The hectic schedules and multiple responsibilities of today’s consumers are forcing retailers to produce innovative products and services. Today, companies bring service to the customer rather than waiting for the customer to come to them. To deliver the right product to the customer, companies must streamline their supply chain. The simple view of the integrated supply chain is as follows: Take an order, give an accurate promise date, manufacture the right goods, allocate properly, ship efficiently and do all of this in a cost-efficient manner while maintaining a minimal finished goods inventory.

e-Commerce enabled supply chain management has been growing in popularity for the past couple of years. All the software companies are gearing up to support it and the consulting firms are preaching it.