Tammy Bliss recently left a career with Fortune 500 companies to become an entrepreneur. These two worlds share many challenges, including finding and keeping talented employees, she says. Bliss also discusses her new company, ConversionR, which promotes reuse of cardboard cartons.
Redbox has an unusual supply chain, with 10 new product introductions a week and no replenishments. An algorithm effectively allocates new DVD's among 43,000 kiosks, but this allocation is quickly skewed when customers use different kiosks to rent and return. Matt James, vice president, explains how the company solves this problem.
Getting customers whatever they need whenever they need it, and as quickly as they expect it, has become easier. Yet the returns process has some retailers winning and others floundering.
As customers waited for their much anticipated Apple Watches, it was reported that delays could be traced to a feared supply chain nightmare: a faulty part. Apple's supply chain strategy, though, likely mitigated the risk.