Using an RFID-enabled inventory- and retail-management system provided by Nedap Retail, Dutch shoe retailer De Wolky Shop has significantly reduced its incidence of inventory errors. During the first two weeks of using the system, the company says that its stock accuracy jumped from 84 percent to 98 percent. Those accuracy gains, the company reports, led to fewer stock-outs and an increase in sales.
True supplier collaboration can drive innovation and value, but success depends upon a foundation of trust that enables partners to effectively deal with such issues as intellectual property rights. Jon Washington, director of product sourcing and global procurement at Diebold, shares his company's approach.
Saks Fifth Avenue is over halfway through a multi-year, multi-front, multimillion-dollar transformation into an omnichannel enterprise. The retailer has already deployed approximately 2,000 iPad tablets in its stores to facilitate associates' communication and engagement with customers, and will be launching an e-commerce site for its OFF 5TH outlet banner this fall.
Jim Wicker, President of JW Logistics, talks about changes in the retail industry that are increasing the focus on last-mile logistics and the challenges this poses for both retailers and their transportation providers.
Mobile has become an integral part of our everyday lives, extending beyond just personal use for the consumer to what is now a can't-live-without-it tool in the business world as well. Today, just about every industry is impacted by mobile devices, opening the door to workplace flexibility, increased efficiency and quicker exchange of data and knowledge. However, with this opportunity comes greater risk. Without the proper data exchange technology, secure information can be exposed, lost or more difficult to track. To address these challenges, application programming interfaces (APIs) are being used to help supply chain organizations take control of their data, and enable various systems and devices to communicate with each other.
Eight months into a controversial customer-tracking mobile trial, Nordstrom has halted the effort. Although Nordstrom took a lot of criticism for the mostly misunderstood program from consumer media, it's not clear whether the project ended as a result of the criticism or the trial had simply run its course.
Typically bound by short-term leases, displaying products made by others, and run by first-time entrepreneurs with limited capital, shopping mall carts and kiosks have long been considered an unsophisticated small-business underclass. More recently, however, these small-footprint retailers have come to be seen as possessing surprising potential.
The myth of showrooming - the suggestion that tons of shoppers are flooding stores to only use them as a physical showroom as they had always intended to purchase the product at Amazon - lives on. But a survey conducted in late April by Bizrate Insights is helping to add a little clarity. First, showrooming really doesn't happen very often. But more interestingly, when it does, it's more likely to be within the same chain. That's a problem all right, but the name of that problem isn't showrooming. It's internal politics.