ECR... cooperation instead of confrontation

ECR – Efficient Consumer Response – describes a customer-oriented and integrated view of the supply chain in which all parties involved work together. The primary aim of ECR is to create the prerequisites and techniques for a cooperation between commerce and industry for a better fulfillment of customer needs.

ECR implies a complete integration of information and supply chain with the implementation of new processes for commerce and industry. This means for example that orders will be generated with modern information techniques from sales data of individual products. These orders are adapted to the consumption of the products ("selling to the scanner").

The following prerequisites have to be created for ECR:

  • the consistent use of EDI,
  • the use of EAN standards (EAN, ILN, EAN128, NVE) for optimization of master data,
  • the use of scanner checkouts and POS data and
  • the use of systems like Computer Assisted Ordering.

A fundamental change of view is necessary for the successful realization of ECR. The confidence between the cooperation partners is the main prerequisite for an implementation of ECR. ECR requires department-spreading responsibilities for the control of the flow of goods and implies organizational changes on the supplier side and the commerce side.

ECR secures a continuous flow of goods and information, creates an optimal assortment with a simultaneous stock reduction and avoids supply gaps.

These advantages will be reached through the following basic strategies:

Efficient Replenishment
Optimization of the logistics chain by replacing the push strategies by pull strategies. It is also called Continuous Replenishment (CR).

Efficient Assortment
Revision of categories for an increase of customer satisfaction and optimization of product profitability. Essential art of Efficient Assortment is the Category Management (CM).

Efficient Promotion
Replacement of the stock-up system with large quantities and campaign prices by an efficient common purchase policy.

Efficient Product Introduction
Cooperation of commerce and industry for a common development and introduction of new products.

If you are interested in ECR and want to know more about this subject please use our extensive Glossary.

Without EDI there won’t be ECR, so EDI is an essential prerequisite of ECR.

From there stratEDI as an experienced EDI services company offers an extensive spectrum of ECR services as following:

  • Determination of a company’s Status Quo,
  • Analysis of the existing ECR potential,
  • Analysis of the business processes as far as ECR is concerned,
  • preparation of an ECR draft,
  • examination of the internal and external logistics processes,
  • acquirement of individual optimization approaches for the logistics sector,
  • representation of logistical alternatives with cost-benefit analysis,
  • definition of logistical reference numbers and
  • optimization of the whole supply chain through use of existing EAN standards (EAN, ILN, EAN128, NVE)