Retail Supply Chain Case Studies

With a ferocity for crafting the perfect fit, this leading footwear manufacturer has grown into a preeminent company recognized globally for its tenacity and creativity in crafting the perfect shoe. Started in 1878, the company’s portfolio now includes 15 brands ranging from athletic footwear to women’s high fashion to children’s sports shoes, and a booming retail segment boasting 1,200 stores in the US, Canada and China. Its production facilities in the U.S., UK, China and Vietnam support $3 billion in annual sales.

This U.S.-based retailer is an omni-channel sporting goods powerhouse offering a broad assortment of top-brand sporting goods equipment, apparel and footwear. They operate 645 locations with a blend of dedicated associates, in-store services and unique specialty shop-in-shops. As a producer of reliable, high-quality products that their loyal customers have come to expect, product safety and compliance are major focuses for this sporting goods retailer.

A well-known, Top 10 retailer was experiencing significant problems with its voice and data (barcode scanners and printers) mobile devices in its scores of Distribution Centers and thousands of stores nationwide. Its voice devices, the Spectralink 84xx series WiFi phones, were an obvious problem because they were regularly failing mid-shift which not only caused staff productivity losses but, worse, hurt the overall customer experience. It also resulted in lost sales.

Compass Group North America is a leading foodservice management company with annual sales over $12 billion and more than 200,000 associates. Its operating companies, including Morrison Healthcare, Bon Appétit Management, Levy Restaurants and Wolfgang Puck Catering, serve more than seven million meals a day in schools, hospitals, senior living communities, corporate campuses and sporting venues across the U.S. and Canada.

Deploy a flexible, easy-to-use eCommerce solution to support emerging retail sales channels, including the ability to efficiently ship small orders to individual consumers.

Theft is one of the retail world’s biggest challenges, especially in the independent convenience sector where stores are often manned by a handful of people that are not equipped with the latest security gizmos. In fact, nearly half of retailers (49 percent) have experienced theft of cash from their premises. This hurts businesses and their customers because merchants often have to pass on these losses by raising prices. With cash management solutions, businesses can fight back against theft and achieve an advantage over competitors.

Case Study: The Plantation Shop

This leading retailer of casual apparel for men, women and children operates over 1,000 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom. It also sells products through online stores and catalogues. Merchandise is shipped to these stores by air and sea freight from three distribution centers. The company lacked visibility into its supply chain. Its homegrown system involved spreadsheets, emails and phone calls with international business units and over 30 trading partners. With a 12-hour time difference between partners, accurate and real-time information was nearly impossible.

Thanks to the rapid expansion of e-commerce and Amazon, there is no doubt that a range of new card payment options are on the rise. At the same time, retailers are still handling enormous amount of cash daily because cash remains by far the most commonly used payment method by shoppers throughout the world. In the Euro zone, for example, cash was the main payment choice for purchases under €45, which accounted for 91% of all POS payments.

E-commerce integration with brick-and-mortar store systems has quickly become central to the success of retailers of all shapes and sizes. Driven by the large tier-1 and big-box retailers who set the precedent for consumers’ cross-channel expectations, integration of physical and digital retail systems is fast becoming an imperative for even the smallest stores.