Theories of supply chain management lagged far behind the emergence of specific techniques and methods. Supply chain management first appeared mostly as a number of specific methods.

Common supply chain management methods:

Quick response (QR)

Quick response (QR) refers to the logistics enterprises in the face of multi-species, small batch buyer's market, not to reserve the "product", but to prepare a variety of "elements", in the user's request, the fastest speed to extract the "elements", timely "elements", "supply chain management", "supply chain management", "supply chain management", "supply chain management", "supply chain management", "supply chain management" and "supply chain management". "QR is a supply chain management method developed in the textile and apparel industry in the United States.

Efficient consumer response (ECR)

Efficient consumer response (ECR) is the abbreviation of effective customer response. It is a supply chain management strategy developed from the grocery industry in the United States in 1992. It is also a supply chain management solution that consists of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and other members of the supply chain, and all parties coordinate and cooperate with each other to satisfy consumers' needs better, faster and at a lower cost. Effective Customer Response (ECR) is a supply chain management strategy that is based on the principle of meeting customer requirements and minimizing logistics process costs, and can provide a timely and accurate response to optimize the supply of goods provided or the service process.

Comparison between ECR and QR

　ECR is mainly targeted at the food industry, and its main goal is to reduce the cost of each link in the supply chain and improve efficiency.

(i) Differences between QR and ECR

QR is mainly focused on the general merchandise and textile industries and its main objective is to respond quickly to customer demand and replenish goods quickly.

This is because the grocery industry and the textile and apparel industry operate products with different characteristics: most of the products operated in the grocery industry are a number of functional products, and the life of each product is relatively long (except for fresh food), so the loss of ordering too much (or too little) is relatively small.

The textile and apparel industry deals with innovative products, each of which has a relatively short lifespan, so the loss from ordering too much (or too little) is relatively large.

(l) Different focus.

QR focuses on shortening the lead time for delivery and responding quickly to customer demand; ECR focuses on reducing and eliminating supply chain waste and improving the effectiveness of supply chain operation.

(2) Difference in management methods.

QR mainly with the help of information technology to achieve rapid replenishment, through joint product development to shorten the time to market; ECR in addition to the rapid and effective introduction of new products, but also the implementation of effective merchandise management, effective promotion of the scroll

(3) different applicable industries

QR applies to high unit value, seasonal, poor substitutability, low frequency of purchase of the industry; ECR applies to low unit value of the product, high inventory turnover, low gross profit, substitutability, high frequency of purchase of the industry.

(4) Different focus of reform

The focus of QR reform is the speed of replenishment and ordering, with the aim of maximizing the elimination of stock-outs and purchasing only when the goods are in demand. the focus of ECR reform is on efficiency and cost.

(ii) Common features

It is manifested in transcending the boundaries between enterprises and pursuing logistics efficiency through cooperation. This is manifested in the following three aspects:

1. Sharing of business information among trading partners

2. further involvement of commodity suppliers in the retail industry to provide high-quality logistics services

3. inter-enterprise ordering and dispatching operations are all carried out through EDI, realizing the paperless transmission of ordering data or shipping data.