CHICAGO & SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the provider of Costco point-of-sale (POS) and inventory information to the manufacturer community, today announced the launch of its Costco Collaborative Retail Exchange (CRX) in Australia. CRX is a single, global solution for category, POS and supply chain tracking at Costco, which is available in United States, Canada, Mexico and now Australia.
Launched in 2004, the state-of-the-art Costco CRX technology platform gives manufacturers a detailed solution for total Costco tracking. Rather than relying on several disparate data sources to gather information, manufacturers can use this single, overarching tool to obtain a full view of Costco’s global business. The platform provides a consistent set of Costco internal data points to meet all Costco manufacturer needs and facilitate a collaborative relationship between manufacturers and buyers.
Costco CRX Australia Meets Growing Global Demand
IRI and Costco Wholesale have expanded the program with the launch of Costco CRX Australia. More than 750 global vendors have participated in the Costco CRX service since it launched in the United States in 2004 and in Canada in 2009.
“The Costco CRX platform has been a tremendous success in the United States and Canada, so we’re thrilled to be able to offer our manufacturers in Australia the same quality solution and enable a more global view of Costco’s sales,” said Rick Woods, Costco Australia.
A Complete Supply Chain Management Solution
Because of Costco’s low operating margins, manufacturers must be extremely diligent with forecasting and order management to avoid inventory issues. With Costco CRX’s daily, updated suite of supply chain management measures, including POS and inventory information, subscribers can make faster business decisions, driving more accurate forecasting and demand planning, more efficient business practices and better overall success at Costco.
The inclusion of inventory metrics (in transit, on order and orders received), complements the program’s existing inventory measures (inventory on hand and average days of supply) to create a full supply chain management solution.
Since the launch of Costco CRX’s enhanced supply chain capabilities in 2012, manufacturers have been able to gain a never-before-seen view of their product before it even reaches Costco, allowing for significantly more detailed and accurate forecasting. With these improved forecasts, Costco CRX subscribers can optimise inventory levels at each warehouse, reducing out of stocks and carrying costs, and ultimately lowering operational costs.
About Costco Wholesale
Costco Wholesale is the largest wholesale club operator in the U.S. The company operates 460-plus membership warehouse stores serving 45 million cardholders in 37 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, UK and Australia primarily under the Costco Wholesale name. The Company also operates Costco Online, an electronic commerce web site in the U.S., Canada, UK, Mexico, Taiwan and Korea, at http://www.costco.com.
About the IRI Partner Ecosystem
IRI fundamentally believes that delivering differentiated growth for clients requires deep, highly integrated partnering with a variety of best-of-breed companies. As such, IRI works closely with a broad range of industry leaders to create innovative joint solutions, services and access to capabilities to help its clients more effectively compete in their various markets and exceed their growth objectives. IRI is committed to its partnership philosophy and continues to actively enhance its ecosystem of partners through alliances, joint ventures, acquisitions and affiliations. The IRI Partner Ecosystem includes such companies as Adobe, The Boston Consulting Group, comScore, Experian, GfK, Gigwalk, Ipsos, Kantar Shopcom, MasterCard Advisors, MaxPoint, Millward Brown Digital, Mu Sigma, Oracle, Place IQ, Research Now, SPINS, Univision and others.
About IRI
IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help CPG, OTC health care organizations, retailers and media companies to grow their businesses. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated on an on-demand, cloud-based technology platform, IRI helps to guide its more than 5,000 clients around the world in their quests to remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with consumers and deliver market-leading growth. A confluence of major external events—a revolution in consumer buying, big data coming into its own, advanced analytics and automated consumer activation—is leading to a seismic shift in drivers of success in all industries. Ensure your business can leverage data at www.iriworldwide.com.
