Retail Supply Chain Insights Guest Contributors

51. Reduce Holiday Supply Chain Headaches With Spend Analytics 12/1/2017

    ‘Tis the season when supply chains are under pressure to meet customer demands and to keep internal business procedures running smoothly. Companies not optimizing their holiday supply chain and procurement processes are subject to risk. Disruptions, unpredictable demand, increased customer service expectations, and the need for faster communication between buyers and suppliers have made maintaining a robust and efficient supply chain a necessity.

52. Is My High Product Return Rate Due To Incorrect Product Information? 11/28/2017

    Product Returns have become an accepted part of the shopping process for those retailers who have an established a digital presence, representing at least 30% of all the products ordered online. As a shopper, this sounds pretty reasonable if we take into consideration the need to try and test what we buy, but perhaps retailers can do more to reduce this rate. In comparison, only 8.89% of goods bought in brick-and-mortar shops have been returned during the last year.

53. Why Grocers And Grocery Wholesalers Should Use EDI 11/20/2017

    In the history of grocery operations, electronic data interchange (EDI) may have been one of the game changing developments in the last 30 years. Of course, we’re a little biased, but we’ve seen how EDI has greatly improved back office efficiency, helped operations reduce unnecessary staffing levels, helped reduce the number of errors and even cut down on late payments for suppliers.

54. How Retailers Can Win Amazon Customers Back 11/14/2017

    Amazon is currently dominating the online shopping experience, but here’s what retailers can do to keep customers loyal.

55. How Retailers Can Prepare To Work With Large Suppliers 11/14/2017

    Retailers who want to work with large suppliers like Nike, Adidas, or other international brands may have their work cut out for them before they even get started. For one thing, retailers of almost any size may find they’re the ones being told what to do to a degree.

56. Finding Efficiencies In The Organic Supply Chain 11/14/2017

    You can draw many conclusions from Amazon buying Whole Foods, and one of the more overlooked angles is how the deal solidified a long-developing trend: Organic products have finally gone mainstream. Amazon has already announced they plan to immediately lower prices on a selection of best-selling items, including organic produce, such as avocados and baby kale.

57. Seven Recent Trends In Retail Demand Forecasting And Replenishment 11/14/2017

    Most retailers are facing a shrinking operating “margin for error”. So it’s not surprising that many are looking for more accurate demand forecasting and intelligent stock replenishment. In a report entitled Market Guide for Retail Forecasting and Replenishment Solutions, Gartner analyst Mike Griswold spotlights seven recent trends in this area.

58. CPG Firms Face Uncertainty At Every Turn In The Supply Chain 11/8/2017

    For most Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) firms and supply chain executives within them, we are operating in an age of great uncertainty amidst omni-channel fulfillment demands…..

59. Customer Service Matters And Here’s The Billion-Dollar Reason 11/7/2017

    A regular customer steps into your store to get a particular brand of organic cereal that she’s been buying for the past year. Failing to locate the cereal at the usual shelf and anywhere else along the aisle, she scans the store for someone to help her. It’s noon – peak period for just about any retail outlet – yet there aren’t any store assistants around. She leaves in disappointment and heads to a competitor store down the block. Guess what – a single moment of customer frustration could cost you billions of dollars.

60. Consumers Still Want To Make Purchases With Cash 11/6/2017

    Cash is still one of Americans’ favorite methods of payment for purchases. While it scored behind debit cards in the September 2017 Cardtronics Health of Cash study, cash remains the most commonly used form of payment, with 91% of respondents saying they had used cash in person-to-person payments in the last six months. That’s an uptick from 89% a year earlier.