Driven by a growing internet business, Lamps Plus needed to evolve its processes from manual (all purchase orders were done via fax) to automated. Today, Lamps Plus has achieved its goal with more than 90% of orders placed, received and invoices electronically processed with its suppliers.

Lamps Plus decided not to purchase an EDI application; instead it automated its PO and invoice functions without becoming EDI experts, adding personnel or purchasing expensive hardware and software. Lamps Plus chose to outsource its EDI operations to SPS Commerce. In addition, SPS Commerce would execute an enablement campaign to connect its suppliers via EDI. Lamps Plus has been using SPS' services for 4½ years.

Lamps Plus' catalog initiative will enable them to include vendor product information and images in its consumer-accessible electronic item catalogue. In addition, Lamps Plus will be able to establish an On-Hand inventory file that enables suppliers to electronically communicate the status of its items to Lamps Plus' buyers.

Benefits of this catalog program include:

• Offer More SKU's to the Consumer. Lamps Plus customers can now search a vendor's entire product line, giving them access to merchandise beyond current Lamps Plus SKUs. This is a great opportunity to drive new and additional sales for both Lamps and its vendors.
• Update Pricing with Ease. Any changes to a suppliers pricing will be easily and immediately visible to the Lamp Plus buying staff, as updates will be included in a file that will automatically upload into the catalog. This streamlined process replaces the need to manually maintain and send spreadsheets to Lamps Plus.
• Reduce Manual Inventory Verification. On-hand quantities will be visible to the Lamps Plus buyers, internet, and special orders departments, thus reducing manual inventory verification (e.g. phone calls to verify on-hand stock).
• Improve Order Fulfillment Accuracy. With the automated order system in our stores, shipping data is immediately verified by the consumer for delivery from the store's inventory or directly from the suppliers warehouse.

Accounts Payable This department was delighted by SPS' ability to perform a three-way invoice match to verify the SKU prices billed were correlated exactly with its buyers' purchase orders. Today 95% of invoices are automatically matched and verified for payment, up from 50% before using the SPS service.

Buyers With the service, buyers now have real-time visibility to their purchase orders, including when the items are shipped. Prior to SPS, these individuals relied on phone calls to suppliers or actual store and warehouse receiving. In addition, they are able to adjust PO's and other documents from within Lamps Plus' AS400 system that it integrated with SPS Commerce's services, eliminating the need to email, phone or fax their suppliers to change and confirm orders.

• 88% of suppliers were live on or before Lamps Plus' deadline
• Completed EDI transactions in use include Invoice, Purchase Order (PO), PO Acknowledgement, PO Change, Advance Ship Notice and Shipping Label
• Invoice Three Way Match completed – using integrated EDI data, Lamps Plus account payable can view any EDI transaction related to a purchase order.

Using a direct to consumer order model, Lamps Plus used to rely on its vendors to alert them when shipments to its customers were completed. This would then trigger Lamps Plus to bill the consumer. Today, they know to bill the customer automatically upon receipt of the ASN from their vendors. Not only does this automation shorten the payment cycle, but eliminates numerous phone and faxes to their suppliers. Before using SPS' services, Lamps Plus had 3-4 individuals dedicated to manually confirming shipments.

Secondly, Lamps Plus is using the ASN information to update its perpetual inventory counts. This allows Lamps to know when an item may be close to selling out or need additional promotion efforts to increase sales. More importantly, its online customers have accurate information on shipping dates (in-stock, backordered, etc.) to enable customers to order appropriately and with higher satisfaction.