy to use. After viewing ashort video, suppliers are ready to start printing their labels.
 ith their BarTender labeling system, the retailer hasW
captured new system efficiencies and savings of time,resources and money.

APAC:AsiaSales@SeagullScientific.com+886 70 1018 4700

Japan:JapanSales@SeagullScientific.com+81 3 4589 5400

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