In one of the largest RFID projects undertaken in retail yet, Target will roll out radio frequency identification technology later this year for pricing and inventory control.
Eighteen major retailers and tech companies have joined with GS1 US to develop a common approach for listing and classifying products across all electronic-commerce platforms.
Accenture has agreed to take over Javelin Group, a UK-based retail strategy consulting and digital transformation services provider. The acquisition will expand the capabilities of Accenture Strategy to help the world's leading retailers and consumer brands accelerate their digital transformation.
If any company has a proven formula for success, it's Walmart. The Bentonville, Ark.-based behemoth is the world's largest retailer, with nearly half a trillion dollars in annual sales and 2.2 million employees conducting business in 27 countries. Through its more than 11,000 stores and Sam's Club warehouses, Walmart rakes in more revenue than Costco, Kroger, Amazon, Home Depot, and Target - combined.
Before he became a billionaire in e-commerce, Richard Liu was a failure. As a student, Liu started a restaurant in Beijing but went bankrupt. When he took a second stab at business by opening an electronics store in 1998, Liu insisted on honesty. After seeing other shops overcharge customers and pass off counterfeit goods, he says he sold only genuine merchandise.
Steve Lovejoy, senior vice president for the Starbucks global supply chain, discusses initiatives that the company has under way to meet the "whenever, wherever" demands of today's consumers as well as projects aimed at understanding the consumer of tomorrow.
A supplier review process at Chick-Fil-A has grown from a simple, manual exercise to a robust collaborative initiative involving numerous internal departments and high-level sit-down meetings with suppliers. Mike Walpole, senior manager of distribution and logistics, explains how the process has evolved and where it is going.