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■ Supply Chain Management
Fulfilling
expectations
With a sharp increase for goods ordered from home, have
you considered what happens once that order is placed?
Specialist groups of multi-channel fulfillment operators
such as iForce take over to ensure the customer is
satisfied.
It’s one of those rare warm, clear blue-sky in the payment details then sit back and relax.
days. You’re sitting out on the patio, No traffic jams, no hunting for parking spaces,
embedded deep into your reclining chair no queues at the till, no lugging of heavy
with the sun on your face, the last thing you bags.
want to do right now is pile the kids into But as you sit back into that reclining chair,
the car, who seem quite happy enough on have you ever wondered about how that vase
the PlayStation anyway, and join the will arrive at your door in time for the big
hordes invading the country’s town centres day? You assume the right product will arrive
and shopping malls. But, for the sake of a in the right colour in the time promised.
continued peaceful existence you really do Because if it doesn’t you probably won’t want
need to buy Aunt Agatha’s birthday to take that risk again. And what will happen supply chain management for all kinds of
present for her party next weekend. if the vase turns out not to be to Aunt’s retail from online, catalogue and telephone
Not so long ago there would be no choice Agatha’s liking? What happens to it then? shopping to traditional warehouse-to-store
but to disturb your calm and hit the shops. Taking care of business here are a specialist operations as well as business-to-business
Today all you need to do is quickly boot up group of supply chain management companies marketing. These experts ensure that Aunt
your laptop, hit the right website, click on the referred to as multi-channel fulfilment Agatha’s vase arrives in the right colour, at
vase in Aunt’s Agatha’s favourite colour, fill operators, because these companies can offer the right time and at the right address, thus
ensuring that the customer is
sufficiently satisfied to shop this
way again and again.
The high growth rates being
experienced by online retailers in
particular have been making
headlines everywhere. But such
rapid growth creates its own
challenges and risks - if an online
retailer cannot keep up with the
demands this creates, it will affect
not only its bottom line but its brand
reputation also.
That’s a high risk for established
bricks and mortar retailers who are
either entering the online retail
market for the first time or are
running their efulfilment alongside
traditional supply chains geared to
more routine growth rates. It’s also a
problem for new start-ups who have
to decide the most effective way to
invest in fulfilment.
Mark Hewitt (pictured above) is
CEO of the country’s leading multi-
channel fulfilment operator, iForce.
26 ShD June 2007
www.PressOnShD.com
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