Black Friday: Reinforcing Supply Chains to Meet Demand
Supply Chain Digital speaks to industry experts to understand what action brands can take to refine and protect their supply chain ahead of Black Friday
Black Friday, one of the busiest periods in the retail calendar, can often present challenges for even the most robust of supply chains.
With added stock requirements, fast-changing trends and omnichannel purchases to fulfil across stores, supply chains must be able to stay agile even in periods of significant pressure.
But how can businesses ensure their chains are ready to match requirements? And how can they stand up to attempts by criminals to disrupt and profit from their operation?
Here, Supply Chain Digital speaks to several industry experts to understand what action brands can take to refine and protect their supply chain ahead of Black Friday and the wider festive period.
Maximising supply chain success with RFID
In order to meet the targets being set by Black Friday’s continued growth, supply chains are required to deliver high quantities of stock to specific locations with short deadlines.
This can cause shrink to occur throughout, meaning that retailers are now turning to technology, such as RFID, to create more robust supply chain operations.
Dean Frew, President of the RFID Solutions Division at SML Group
Dean Frew, President of the RFID Solutions Division at SML Group, explains: “Before RFID solutions, brands could only sample 1 out of 100 cartons, leading to an opaque picture of what shipment accuracy really is and enterprise systems with inaccurate inventory ledgers on order replenishment capabilities are based on. This distorted picture of inventory converts to cancelled orders and reduced sales.
“Many brands and retailers today are utilising closed-box RFID-receiving solutions to measure inbound shipping accuracy on 100% of the cartons received into distribution centres at 100% accuracy. What these brands are finding is that up to 10% of their cartons contain errors against what was expected to be within the carton.
“Replenishment during peak holiday sales periods is critical in order to avoid out-of-stocks in distribution centres and on the sales floor, but RFID also allows accurate replenishment signals to be sent to fulfil orders. This is critical to accurately differentiating what stock is available during peak omnichannel selling periods. It provides retailers with supply chain clarity and sets the foundations for an efficient operation during Black Friday weekend.
“Not only does this ensure constant availability for customers, maximising sales opportunities, but it also minimises bloated stock levels throughout the supply chain. Ultimately, this reduces unnecessary manufacture, transportation and storage costs.”
Read the full article on The Supply Chain Digital.
