• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Supply Chain Takes Its Power Position in the Retail Industry!

Supply Chain Takes Its Power Position in the Retail Industry!

March 11, 2013
SupplyChainBrain

Plenty of noise remains from the mobile holiday season, and although mobile and social are big priority areas for retail, more dollars are being spent on operational challenges: customer experience touch points (single view of the customer, POS, store and web design); IT infrastructure challenges from web to wireless in the store; and supply chain - which includes inbound merchandise allocation, replenishment, inventory management, and fulfillment to the customer.

Beyond "omni", multichannel madness is a merged channel nirvana, that heavenly state of perfection:  when the customer "calls" we recognize them no matter what channel they access through, and we can see inventory across the entire trading network to fulfill demand. [Note:  This problem is not exclusive to retail.  The sheer scale of dealing with the "one each" business can be the ultimate proof point of superior and precision management whose lessons are transferable to most industries.]

Areas of consideration for replenishment of the IT portfolio in 2013 retail include:

WMS -
Various warehouse technologies to support inventory management and omnichannel fulfillment. The past model of web-only or catalog-only inventory infuriates potential buyers. Amazon has shown the way: pass-through shopping with inventory status from partners - merchants and manufacturers to locate the specific products - puts private label retailers to shame. Private label, who own the end-to-end - from manufacturers through to point of sale - still can't provide seamless inventory locating and fulfillment.  Yet Amazon can, without owning the back of the supply chain. Voila - collaboration and process mastery!

Source tagging and B2B transacting - RFID, bar-coding and EDI will continue to grow to provide seamless communications and visibility across the trading network.

Transportation and Trade - Logistics technology and process methods such as collaboration for carrier consolidation to reduce inbound coordination and bottlenecks.

Mobile and Wireless - Our research showed more mobile for supply chain than the shopper experience!  End-to-end visibility, coordination with third-party services, direct store delivery, and same-day service to customers will grow.  Wireless infrastructure in stores will grow not only to support mobile checkout and tablets for sales assistance but store operation such as inventory management and pricing.

Demand Management - Demand process and technologies continue to evolve. One method yet to master is how to make sense out of the great customer insights coming from social. There are solutions that provide these, but they are  "newbies." Few traditional demand forecasting players provide these - at their peril. Retailers and brand companies are reaching beyond the traditionalists to access these.

Social Enterprise - There are three flavors of social: one for customer facing marketing and customer support; one for B2B collaboration; and one for knowledge sharing in the enterprise. The latter two we call Enterprise Social Networking. Retailers will begin to understand the differences and not just use social for marketing.

                                      The Outlook

In 2013 chaos will still reign on the mobile and social side, but retailers will leverage more concierge cloud solutions to access customers.  Savvy supply chain players"” retailers as well as business "developers" - can inspire radical change in this market. The most important factor to survival, and winning, is to make sense of things for customers in a rapidly changing world.

Keywords: retail supply chain, supply chain management, supply chain management IT, value chain, value chain IT, omnichannel retailing fulfillment, multichannel retail fulfillment

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics Global Logistics Transportation & Distribution Forecasting & Demand Planning Inventory Planning/ Optimization Supply Chain Visibility Technology All Warehouse Services Order Fulfillment Warehouse Management Systems Retail
KEYWORDS All Warehouse Services Forecasting & Demand Planning Global Logistics Inventory Planning/ Optimization Logistics multichannel retail fulfillment omnichannel retailing fulfillment order fulfillment Retail retail supply chain Supply Chain Management supply chain management IT Supply Chain Visibility Technology Transportation & Distribution Value chain value chain IT Warehouse Management Systems
  • Related Articles

    Through Its Complete Cultural Shift, Intel Takes Top Spot in Supply Chain Innovation Awards

    Retail Industry Renews Focus on Its Supply Chain Priorities for Balance of 2011

    Supply Chain Is the Weakest Link in Indian Retail Industry

  • Related Directories

    SnapFulfil

SupplyChainBrain

Berkshire Grey and Locus Robotics Join Forces to Offer Cross-Platform Robotic Automation

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • A WORKER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPERIMPOSED WITH GRAPHICS SHOWING SUPPLY NETWORK

    Enabling Intelligent Visibility With Supply Chain Analytics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A GROUP OF WORKERS RANGED IN AN OFFICE, OF DIVERSE RACE, GENDER, AGE AND PHYSICAL ABILITY

    Podcast | The Supply Chain Workforce of the Future Is Already Here

    HR & Labor Management
  • A YELLOW AND BLACK TRAFFIC SIGN THAT READS "VOLATILITY AHEAD"

    Four Strategies for Addressing Supply Chain Disruption

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing