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WebConcepts Takes Entertainment Leadership to New Categories
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Jun 6, 2007, 15:45

Software company, WebConcepts, Inc. has been serving retailers and their movie studio suppliers since the late 1990s with their state-of-the-art vendor-managed inventory (VMI) solution.

The Entertainment Supply Chain Academy welcomes WebConcepts back as a Platinum sponsor.  WebConcepts, Inc., a leading supply chain management software vendor specializing in shelf-level replenishment of consumer entertainment product, was founded in 1998 by Ray Young, who sensed a need from the home entertainment divisions of movie studios and other content owners to take a more active role in making sure their retailers have enough product on every shelf to meet the demand during the increasingly short sales windows for their products, while also reducing both out of stock and returned items. 

Success in the fast-paced world of the home entertainment supply chain has prepared WebConcepts to take these solutions to other industries as well, resulting in a recent expansion into the videogame market in partnership with Ditan and consumer electronics in partnership with Motorola.  The nature of the supply chain business has also changed, according to Young who relates:
 
"We have found out that our solution has a broader reach, not just in the home entertainment business.  Our early success with VMI was critical but we have learned that just doing VMI isn't enough.  What customers need to do today is try to align all the various groups throughout the organization to leverage the information that they currently collect.  With our tools, they can do replenishment effectively but how do they utilize that data to shape the demand and help in sales development, marketing as well as in product development?  These are actually more important questions that we are now helping them address. How do we help their sales, marketing, finance, operations and IT come together and utilize the data they have to help them make better business decisions?"
 
The City of Industry, California-based company (http://www.wcisoft.com) continues to service Paramount, Sony Pictures, MGM and Buena Vista Home Entertainment with its vendor managed inventory solution (eVMI) that focuses on item/shelf optimization and replenishment.  A former studio consultant, Young has developed supply chain solutions for more than 20 years. He noted that WebConcepts' eVMI solution is suited for any high-volume, high-turn retail product, while it was originally designed with DVDs, CDs, video games and software in mind. 

Always moving forward, WebConcepts has reacted to the changing dynamics of today's supply chain needs.  Young adds: "We have developed a series of retail analytics tools that allow users to bring in outside data and combine it with the downstream data they have within the system and slice and dice it into different categories.  The whole process is becoming more collaborative today and that has created a challenge for a solutions provider not just to be good in technology but to address the business as a whole at the same time.   

"Some of the data they need are not in their system; as a result the system has to be open to various inputs that help them shape the business and help them gain insight into the demand and consumer profiles.  There is going to be a convergence of operations and sales and marketing and it is all going to be a very fine line." 

What lessons can WebConcepts take to other industries?  Young explains that many other products are becoming increasingly similar to entertainment.  Cellular phones, for example, are becoming more of a fashion-driven business with shorter shelf lifecycles.  The videogame business is also becoming more challenging, though for the time being price is being protected, the sales window is longer and the publishers do not have to deal with returns. 

However, the advent of digital delivery is going to impact all product categories, he says.  "One of the biggest impacts of digital delivery will be that the consumer will have more power," Young says. " The market will get much bigger but conditions will also become much more dynamic.  You will have a shorter time to make a decision with a bigger set of data that you need to go through."


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