Website Management Project: Online Inventory
Purpose
Manufacturers and Retailers Can Reduce Inventory Waste and More Precisely Target Customers
What is the purpose of the site? Do you want to provide information, promote a service, sell a product… ?
‘On the manufacturing side, consider the example of a tile manufacturer, one of our clients. Long accustomed to selling via dealers, this company wanted to create direct relationships with consumers. As part of this initiative, the company began to track the specific SKUs customers were inquiring about on its Website or mobile app.
By tracking and analyzing this data, the manufacturer could identify the most popular SKUs and funnel this information back into its inventory planning systems to ensure the most in-demand products will always be in stock.’ — Future of Work (May, 2013)
Goals
What do you hope to accomplish by building it? Two of the more common goals are either to make money or share information (6 Phases of the Web Site Design and Development Process. 2014).
The Web Design and Development Process
Ideally, there are numerous steps in the web designing and development process. From gathering initial information, to the creation of your web site, and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current. The exact process will vary slightly from designer to designer, but the basics are the same:
1. Information Gathering
2. Planning
3. Design
4. Development
5. Testing and Delivery
6. Maintenance
Implementation
Elements such as the CMS (content management system; i.e. WordPress?), interactive contact forms, or e-commerce shopping carts are implemented and made functional during this particular phase. Chiefly, your designer should continue to make your in-progress web site available to you–for viewing. Additionally, you can suggest any additional changes or corrections that need to be applied to the web site.
Content
Either way, your designer should allow you to view your project throughout the design and development stages. Frankly, the most important reason for this is that it gives you the opportunity to express your likes and dislikes on the site design. In this phase, communication between both you and your designer is crucial to ensure that the final product will match your needs and taste. It is important that you work closely with your designer, exchanging ideas, until you arrive at the final design
for your web site.
Testing & Development
A good web designer is one who is well versed in current standards for web site design and development. The basic technologies currently used are HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). As part of testing, your designer should check to be sure that all of the code written for your web site validates. Once you give your web designer final approval, it is time to deliver the site. An FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program is used to upload the web site files to your server.
Audience
In relation to allocating the specific audience of this project, the journey to create an adaptive supply chain comes down to creating new channels for growth; which may include deeper penetration of existing markets and different positioning of brand, products and processes that generate competitive advantage. Inventory management is a key component of this exercise. Ultimately, manufacturers and retailers can reduce inventory waste, while focusing more precisely on targeting customers.
Contributor: Quinten Gomez and Quintin I. Goynes
