Retail

Supply Chain Planning for the Retail industry involves the consideration of numerous challenges, including:

• How to consolidate inbound shipments to save on logistics costs
• Improving store replenishment processes
• Managing promotion driven demand to minimize inventory obsolescence
• Planning for seasonality
• Managing VMI more effectively
• Identifying supply chain synergies across channels
• Segmenting product flows to drive out supply chain costs
• Coordinating product/season launch with supply chain partners

Many Supply Chain Guru® features have been designed to specifically support the challenges facing the Retail industry. For instance, Product Decomposition Optimization is used to create SKU specific flows from vendor to store that minimize a product's total landed cost. Network Optimization helps identify strategies for improving store sourcing and inbound transportation costs based on required service constraints.

Network Optimization is also useful in evaluating multi-channel analysis to understand how to manage e-commerce, bricks and mortar, and third party channels that can minimize overall costs while meeting unique demands in each channel . Inventory Optimization helps users evaluate vendor and retail stocking points to minimize working capital across the supply chain.

Multi-stop direct store delivery models are challenging to model effectively using optimization-only techniques. Enterprise Simulation can help users predict the true costs, fill rates, and on-time deliveries associated with different supply chain network designs.