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Highlights In This Issue
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Kurt's Corner
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They Said It
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TradeCard News |
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The Buzz From Media and Analysts |
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Customer Success |
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Upcoming Events
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| Newsletter Archive |
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Welcome to TradeCard's new quarterly e-mail newsletter. If you think that a friend or colleague would like to receive this e-mail newsletter, ask them to sign up by visiting: http://www.tradecard.com/resources. | ||
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| Highlights In This Issue | ||
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| Kurt's Corner | ||
Kurt Cavano, CEO of TradeCard Free traders around the world breathed a collective sigh of relief with the passage of the trade bill this week. And while the US elections last month ushered in the winds of change in Congress that will undoubtedly create considerable uncertainty around global trade, at the moment, however, free trade seems safe. It is still unclear exactly how the congressional victories for the Democratic Party will play out on the global stage. At the very least we will likely see closer examination, and the resulting delays, of all bills and treaties relating to foreign policy and trade. While it's still too early to predict the exact direction of trade policy, currency values and interest rates for next year, there are a few things we can expect to see in 2007:
Regardless of the election the world remains predominantly pro-trade - including the new US Congress. So don't expect the speed, growth and success of global trade to slow down any time soon. The American consumer has no interest in paying more for televisions, iPods or shoes, and congress knows that... So what does this mean for you and me? Continue to focus on global trade growth by following a path that ensures trade visibility and agility. Prevent overexposure to any particular region or country where policy and market shifts can burn you. That simple investment guide of "avoiding the placement of all your eggs in one basket" will be a key to global trade success in 2007. Diversifying your global trade portfolio is the way to do this. For TradeCard and our community of customers and partners, we will continue to work towards enhancing our offering of technology, financial services, in-country support and global trade network, to ensure that our 2,200+ active members are on the path toward a diverse global trade strategy. To the TradeCard Community: Happy holidays and best of luck in 2007! Kurt | ||
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| They Said It | ||
Notable Quotes From the Past Quarter At first we were reluctant to go onto TradeCard. Our process for LCs was not broken and our perception from a supplier's standpoint was that we would see just a modest improvement. But once we began transacting on TradeCard we found that our communication with buyers was vastly improved. The guesswork we had been relying on to estimate our pay dates was soon eliminated. Today, we know exactly when we'll get paid and we can plan accordingly. In addition, our order management via TradeCard ensures that there's one accurate version of the truth, so we know that we're working on the most recent version of the order. We know exactly what was agreed to and what was sold. --Bryan Siegel, EVP and COO of Elrene Home Fashion, which sells to Linens 'n Things and JC Penney ----------------------- TradeCard allows us to increase our business capacity without adding staff or additional resources overseas. Process automation and extended visibility into our suppliers will help us ensure that shipments arrive at the right place at the right time. By eliminating unexpected surprises in the supply chain, the TradeCard Platform and SourceView will enable us to reduce costs, optimize cash and drive growth overseas. --Jim Luks, Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller for Stride Rite ----------------------- TradeCard enabled us to roll out our import business on a global trade platform that automates processes and allows us to increase business volume while lowering our transaction costs. By automating fulfillment and settlement processes on an open and flexible platform, we can optimize our cash flow and maintain better relations with our overseas suppliers as we continue to grow. --Rick Penney, Vice President of Product Development and Sourcing for Tweeter ----------------------- TradeCard streamlines our global trade transactions and eliminates inefficient, time consuming data keying and paper-based tasks from our financial processes. Our sourcing operations extend to the Far East and collaboration with suppliers is vital to our business. Automation of processes from procurement to payment helps us optimize cash flow, lower transaction costs and ensure that our suppliers get paid when they expect to. --William Aisenberg, Vice President of Finance for Walls Industries ----------------------- TradeCard will help us maintain tight control of transactions by ensuring visibility into the supply chain and providing agility to make adjustments as supply chain demands shift. Through the TradeCard Platform, we are reducing paperwork, improving communications with trading partners and financial institutions, and standardizing supply chain execution across our buying offices and various purchasing processes. --Jennifer Lin, CFO of American Sporting Goods ----------------------- TradeCard is dedicated to providing a technology platform that enables smarter global trade and improves margins and cash flow. This award from Global Finance validates our approach to global trade management, which consists of providing customers with online access to financial services, trade partners and support, through a robust technology platform. --Kurt Cavano, CEO of TradeCard, on receiving Global Finance Magazine's award for | ||
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| TradeCard News | ||
Latest Announcements from This Quarter WALLS INDUSTRIES IMPLEMENTS TRADECARD TO REDUCE COSTS, IMPROVE VENDOR RELATIONS, AND DRIVE GROWTH Walls Industries, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of workwear, industrial, hunting and outdoor apparel has gone live on the TradeCard global trade platform to automate financial processes in its sourcing operations. TradeCard enables Walls to reduce costs from bank fees and manual processes, frees up lines of credit and streamlines accounts payable operations to increase efficiency and improve vendor relations. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/wallsindustries.html ----------------------- AMERICAN SPORTING GOODS SELECTS TRADECARD TO INCREASE SUPPLY CHAIN AGILITY AND DRIVE GROWTH
Footwear manufacturer American Sporting Goods (ASG) has signed on with TradeCard to extend supply chain visibility, enhance agility and improve margins by automating processes from purchase order through payment. ASG, producer of such brands as Avia, AND1, Nevados and Turntec, will implement the TradeCard Platform to streamline operations, reduce overhead costs associated with sourcing, and improve visibility across the organization for better control of transactions. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/asg.html ----------------------- GLOBAL FINANCE MAGAZINE NAMES TRADECARD WORLD'S BEST ONLINE TRADE FINANCE PROVIDER 2006
TradeCard Inc. has been named World's Best Online Trade Finance Provider 2006 by Global Finance Magazine. TradeCard received the award at the Global Finance Awards Ceremony, held September 18, 2006 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. Global Finance editors selected the best trade finance providers based on input from industry analysts, corporate executives and technology experts. Criteria for choosing winners included transaction volume, scope of global coverage, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/globalfinance4.html ----------------------- STRIDE RITE SELECTS TRADECARD TO STANDARDIZE OPERATIONS AND DRIVE BUSINESS GROWTH Footwear manufacturer and retailer Stride Rite has signed on to implement the TradeCard Platform and SourceView visibility suite to streamline global trade and reduce costs caused by stock outs, excess inventory, late shipments, missed deliveries and retailer chargebacks. TradeCard will eliminate manual processes and extend control of Stride Rite's physical and financial supply chains to enhance visibility, improve margin and cash flow, and drive business growth. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/striderite.html ----------------------- TWEETER GOES LIVE ON TRADECARD IN LESS THAN 45 DAYS TO EXPAND OPERATIONS OVERSEAS Consumer electronics retailer Tweeter has gone live on the TradeCard Platform to grow its import business, reduce transaction costs and extend supply chain visibility. The implementation was live in less than 45 days. Previously, nearly all of Tweeter's purchasing and procurement operated domestically. TradeCard enables Tweeter to automate transactions with vendors in China and provides on-demand access to a network of more than 2,000 trading partners around the world that transact on the TradeCard Platform. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/tweeter.html | ||
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| The Buzz From Media and Analysts | ||
Learn what's new in the financial supply chain management space Every quarter we will provide insights into important strategic issues related to global trade and supply chain management. This quarter we present: E-commerce Times on common pitfalls in sourcing; Just Style on TradeCard's growth in Germany; Apparel Magazine on OGIO's implementation of TradeCard's SourceView suite; ePaymentnews Network on American Sporting Goods' selection of TradeCard's global trade platform; The Manufacturer on Walls Industries' implementation of TradeCard to reduce costs; and a white paper developed by TradeCard and Dealerscope Magazine that addresses difficulties in the consumer electronics industry supply chain. E-Commerce Times: COMMON PITFALLS IN SOURCING A global sourcing operation can be a highly complex, detail oriented process. For many firms, a profitable global sourcing operation can mean the difference between long term success or mediocre performance. Companies have invested millions in procurement software, in human resources and training to make sure they get it right. Too often, though, they still get it wrong. Landed costs are just one example. Landed costs is a term that refers to the total cost of a sourced product -- a cost that includes such items as duties, trade tariffs, transportation costs and documentation generation. It is probably, though, the most frustrating of all sourcing pitfalls, especially as it is a cost of which most companies are cognizant. The trouble is that these costs are easy to under or overestimate...especially when factoring in inventory buffers that many firms must maintain, and the ever-increasing competitive inventory cycle times in many industries. A miscalculation could have severe impact on a firm. "Sure, it might seem at first glance that you can manufacture a gadget in China for 20 cents while it would cost you $1 in North America," said Kurt Cavano, CEO of TradeCard, provider of on-demand supply chain management solutions. "But once you build in the additional costs, you now find it really will take 50 cents to manufacture that item once it is all said and done," he told CRM Buyer. "Meanwhile you have already promised to sell it at 25 cents." Many of these potential pitfalls can be navigated by the right software, typically called a global trade management or compliance application. To read the full article, go http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/PVN9NesSLtxQ09/Common-Pitfalls-in-Sourcing.xhtml ----------------------- JUST-STYLE: TRADECARD TARGETS EUROPEAN GROWTH Supply chain management firm TradeCard has appointed Leif Ringard as vice president of sales in a company push to drive growth in the European region. Ringard joins the Munich-based company from EMC where he handled direct, channel, and partner sales throughout Europe. TradeCard senior vice president Marshall Gordon said: "Leif knows the industry, the region, and the business environment in which TradeCard plays. He will have a major impact on our business in Europe. Leif will play a key role in our on-going momentum and success in Europe." ----------------------- APPAREL MAGAZINE: OGIO OPTS FOR TRADECARD OGIO, a leading gear bag designer, has acquired the TradeCard SourceView suite, which it will use to eliminate paper-based and manual financial processes, automate transactions and leverage online financial services to support growth. SourceView will provide OGIO with event tracking to control the movement of goods in its supply chain and enable visibility to eliminate P.O. delivery surprises, TradeCard reported. Gary Bowen, CFO of Utah-based OGIO, said TradeCard technology would help the company reduce costs and better manage supply chain events, including vendor compliance and goods receipt reconciliation. "The TradeCard Platform and SourceView suite will help us reduce costs by automating purchase order management processes from P.O. issuance through chargebacks," says Bowen. ----------------------- EPAYMENTNEWS NETWORK: AMERICAN SPORTING GOODS SELECTS TRADECARD Footwear manufacturer American Sporting Goods (ASG) has signed on with TradeCard to extend supply chain visibility, enhance agility and improve margins by automating processes from purchase order through payment. ASG, producer of such brands as Avia, AND1, Nevados and Turntec, will implement the TradeCard Platform to streamline operations, reduce overhead costs associated with sourcing, and improve visibility across the organization for better control of transactions. TradeCard's on-demand technology, financial services, global support and extensive trade network will allow ASG to eliminate manual tasks by automating operations from procurement to payment. The TradeCard Platform integrates financial services into a trading network that brings together thousands of buyers and suppliers around the globe. Collaboration with suppliers through TradeCard adds agility to the supply chain to help buyers and suppliers meet rapidly shifting pressures and demands, such as increased transaction frequencies and specialized orders. ----------------------- THE MANUFACTURER: WALLS INDUSTRIES IMPLEMENTS TRADECARD FOR COSTS, VENDOR RELATIONS Walls Industries of workwear and hunting gear has gone live on the TradeCard global trade platform to automate financial processes in its sourcing operations. TradeCard enables Walls to reduce costs from bank fees and manual processes, frees up lines of credit and streamlines accounts payable operations to increase efficiency and improve vendor relations. The TradeCard implementation, which went live in September of 2006, was up and running in 120 days. TradeCard's on-demand technology, financial services, global support and extensive trade network allows Walls to eliminate manual tasks by automating operations from procurement to payment. The platform helps Walls extend visibility and improve margins by driving collaboration with vendors to enable pre-export financing and reduce transaction costs throughout the supply chain. "TradeCard streamlines our global trade transactions and eliminates inefficient, time consuming data keying and paper-based tasks from our financial processes," said William Aisenberg, Vice President of Finance for Walls Industries. "Our sourcing operations extend to the Far East and collaboration with suppliers is vital to our business. Automation of processes from procurement to payment helps us optimize cash flow, lower transaction costs and ensure that our suppliers get paid when they expect to." ----------------------- TYING IN FINANCE FOR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN EFFECTIVENESS The consumer electronics industry has been savvy with its attention to the physical supply chain. There is a new opportunity to further leverage supply chain investments for even greater efficiencies by synchronizing financial transactions-the use of capital, the timing of payments, the management of chargebacks-with the flow of goods. Applying the same savvy to the financial aspects of the supply chain will undoubtedly provide market leaders with a competitive edge along with a fully optimized global supply chain. AMR Research has analyzed the top 25 supply chain performers, led by Dell, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Wal-Mart, Toyota Motor, Johnson and Johnson, Tesco, Pepsi, Nissan Motor, Johnson Controls, Woolworth's and Hewlett-Packard. The most profound conclusion is that "the basis of competition for winning companies in today's economy is supply chain superiority. These companies understand that value chain performance translates to productivity and market-share leadership. They also understand that supply chain leadership means more than just low costs and efficiency; it requires a superior ability to shape and respond to shifts in demand with innovative products and services." The expansion of global trade in manufactured goods has been one of the most pronounced and remarkable economic trends of the last 40 years for the consumer electronics industry. Global sourcing is not only the imperative, it is a pre-requisite for survival. Global sourcing implies long distance supply chains with extended lead times and multiple suppliers which have major implications for security of supply and for demand responsiveness. These dynamics also require that financial optimization tools be integrated with the physical supply chain to assure velocity of both product and cash. To read read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/campaigns/tcdocs/download.html | ||
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| Customer Success | ||
Linens 'n Things Webinar SourceView Visibility Webinar Featuring Burton Snowboards | ||
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| Upcoming Events | ||
CES
Synchronizing Financial and Physical Product Flows in the Global Supply Chain Details: Speaker: Kurt Cavano, Chairman and CEO, TradeCard, Inc. NRF | ||
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