The ubiquity of the internet and smartphones has made e-commerce and m-commerce grow by leaps and bounds. But fear not, brick-and-mortar retailers: in-store shopping isn't going anywhere. In fact, brick-and-mortar retail still drives more than 90 percent of commerce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The RFID Research Center, currently part of the University of Arkansas, is moving to an Alabama site near Auburn University, with which it will now be affiliated.
Reacting to public outrage, Western retailers and apparel brands began a major push to improve safety at the Bangladeshi factories they do business with. It involves a sprint to inspect hundreds of plants each month and a commitment to help correct any safety problems found — all with an eye to preventing another catastrophic collapse or fire. But instead of joining forces, the Western brands have divided into two sometimes feuding camps.
For retailers who want to remain competitive in this shop-anytime-anywhere world, omnichannel fulfillment strategies must be done right, and done quickly. Significant new demands have been placed on retailers' supply chains. In omnichannel fulfillment, all the resources of the supply chain are focused on transparently serving a single shopper who has placed a single order.
Building true omnichannel merchandising capabilities requires the merging of previously siloed business functions. Footwear retailer Aerosoles has been omnichannel for about 10 years now, however, over the past 18 months the organization has decided to step up to manage the business properly.
What are the biggest challenges facing the global apparel supply chain in 2014? One that stands out is the pressure to deliver on the omnichannel promise. There's a fundamental disconnect between the demands of an omni-channel retail environment working to give consumers immediate results, and an apparel supply chain that is getting longer, more fragmented and more difficult to predict.