Focus Your Supply Chains on Your Customers
 Yogi Berra said, “It is tough making predictions, especially about the future.” He was right, but today it even seems difficult to interpret the past. The retail data from September through mid-December is very difficult to interpret.
There are retail reports that indicate a record setting holiday 2011, reports that indicate a mixed year and reports that indicate that margins and profits will be very disappointing.
There are several factors that contribute to this confusion: the Internet, strong sales in September, more POS-Internet integration, an early Thanksgiving, early promotions, continued high unemployment, Europe, retail sectors, and so on.
We believe the bottom line on holiday 2011 will be very mixed. The volatility in the markets, in the board rooms and at the kitchen table will have a major impact on holiday 2011. There will be some luxury retailers who really do well and some not so well. There will be some middle-market retailers who do ok and some who do poorly. Then, there will be some discount retailers who really do well and some not so well.
What will be the differences? The biggest differentiators in 2011 will be:
1. Really understanding your customers’ desires
2. Providing great value as defined by your customers
3. Providing great service as viewed by your customers
Focusing your supply chains on your customers will play a major role on your holiday 2011 results. The volatility of today’s marketplace cannot be removed, but we can deploy supply chains that can best adapt to this volatility.
To learn more, download the white paper, "The Adaptive Supply Chain: Today's Mandate for Profitable Growth."
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