They are: Increased frequency of inventory checks Increased certainty of inventory levels Reduced losses due to inventory shrinkage More reliable financial reporting Better visibility to out-of-stock and excess inventory Increased velocity of order picking Savings in personnel costs or operations downtime Elimination of resources and equipment Staff redirected to handle high value activities Safer environment […]
The challenges involved in achieving omni-channel profitability are not new. By now, the difficulties of executing on the omni-channel retail promise are well-known, as is the importance of delivering on this promise for consumers whose demands continue to rise. E-commerce advances, both in terms of market share and technology, have created the expectation that consumers […]
The opportunity to use additive manufacturing to print spare parts is widely recognized. There have been challenges, but those challenges are becoming easier to overcome.
The subscription retail model is not a new concept. The first basic model I can think of is a magazine subscription – a new magazine came every month unless you canceled your subscription. The first subscription service I used was Netflix, way back when the company only shipped DVD’s to your house. However, as the […]
Online retail has rocked order processing to its core. Large, pre-determined replenishment orders are the past. The amount of unique, one-off orders from consumers from anywhere at any time is constantly increasing. As a result, order sizes are consistently shrinking down to single unit fulfillment. Order cycle times are also waning. Twenty-four hour shipping is […]
Whether we like it or not, every company on the planet with any significant supply chain operation has an inventory reconciliation problem. It doesn’t matter if you are a retailer, manufacturer or logistics service provider, or if you have the latest and greatest warehouse management system. The fact is, if humans have to physically touch or […]
I’ve been researching and studying omni-channel commerce, logistics, and fulfillment for the last eight years, and once again, I am getting ready to publish my annual omni-channel fulfillment strategic report. This year, I put a little different spin on things. While I looked at the current status and likely future development of the numerous elements […]