Retail

Forty Percent of Retailers Can't Tie Back-Office Technology Into Their Different Channels, Survey Finds

March 26, 2014

Organizational, operational and technology challenges are hampering retailers' omnichannel efforts; 40 percent of retailers report they are having difficulty integrating back-office technology across all of their channels.

Dynamic Pricing Comes to the Supply Chain

March 26, 2014

Tom Bacon, Consultant, Revenue Optimization

Attracting and Hiring Warehouse Associates

March 25, 2014

SupplyChainBrain

A strong, enduring team is key to warehousing success. Since its inception, WERC has supported the warehouse associate as a professional and logistics as a viable career choice. We wanted to know: Do companies utilize outreach programs to "sell" the profession? What methods are used to announce job openings? How do companies determine candidates as a good fit? What about "diversity" – language issues, hiring disabled individuals? – Michael Mikitka, CEO, Warehousing Education and Research Council

RFID Market to Grow to $9.2Bn This Year, Surpass $30Bn by 2024, Report Finds

March 25, 2014

IDTechEx

Research conducted by IDTechEx, and published in RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2014-2024, finds that the RFID market – including tags, readers, software and services for passive and active RFID – will grow from $7.88bn in 2013 to $9.2bn in 2014. IDTechEx expects that the RFID market will reach $30.2bn in 2024. Most growth is due to active RFID/RTLS systems, interrogators, and then tags, in terms of total money spent.

Clarity, Complex Event Processing Combine to Create High-Definition Supply Chain Solution

March 24, 2014

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: Visibility continues to be cited as a critical must-have to manage supply chains. Globalization and growing awareness of the risks induced by outsourcing has exacerbated the need to understand complex events. Yet most companies can only peer into the mist. Large blind sides exist across the chain. Fortunately, solutions are evolving to eliminate these blind sides, providing more clarity and the tools to manage multiparty coordination and seize upside opportunities. – Ann Grackin, CEO, ChainLink Research

Paper Planes: What's Keeping Air Cargo Carriers From Automating?

March 24, 2014

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Fast and innovative: that's the image conveyed by the air cargo industry. So why is it lagging so badly when it comes to automating documentation and standardizing key procedures?

Tackling the Challenge of Big Data

March 21, 2014

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Retail Not Using Big Data to Its Fullest Potential, Study Finds

March 21, 2014

1010data Inc.

While retailers are facing challenges in delivering the reporting functionality that business users need to enable data-driven decision-making, they are optimistic about Big Data's ability to provide breakthroughs in analysis capabilities across a number of retail processes, says a study by 1010data Inc. In fact, almost all surveyed executives (96 percent) agreed that Big Data initiatives are important in helping retailers stay competitive. They said Big Data insights are most beneficial for merchandising (53 percent) and marketing (48 percent), followed by store operations (42 percent), e-commerce (42 percent), supply chain (27 percent), finance (23 percent), and loss prevention (21 percent).

How Can Marketing and Supply Chain Ever Get on the Same Page?

March 20, 2014

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: Let's start at the very beginning. Supply chain DNA is focused on costs while providing acceptable service to customers. Marketing DNA is focused on revenues that come from the sales and services. As a result, the only shared value between marketing and supply chain people is the recognition that "stuff has to get to customers." To marketing, the term "minimize" only relates to the number of times a customer is dissatisfied, whereas to supply chain, "minimize" is the Holy Grail. – Robert Sabath, Principal Essentialist SCM, Trissential

Where Is RFID Going - and Where Is It Taking Us?

March 20, 2014

ChainLink Research

Behind the scenes the electronics industry is leaping into brave new worlds of printed electronics, electronic inks, and laser Nano and other innovations. Quite frankly we don’t think any of these innovations will mightily impact the current trajectory of RFID as we know it today. But in our life time there will be radical changes.