ChannelAdvisor Distribution Centers

Challenge

Bells Bike Shop (BBS) uses ChannelAdvisor to manage its distribution centers and product quantities for listings on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, etc.

BBS uses many suppliers for their product catalog.  They wanted to leverage supplier warehouses and incorporate supplier stocking levels with their own warehouse quantities for greater product availability.

ChannelAdvisor supports distribution centers which is a great feature, but processing and uploading various supplier inventory files to their respective distribution centers was time consuming.  It required a lot of staff time and was prone to errors.  They could only upload one file per supplier per day.

BBS soon found out that they were over selling on the marketplaces because their product availability was overstated.  They were not uploading inventory files frequently enough to accurately reflect the current quantity on hand for products at their supplier warehouses.

Each supplier had its own file format, naming convention, and data elements.  Additionally, each supplier had a different method to access their inventory files.  Some used FTP, SFTP, HTTPS, REST API, XML, JSON, etc.  Accessing these sites were difficult and required some expertise.

It became increasingly clear to BBS they needed an automated process to go out to the various suppliers’ sites, access their inventory file using whatever technology was required to download the latest product information.  Additionally, these files would need to be stored and processed in such a way that they could be uploaded to ChannelAdvisor distribution centers.  Lastly, this process would run frequently enough so that product availability on the Marketplaces were as close to real time as possible.

BBS realized something had to be done to streamline and automate this process so they could upload all distribution center files regularly.  They asked us to develop a system to automate distribution center file uploads to ChannelAdvisor.  We gladly accepted the challenge.

Solution

We created the Distribution Synch which uploads the current quantity on hand for all suppliers with a defined distribution center every 30 minutes.

It is designed to operate 24/7/365 uploading specially formatted text files to a ChannelAdvisor ftp automatically.  The text files are formatted to ChannelAdvisor standards for distribution center uploads.

The Distribution Synch is a native windows 10 application running on BBS’s server.  Though it runs automatically in the background, it contains controls to allow for user configuration as necessary.  The user controls include shop options, credentials, notifications emails, and distributions center options.

In the event an error or upload failure occurs processing and uploading a distribution center file, the error and message is recorded.  A notification email is sent to an admin account with the error message.  Once notified, the admin can take appropriate action to rectify the failure.

Bottom Line

The Distribution Synch we created for BBS uploads supplier quantities automatically without the need for staff involvement.  As quantities change for supplier products, it is periodically uploaded to ChannelAdvisor automatically.

When this project began, they were only able to upload a single supplier quantity file per day.  Once we implemented the Distribution Synch, 14 suppliers’ quantity files are uploaded to ChannelAdvisor every 30 minutes providing the Marketplaces with the latest quantity on hand for each listed product from each supplier.

That’s 14 files every 30 minutes which works out to about 670 file uploads per day.  It’s an Impossible task to do manually.

This process is one less concern for BBS staff allowing them to focus on other aspects of operating their business.  This project is good example where automating is the right answer and best course of action.

To learn more about how we can help with your business automation, 3rd party integrations, custom development, and reporting, contact us.