Analyst Insight: The double-digit growth of the ecommerce channel is indisputable; yet, it's still only 6 percent of total U.S. retail spend. Amazon may seem like it's the 600-lb. gorilla, but it may just be Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall. Omnichannel is certainly getting its share of hype. We believe connected consumer commerce will be a competitive mandate for bricks and mortar retailers. Are you ready for the disruptive changes to the rules of the game? – Rich Sherman, author and founder at Gold & Domas Research
Analyst Insight: The retail cut of the 2014 SCM World CSCO Study reaffirms that for most companies omnichannel is a major retail supply chain disruptor and that, for a few, progress has been made. Fulfillment changes have been driven by a desire for greater speed and agility. Battle lines are drawn between online and bricks-and-mortar supply chains. As omnichannel leaders look to move from walk to run, retail’s best weapon is harnessing demand data to make smart trade-offs. – Matt Davis, SVP Research at SCM World
Analyst Insight: The last two years have seen a rush to provide store fulfillment services - similar to the efforts to deploy e-commerce FCs back in 1998-2000. To date, store fulfillment initiatives have largely been tactical, technology-driven initiatives chartered to leverage existing applications-integration in order to support “save the sale" functionality as well as offload growing FC volumes to the retail store. The coming years will experience a "financial-efficiency" driven effort to maximize profit margin and optimize network inventory efficiency under the new age of constrained IT investment. – Kevin Hume, Principal, Tompkins International
Analyst Insight: Omnichannel commerce is the new "normal" for retail. And it's a tall order for most companies to achieve. You'll need an omnichannel road map that incorporates where you've come from and where you need to be based on your customers' expectations and your business strategy. – Joe Dunlap, Senior Director, Supply Chain Strategy, Fortna Inc.
Analyst Insight: The shale gas revolution has fueled a resurgence of domestic manufacturing, driving rail shipments up over 6 percent and a two-year backlog for new cars. Maximizing fleet utilization is now a key management issue for most shippers. While current rail management tools are effective at tracking rail cars, an important gap exists with accurately predicting the usage and location of the cars over the entire planning horizon. – Alfred Sherk, CEO, SherTrack LLC
Exporters can get into serious trouble if they lack an effective trade-compliance program. Attorney Christos Linardakis, senior counsel with the Braumiller Law Group, shares some real-life stories of international sales gone wrong.
Analyst Insight: Keeping talent has risen to be a concern for managers, directors and CEOs across the country. It's even caught the attention of academics. What policies employed at the DC level gets the most out of the money spent on training, and gets the best results? Our 2014 study starts to answer that question. – Karl B. Manrodt, Professor of Logistics, and Donnie Williams, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Georgia College and State University
Enrique Castillo, president and chief operating officer of Fast Logistics Group, relates how the lead logistics provider adopted a sales and operations planning (S&OP) process to improve the reliability of delivery for major consumer-goods brands. A finalist in the SupplyChainBrain/CSCMP Supply Chain Innovation Award for 2014.
Analyst Insight: Information technology tools have played a large role in advancing the efficiency of product development over the past 20 years. In terms of helping organizations opening lines of communication and better integrating product development with essential supply chain and manufacturing processes, however, the impact has been less impressive. – Pierfrancesco Manenti, Vice President, Research, SCM World
Analyst Insight: The pharmaceutical industry is finally sharpening its focus on profitability and efficiency. 2014 saw continued mergers and acquisitions, but more importantly, the acceleration of business focus on core sectors. Now that the impacts of the Affordable Care Act are better understood, the ability to streamline operations into sectors is driving spin-offs, sell-offs and renewed operational pressures. Two key drivers this year involving supply chains will be inventory reduction and control and lean cost reduction. – Brian Hudock, Partner, Tompkins International