Retail surgery: How can retailers keep pace with increasing consumer demands?

When dealing with out-of-stock product, retailers must have the flexibility to source new inventory from any location – be it warehouses, stores or direct from suppliers. At the same time, retailers are under continual pressure to keep costs down to stay competitive, so there is no open chequebook for investment. Often, the answer is to work smarter with third-party logistics partners.

Gerry Daalhuisen, global product manager at third-party logistics firm Kewill, says in order to get better visibility and tighter control of orders and inventory to drive multichannel stock management, retailers need full integration between warehouse management systems, order management and transport management systems.

This will create a hub for operations that includes warehousing, transportation management, track and trace, order management and financial settlement. “Tighter integration between these systems gives better visibility of stock and enhanced business agility, so retailers can in turn respond more quickly and efficiently,” says Daalhuisen.

Further integration will be helped by greater adoption of mobile devices to link retailers to their back-end systems. In-store, for instance, the sales team will have the ability to interrogate multiple systems through a mobile device, gaining visibility of warehouse inventory and transfers between warehouse-to-store, store-to-store, supplier-to-store, customer, and so on.

“To get this level of insight, the supply chain will be under pressure to be more responsive, flexible and fast,” adds Daalhuisen. Ensuring supply chain teams keep up will help secure competitive advantage.