World Duty Free has chosen GXS Intelligent Web Forms (IWF), an entry-level B2B e-commerce service specifically designed for enterprises seeking additional solutions to enable their small to medium-sized trading partners to participate in electronic trading initiatives.
GXS IWF is a GXS Managed Service that enables a company to trade electronically without the need to purchase, install and manage additional software.
At stores in British airports, World Duty Free carries more than 18,000 products across categories such as fragrance, cosmetics, confectionery, fashion accessories, fine foods and wines. Merchandise turnover is rapid and the company purchases a high volume of goods from a diverse supplier base. Many of the suppliers of larger, well-established brands are already electronically enabled, while others are smaller companies that, until now, have never traded electronically.
IWF will enable World Duty Free to send documents such as purchase orders and invoices electronically to all of its suppliers. The suppliers will then receive electronic documents via a simple multi-lingual, web-based interface, automatically meeting World Duty Free’s EDI requirements.
“Success for World Duty Free is all about on-shelf availability, based on effective inventory management and replenishing systems. B2B outsourcing powerfully underpins our business strategy and helps us dramatically improve our supply chain execution by increasing automation and reducing costs, while also giving us superior B2B capabilities,” said the company’s chief executive Mark Riches.
