Retail giant Walmart on Tuesday announced plans to develop and implement an enterprise sourcing platform (ESP) through a joint project with Bamboo Rose, a Boston-based provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) and supply chain software.
The goal will be to “revolutionize” the way the company does business with tens of thousands of suppliers around the world. Walmart said that would happen by bringing together disparate systems, improving efficiencies, and helping the company stay true to its mission of everyday low cost.
Through the new ESP, Walmart Sourcing associates around the globe will more easily collaborate with buyers, product development teams, and suppliers, improving the way the company procures and imports goods for resale. The single sourcing platform will create greater visibility across teams, enabling Walmart associates to make more informed purchasing decisions on volume and cost, improving access of goods to other markets, and potentially reducing waste in categories such as perishable goods and other sensitive product lines.
"At Walmart, we're constantly looking for ways to improve our business so we can help our customers save money and live better,” Daniel Berg, Vice President of Product Global Sourcing at Walmart, said in a release. “I'm thrilled to be able to work with Bamboo Rose to develop a brand-new ecosystem connecting our global teams with a single platform, empowering us to go beyond simply streamlining information. With this technology, we'll be able to engage with suppliers across multiple growth stages, expand global offerings and make more efficient decisions."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and neither company shared estimates of when the new platform would go live.
