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We invite you to explore these informative white papers to learn more about the challenging issues facing the retail industry. Drawn from years of hands-on retail and technology experience, RPE staff experts share their perspective to assist retailers in improving business performance for a total IT solution.
Four Solutions to Dramatically Improve Your Business
Developing a roadmap that closes gaps in an organization’s IT capabilities and identifies enablers that produce measurable results is key to thriving in today's retail environment. RPE and RIS News have identified four proven solutions that drive sales, raise margins and increase operational efficiencies. Deployed in an agile, short-duration roll out these solutions deliver strong bottom-line performance measured in months and not years. The four solutions: Business Intelligence, Price Optimization, Enterprise Planning and Multi-Channel Fulfillment. Click Here.
Supply Chain Transformation:
A Retailer’s Story on Creating a Flexible, Scalable and Efficient Solution
Anna's Linens, a national tier 2 retailer, was facing rising supply chain costs, inventory growth, an unacceptable store level in-stock position for ad product, and an overdependence on bundled transactional pricing from third party providers for logistical services and logistics data capture. Faced with the challenges of an increasingly competitive retail environment, Anna's Linens embarked upon a strategic shift regarding the role of the supply chain within the organization. The goal was to create a flexible, scalable and efficient supply chain that would provide a greater return on human, systems and physical capital. Click Here.
View Webinar on Anna's Linens Transformation
Mapping Out a Five-Year IT Strategy
Creating and carrying out a long-term strategic information technology plan brings a host of benefits to retailers. Long-term (three- or five-year) plans help keep the entire organization moving toward its business goals - even when facing unexpected challenges. For a plan to provide maximum benefits, it needs to combine big-picture vision with specific steps. Click Here.
Cross‒Channel Integration ‒ Is the 21st Century Retailer Fully Integrated?
The concept of selling through multiple channels is not new to the retail industry. In order to provide the capacity to shop anytime, anyplace, and from anywhere, retailers need to provide customers the ability to transact from any one channel and fulfill or return in another channel. Retailers must shift their cross-channel organization toward the retail paradigm known as fully integrated cross-channel retailing. Click Here.
JDA PMM Optimization ‒ A 5‒Point Perspective
As any retailer knows, one of the keys to success is having a competitive advantage. In order to achieve these advantages, the retailer must also possess the IT infrastructure to optimally support their business. Any merchandising system requires ongoing maintenance to maintain stability. RPE has developed a 5-Point PMM Optimization Model to help users better understand where they can improve the management and use of their powerful, open architecture, highly scalable system known as PMM. Click Here.
E3 Upgrade ‒ Why and Why Now?
Retailers managing inventory with the use of JDA's E3 products know these programs are immensely complex. If you've been using the Advanced Warehouse Replenishment (AWR) as well as Advanced Store Replenishment (ASR) tools for any length of time without changes, it can seem daunting to contemplate an upgrade. Time for justifying the potential benefits, testing subsequent to the upgrade, training, hardware assessment and possible upgrade... all of these seem complicated and time consuming. Learn if it's the right time for an upgrade and how the improvements could deliver to bottom line results. Click Here.
Opportunities for Supply Chain Optimization:
Common Scenarios for Softlines/Fashion Retailers
There are two key components in analysis of retail planning methodology. One is the type of planning tools used. The second is whether or not the tool is used in the appropriate place in the supply chain, at the appropriate level and is interfaced correctly to other tools and functions. Mapping all facets of the supply chain and ensuring the communication, data flow and effective integration of tools and applications - both forward and backward - are key to supply chain optimization.Click Here.
Item Transitions: Maximize Profits from New and Exiting Items
Item transitions refer to periods of activities when retailers execute the addition of new items and removal of exiting items from a product mix. Adding new items to an assortment offers a chance to increase sales and gross margin. Removing items will ultimately eliminate unproductive inventory and make space for items with more profitable sales. Both events pose logistical challenges to the merchandising, inventory management and store teams responsible for implementing the change. Retailers who excel at item transitions will separate themselves from the competition by increasing profits and improving customer satisfaction.Click Here.
Synchronization of Stores and Warehouses: Closing the Profit Gap
Successful retailers focus their efforts on the customer and the unique attributes of each store in the chain. Tailoring assortments, promotions and pricing for each store creates environments that foster increased sales and customer loyalty while also enabling profit to be maximized. While most retail replenishment systems address the unique needs of each SKU/store, how can orders from the vendor to supplying warehouses reflect the intricate details of store level realities? Click Here.
Software Implementations: "Out-of-the-Box"or Intelligent Modifications
What do all retailers have in common? They strive to provide the right product at the right time to the right location. The most difficult challenge retail software vendors face is how to provide an all-inclusive out-of-the-box solution that satisfies the unique requirements for a wide spectrum of retail organizations. The challenge is even greater for the retailer. The day of the custom merchandise system is gone. This raises the primary question every retail IT executive faces when making package selection decisions. Do I change my business processes to fit the software solution or change the software solution to fit my business processes? Click Here.
Retail Software Package Selection
Selecting a software solution that meets the unique needs of your business, your customers and your team is one of the most important projects a retailer can initiate. Because of the time, expense and risk involved with even the best implementations, selection decisions will impact the business for years. All too often, the package chosen at the end of the selection process is not the best solution for the retailer's needs. The process failed to select the software most appropriate to address the retailer's needs and bottom line benefit potential is reduced. Following ten suggestions will improve your chances of success the next time you decide to kick off a software package search project. Click Here.
Documentation ‒ Maximize Team Effectiveness and Extend the Investment
Documentation is often an overlooked step in major change initiatives. It may be bypassed or does not receive the attention it deserves. After all, once the project team has disbanded, users frequently feel isolated and on their own to continue using the new process or tool as intended. What other deliverable outside of documentation supports the users in their quest to improve results? Creation of top rate documentation can ensure long term success of change initiatives. Click Here.
Planning & Allocation vs. Replenishment: When is Each the Best Strategy?
Assortment optimization, pricing decisions and promotional activity fall flat if the product is not on the shelf for the consumer to purchase. Out of stocks, overstocks and markdowns drive down already strained profit margins. How can the millions of item/store combinations be managed centrally to enable store teams to focus on the customer? Replenishment is a process that maximizes sales while minimizing inventory expense. It also frees time enabling your team to focus on the ultimate profit driver, the customer. Click Here.
10 Keys for Project Success
All projects represent a significant effort justifying the allocation of resources and expense. Success is critical. Project failure not only diminishes or eliminates the benefits expected when the project is initiated, but can damage existing tools and processes. There are 10 key areas to be addressed for project success. Many of these steps happen concurrently during a project's lifecycle and are important focal points for project teams and executives contemplating initiating projects. Click Here.
Replenishment: What is it exactly and why is it important?
Replenishment is an area within operations where retailers can find an edge to beat the competition and meet customer needs. Excelling at replenishment enables a retailer to implement the promotional, pricing and assortment strategies established. Plus, additional profit can be gained by minimizing inventory levels and reducing lost sales. Time is made available for analysis and special projects when fighting the fires of overstock and out of stocks is removed from the buyer's day. Click Here.
Retail Process Excellence: Achieve Superior Results
You've hired a strong team, and you've installed best-of-breed software solutions across the enterprise, yet bottom-line improvements are proving elusive. What else can be done to drive improved results in such a competitive retail landscape? Process Excellence can help your organization achieve superior results often at a reduced expense and risk compared to alternative strategies. Click Here.
Service Level Goal Strategy: Path to Profit
How can retailers using cutting edge replenishment solutions maximize the return from these investments? Aren't all forecasting and purchasing decisions driven by advanced math and logic leaving little room for users to influence success? An opportunity does still exist for the best teams to squeeze more profit out of their buying decisions. Establishing a service level goal strategy can blaze the path to profit for retailers looking to separate themselves from the competition. Click Here.
Order Forecast Collaboration: Benefits for the Entire Demand Chain
When raw materials providers, manufacturers and retailers work together to calculate future order needs, all involved can act on the best information available. Successful order forecast collaboration requires all members to share the risk if forecasts vary and discuss issues as they arise. Accurate order forecasts drive sales increases, inventory decreases and better decisions. With so many benefits across the entire demand chain, shouldn't you look into order forecast collaboration with your partners? Click Here.
Business Intelligence Solutions Delivers Results
By implementing the right business intelligence solution, retailers gain valuable insight and analytical means to make key decisions. Retailers often capture mounds of valuable data. However, most struggle to make sense of it all. Learn how to implement an effective strategic approach to capture accurate and actionable data. Click Here.
IT Solutions to Reduce Costs and Increase Functionality
Increase uptime. Eliminate IT hiring and training cost. Focus on core business. Retailers of all sizes are leveraging resources of third party experts to provide IT application and operating systems management to reduce costs and optimize operations for a competitive advantage. Is this the right solution for your IT department? Click Here.
