A group of Christian-product publishing and music companies drafted a call-for-standards document that aims to guide industry development of vendor-managed inventory (VMI) programs.

VMI is a partnership between a retailer and a trading partner to allow collection and analysis of store sales and inventory data, then provide merchandising or other support to improve inventory and store performance.

The proposal, initially called Vendor Managed Inventory Partnerships, outlines not only reasons why VMI is valuable to retailers and suppliers, but also a possible structural pattern for retailer-supplier trading relationships and a summary of standard Electronic Data Interchange documents ready to be used to exchange data related to VMI.

"It answers the question of how to provide VMI services in a multisource marketplace without constraining the flexibility of a retailer or buyer to choose the best services," said Provident Distribution Director of Information Technology Gary Miller. "It also ensures that all trading partners know what each level of VMI terminology and technology means."

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