Provi, a B2B online marketplace featuring more than 1,400 alcoholic beverage distributors, has launched new services to streamline retail chains’ often complex purchasing needs.

The marketplace company introduced this week enhanced enterprise management and procurement software and services, including a revamped way for retail chains to manage corporate approval of purchasing and expanded capabilities to punch out from procurement software to order from distributors’ online catalogs.

To better accommodate retail chains placing orders through electronic data interchange, Provi said it launched EDI support “tailored specifically for distributors operating at scale.”

To improve how retail chains manage orders for all their locations, Provi introduced an upgraded approval queue designed to let chains’ regional procurement managers use a single computer interface to view and act on product requests from multiple retail store locations. At the same time, the approval queue provides corporate executives with a centralized view of their national beverage purchasing program as sourced from various distributors, Provi says.

P.F. Chang’s sees ‘enhanced efficiency’

Taylor Frendahl, director of strategic sourcing at restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s, says in a Provi press release that his company has already seen value in the order approval feature.

“The consolidated approval feature has proven to be a true game-changer for us,” he said. He added that the capability to approve, reject and monitor all orders across multiple locations in one comprehensive view has “enhanced efficiency and streamlined decision-making processes.”

Provi says it designed its upgraded procurement punchout capabilities to improve procurement management and order transparency for multiple store locations while also providing consolidated reporting at the corporate level.

Provi adds that its new EDI support “facilitates the direct flow of order data to distributors’ enterprise resource planning systems, offering enhanced visibility into post-order changes, delivery dates and critical information between chains and their distributors.”

Going forward, Provi says it plans to support “split mandates,” which will let chains establish corporate beverage purchasing programs while also granting each store location autonomy in their beer and wine selections to address local demand.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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