Neiman Marcus Case Study
Improving Trade Visibility While Reducing Costs
Neiman Marcus adopts an on-demand visibility solution to expedite imports throughout the global supply chain.
Business Challenges
The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc., a leading national retailer, includes Neiman Marcus Stores, Bergdorf Goodman and the direct marketing segment, Neiman Marcus Direct.
Neiman Marcus needed to get better, faster product and shipping information from suppliers, freight forwarders and carriers, so it could provide data demanded by U.S. customs prior to products arriving in the U.S. This would eliminate shipment delays while helping the retailer avoid penalties and fees, and comply with government conditions for entry audits.
Selecting TradeBeam
Neiman Marcus selected TradeBeam’s on-demand import solution because it would optimize operating efficiency, ensure compliance with all customs and regulatory agency import requirements, and provide visibility, reporting, and exception-based management of the operational aspects of global sourcing within the supply chain. TradeBeam would also provide seamless integration and collaboration with all business partners, and provide import tracking consistency and integration among all the business divisions.
Increased Visibility
TradeBeam’s solution provides Neiman Marcus with visibility into its import operation, from point of origin to the point of shipment, while ensuring compliance with increasingly dynamic regulations. A portal provides a summary of all shipments in transit and exceptions for all shipments that have not been filed with customs. The solution also provides:
- Pre-Classification Automation. For trade compliance with government rules using HTS codes.
- Transshipment Screening. Ability to ensure known violators are flagged prior to shipment. Includes checks against the 592A government-issued violator database.
- Assist Management. Ability to calculate dutiable value.
- Customs Declaration Filing. Ability to streamline the filling of detailed product information into Entry Summary 7501.
- Trading Partner Collaboration. Real-time visibility and data transfer with all service providers, including EDI order documents, EDI status messages and ABI messages.
- Reporting. Ability to establish and evaluate metrics around the duration of certain key tasks and the relative performance of critical partners, individuals and activities.
Key Business Benefits
- Reduction of duties paid
- Regulatory non-compliance avoidance
- Reduced cycle time of 1–2 days due to pre-classification capabilities
- Reduction of inventory carrying cost due to reduced cycle time
- Greater accuracy of classification of merchandise for duty purposes
