28 Retail Focus
MEETING THE SUPPLY CHAIN NEEDS OF
THE FASHION RETAIL SECTOR
Fashion retailing places its own special demands on the supply
chain. It must be responsive and flexible, while at the same time
being precise and accurate. You may expect this of any supply
chain; but, with fashion changing not just from season to season,
but continually within seasons, and with more channels to market
than ever before, these qualities are all the more important.
T
oday, channels to market will often the flow of materials, data and information The supply chain must be able to
include online sites, retail outlets, across all areas of the company and affect respond quickly and accurately to
wholesale, catalogue sales and supply chain efficiency at each and every changes in orders and it must be able
franchise outlets. Each of these has its stage of its process. And, an integrated to deliver effortlessly to all outlets and
own customer profiles for which it must supply chain can only be as effective as warehouses. The links in the chain
deliver the styles and ranges that appeal. its weakest link. The challenge is to ensure must be joined to perfection as the
For example, when purchasing online, that there are no weak links in the chain. margin for error is diminishing from one
customers expect that the items they fashion season to the next. And, as the
choose will be available quickly and customer becomes more discerning
reliably. If items are out of stock or the The Economic Imperative and demanding, the challenges to the
customer has to wait a number of weeks, supply chain intensify accordingly. The
then he/she is going to take a dim view An efficient supply chain means contented knock-on effect of a problem in one
— not only of the service through that customers, profitable stores, flourishing area can be dramatic, as the complex
channel, but of the whole brand. online sales, improved catalogue revenues web of interdependencies in the supply
and a healthy bottom line. To achieve chain deepens.
The customer’s experience on each visit to this, however, takes more than wishful
the company, through whichever channel, thinking. An “always on” supply chain is Customer promiscuity is a fact of life
must be a positive one and promote essential … as it now constitutes the very for fashion retailers and something that
further business as well as a constructive nature of the retail business itself. Loss of they strive to prevent. Discontented
reputation. There are a lot of things that revenues from downtime in the chain can customers move to other retailers
must be done right to achieve all of this but, be devastating through damage to the and the general consumer trend of
probably the most important and the most reputation of a company because of the impatience is increasingly evident in the
difficult to get right, is the supply chain. unavailability of products. Figures from retail sector today. It is estimated that
Datamonitor show that the financial costs one in three shoppers would simply buy
At the heart of each of the fashion retailer’s of downtime are severe. For example, one an alternative product when a product
business processes are IT systems hour of downtime typically costs a retail they want is out of stock. Only seven per
that are responsive, agile and flexible. catalogue sales company £72,666. cent of shoppers wait for the product
The rapid growth of e-commerce and to be restocked. The rest simply go
increased automation of all business Constant availability requires that the elsewhere to get what they want. This
processes in the retail supply chain places supply chain is operational 24x7x365 clearly demonstrates to manufacturers
a large burden on the effective operation and that stock arrives on time, every and retailers that product availability has
of these systems. After all, systems control time and in the correct locations. a direct impact on profitability.
Supply Chain Europe June 2007
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37