Narrowing the gap between back-end and front-end of the supply chain with Irina Rosca

[Irina Rosca](https://www.linkedin.com/in/irinarosca) is a Senior Director of Global Supply Chain Operations [SKLZ](http://http://www.sklz.com). She has been working on supply chain operation for about 15 years, on various products from wine, spirit, food to textile, and now sporting goods at SKLZ, San Diego, California. Irina oversees an end to end global supply chain operations and strategy including inventory procurement and optimization at various locations, global logistics, and transportation, contract negotiations, systems implementation, customer service, reverse logistics and warehouse operations. Irina's website [www.sustainscm.com](http://www.sustainscm.com) covers high-quality articles on e-planning or e-commerce planning.
Irina best described the whole process of supply chain operation for e-commerce business. How important the analysis was done at the product level, the product strategy; the understanding on customer & marketplace, and, finally, the acceptable price on that market.
From there, your organization would draw up possibilities on products (or components) sourcing, sourcing agents or marketplaces to work with, correct forecasting and having a partnership for last mile customer order delivery.
While presenting basics of supply chain operation, Irina also covered overviews on recent trends such as kick starter, pre-order product launch, new model warehousing systems and key points to thriving on [amazon.com](http://amazon.com). At the end of the show, Irina kindly listed links to e-commerce global supply chain resources for further readings and consultation.
**Topics: **
· The first thing you consider for supply chain optimization?
03:07 Addressing the first thing to look at on supply chain optimization, Irina shared her recent experience when visiting an e-commerce company. Like most organization, there was a huge gap between back-end and front-end of the supply chain.
· What’s the common mistakes people are making?
04:42 The drawback is not having many schemes of supply chain procedure, but the inability to forecast correctly.
05:45 Understanding who the customer really is and looking at the trends are the main challenge in making correct forecasts because it related to cash tied in the inventory.

· What is the overall process Irina go through to build the supply chain for the company?
08:00 It started with an analysis done on the product level, the possibilities of products manufacturing and its impact on the market.
08:53 Irina shares process for Sunglasses
10:03 Revealed the importance of aggregate production for similar products production.
10:49 Key items to start with are always: do you understand the consumer, the trends, the marketplace and the acceptable price. Irina also draws her opinion upon pre-order product kick starter.
· What are the benefits of sourcing internationally v/s sourcing domestically?
13:20 International sourcing has the advantage of the cost factor
14:26 Why sourcing in the United States become less negotiable, especially in minimum order quantities.
· How do you go about finding competitive vendors?
16:08 Irina mention Alibaba marketplace to be a good starting point and asking referrals to a sourcing agent or local resources
19:30 You as importer have full responsibility for what you bring into this country, to make sure it's a quality product.
· How do you approach the negotiation part, when you are trying to scale up?
21:00 The importance to share forecasts with suppliers and the visibility of each product components.
23:45 Understanding cost components, forecast the and cutting cost across the supply chain
· What’s the best ways to start co-branding?
25:05: Give a visit to your vendor, check the line, get as many details about the product as you can.
26:55 Avoid mistake of promising something you cannot deliver

27:40 How to manage to visit a factory through sourcing agents regarding cultural differences.
29:00 The collaborative management between you, sourcing agent and suppliers. The importance of sharing data.
29:25 utilization of data to educate them
30:00 What a sourcing agent wants in general. Their compensation and fee.
31:48 How to create symbiotic collaborative work between manufacturer, sourcing agent and you.
35:09 Especially when you invested in high engineering or molding equipment managed by a certain factory or a sourcing team.
36:19 How to manage supply chain along with a series of product lifecycle, shelf life, and market trends.
39:21 Second part: transportation and delivery side of the supply chain.
40:33 Why outsourcing delivery service is important when you don’t have the core competence in distribution. Case Study of San Diego Company.
43:15 Irina explains how impactful the good delivery system to the whole brand perception.
46:37 specific components to look at when finding the partner to handle the delivering part.
50:50 prons and cons of launching your product on your site before listing it on Amazon.
54:00 The importance of having product strategy before launching any product on Amazon.com. It will control the data around our products and make sure that the extra cost of Amazon is covered.

**MENTIONED PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RESOURCES**
[www.alibaba.com](http://www.alibaba.com)
[www.amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com)
[www.flexe.com](http://www.flexe.com): Transportation company recommended for small-medium businesses.
[www.supplychain247.com](http://www.supplychain247.com) Transportation company recommended for small-medium businesses.

[www.sustainscm.com](http://www.sustainscm.com) : Irina’s website where she writes a lot about last mile delivery
[https://ecomadvisory.com](http://https://ecomadvisory.com): for a detailed overview of supply chain
[https://cscmp.org](http://https://cscmp.org): an organization providing education and connects the supply chain professionals
**Connect with Irina:**
[Linkedin](http://https://www.linkedin.com/in/irinarosca)
[Twitter](http://https://twitter.com/sustain_scm)