Furnitureland South Partners with FurnishNet for EDI Needs

Furniture World Magazine

FurnishNet announced that Furnitureland South, “The World’s Largest Home Furnishings Showplace,” selected FurnishNet to manage all of the retailer’s EDI needs. Furnitureland South chose to outsource its electronic document exchange with FurnishNet to reduce errors on hand-keyed order entry, accelerate cycle times from order placement to fulfillment, and improve operational efficiency for greater overall performance and profitability. “We were looking for ways to improve our operational efficiency, and evaluated the costs and benefits of building our own solution compared to outsourcing for electronic document exchange,” said Todd Erickson, Director of Information Technology for Furnitureland South. “In the end, electronic document exchange is a function that is simply more cost-effective to outsource. After speaking with several other FurnishNet retailers with a comparable number of trading partner connections, we chose FurnishNet over other solutions because they offer a stable solution, industry expertise, and a good value.” FurnishNet’s solution for Transaction Management speeds the accurate transmission of purchase orders, purchase order acknowledgements, advance ship notices, invoices, and many other transaction types. By integrating e-mail, web applications, electronic data interchange (EDI), XML, and faxed-based processes into a unique “Any-to-Any” exchange, FurnishNet is able to translate the information into the appropriate format for the immediate electronic flow of information between business partners of any size. FurnishNet is platform independent, and is currently connected to more than 350 manufacturers and processing transactions for many of the leading home furnishings retailers on a variety of corporate systems. “At the end of the day, FurnishNet will enable us to process orders faster, reduce errors on special orders, and improve service to our customers,” said Erickson. “And since FurnishNet has already established hundreds of connections to manufacturers, we can begin exchanging documents with our key vendors very quickly, and begin realizing cost savings and improved efficiency much sooner than with traditional EDI.” “Furnitureland South has joined a growing number of leading retailers and manufacturers that are moving away from traditional EDI to web-based solutions,” said Ron Sellers. “A pioneer in providing value to the customer, Furnitureland South recognized that FurnishNet can help them to dramatically improve service while lowering hard costs. We look forward to providing them with a long-term solution that will support their continued success.” About Furnitureland South: Founded in High Point, NC, in 1969, Furnitureland South has evolved from a small operation dedicated to providing value to its customers to one of the nation’s leading home furnishings retailers. The company continues to provide exceptional value and service, and is currently ranked the 35th largest home furnishings retailer by Furniture/Today. In 2001, Furnitureland South generated more than $180 million from “The World’s Largest Home Furnishings Showplace” – a one million-square-foot showroom with merchandise from over 400 manufacturers. For more information, visit www.furniturelandsouth.com. About FurnishNet: With almost 400 trading partners and over $1.6 billion in contracted purchase order volume, FurnishNet is the leading provider of Internet-based supply chain solutions for retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers in the home furnishings industry. FurnishNet’s solutions for Parts Management and Transaction Management provide a cost-effective alternative to EDI, and help trading partners to streamline communications, reduce errors, and save hard costs. For more information, visit www.furnishnet.com.