Business-to-business inventory management software provider Handshake Corp. today released a mobile version of its B2B commerce app that connects manufacturers and distributors to the retailers who buy their goods.
The New York-based company unveiled Handshake Direct Mobile, an app for consumer smartphones and tablets that now runs on Apple's iOS platforms and will soon include Google's Android devices.
The app is a mobile version of the company's Handshake Direct, a cloud-based e-commerce pOréal that allows users such as food and beverage retailers to replenish their stock through a web browser instead of ordering through a sales representative. Those orders are routed to each supplier's enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, such as NetSuite Inc.'s or Infor's, and then processed through the supplier's own invoicing and shipping process, Handshake CEO Glen Coates said in an interview.
Handshake says users can scan barcodes and operate a familiar touchscreen interface, whether they are at a manager's desk or in a store aisle or stockroom. Users could also connect the phone to a handheld barcode scanner via Bluetooth wireless signal.
Submitting data through a mobile device helps ensure that resupply orders will have fewer errors and faster processing than traditional reordering methods such as handwritten order forms, faxed lists of SKU codes, or phone orders, he said.
"If you get a SKU wrong by one digit, then the customer gets a couple pallets of the wrong soft drink," Coates said. "That's an expensive mistake to fix, not to mention the amount of time that the retailer doesn't have the product on their shelves."
