Clarks has teamed up with Big Data and systems integration specialist Whishworks to help automate and optimise its supply chain operations.

The partnership, which will deliver a new Application Programming Interface (API) warehouse management application suite across the supply chain, comes as part of the footwear retailer’s global business transformation initiative.

The transformation will be focussed on Clark’s UK and EU distribution centre in Street, Somerset, which ships on average 75,000 shoes per day.

Clarks chose Whishworks, which runs on MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform, to replace existing point-to-point integrations and lengthy processes, by building an application network that incorporates new technologies and responds to changing business and consumer demands.

Guy Mason, chief information officer at Clarks, said: “Our goal is to implement a global merchandise planning solution that will replace multiple legacy systems across many business functions, creating a step change in the global annual planning of fifty million pairs of shoes across price, product and location.

“With the global supply chain becoming more complex and competitive, it is no longer a case of simply stocking shelves and waiting for shoppers to come rushing through the doors,” he continued, adding: “Rapid developments in technology are changing the game and it is no longer a matter of big business versus small, but rather, faster versus slower.”

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