Future of retail operations: Winning in a digital era

Brick-and-mortar retail stores need to up their game. Technology could give them significant boost.

Through activity-based labor scheduling and budgeting, retailers can cut store labor costs by up to 12 percent while improving both customer service and employee satisfaction.

Retailers can achieve next-generation store efficiency by breaking down silos and optimizing total cost across the value chain.

As omnichannel shopping is becoming the new norm, consumer and retail companies must be ready to deliver fast, impeccable omnichannel service. Doing so requires a new supply chain network approach.

Now that customers expect faster delivery times, incumbent omnichannel retailers should leverage their store networks and change gears in areas such as fulfillment processes and IT systems.

It’s not news to food retailers: sometimes your stocks are too high, sometimes they’re too low. Advanced planning now gives them entirely new options for solving the expensive problem—and cuts costs in the process.

As e-commerce volumes soar, many logistics and parcel companies hope that automation is the answer. But as this second article in our series on disruption explains, things are not so simple.

In a digital age, most supply chains run on old principles and processes. A few leaders can show us how a new operating model can answer the demands of today—and tomorrow.

If retailers treat indirect costs as an opportunity for business transformation rather than just a procurement matter, they can boost return on sales by as much as 2 percent.

For retailers, procurement is no longer solely a matter of negotiating “A” brands. Private labels and verticalization are trending. Advanced approaches and tools help get procurement in shape for the future.

Outsourcing, workplace strategies, and technology innovations hold immense potential for companies seeking to reduce costs and improve productivity in facilities management.