E-Commerce in the Textile and Apparel Supply Chain Management: Framework and Case Study

The development of e-commerce technologies in relation to textile and apparel management have been improved significantly in the recent years and are perceived as a mainstream to improve productivity and information flow as well as communications. Many researchers give a special attention to e-commerce technology or supply chain separately. However, until now, not much evident research has been conducted to pursue successful applications of e-commerce technologies to the textile and apparel supply chain. The paper aims to understand the current state of e-commerce technologies applications in the textile and apparel supply chain and provide recommendations for future improvement. We begin with a brief look at the current competitive landscape in theldquobricks and mortarrdquo apparel industry, introduces the concept and relevant research of e-commerce and supply chain firstly, then enlightened by the successful practices of e-commerce recently, the paper puts forward that the effective textile and apparel supply chain management system should be designed integrated e-commerce. A thorough analysis of the mechanism of e-commerce has been made and framework of e-supply chain analyzed accordingly. Finally, the paper concludes and set up an effective and efficient supply chain management mechanism with e-commerce technology for textile and apparel industry.