newsworthy
Survey: 63 percent of omnichannel retailers plan to upgrade
merchandise planning software
In an effort to keep up with the demands of omnichannel
fulfillment, 63 percent of about 500 North American retailers plan to upgrade or replace their merchandise planning
systems within two years, a new survey shows.
In most cases, the companies will be making the upgrades
because their current retail planning systems aren’t aligned
with the rapidly changing omnichannel planning environment, according to the 2015 Merchandise Planning Survey
conducted by Massachusetts-based Boston Retail Partners
(BRP).
About 58 percent of respondents said that improving
their data analytics capabilities is the main reason for the
upgrades. This would represent a significant boost over
their legacy planning applications that were installed during
the late 1990s or early 2000s to manage retail business models that are nearing obsolescence, BRP said.
In the long term, 78 percent of retailers plan to have a
unified commerce platform within five years. That achievement could mark a big change in the way e-commerce
retailers do business, because 49 percent of respondents
said they still maintain separate product inventories for
each channel. These investments could also yield new
opportunities for merchandise planning software providers
such as JDA Software Group Inc., Logility Inc., and SAS.
Whether companies are prepared for the wave of omni-
channel business or not, the market will not wait for
them. The survey showed that 85 percent of retailers
expect an increase in 2016 e-commerce revenue over the
previous year.
As that revenue grows, e-commerce companies are working hard to offer online shoppers a wide range of delivery
options. The most popular “unified commerce services”
currently implemented by respondents include: buy online,
drop ship from vendor ( 51 percent); buy online, ship from
store ( 40 percent); buy online, ship to store ( 36 percent);
reserve online, pick up in store ( 27 percent); buy anywhere,
ship anywhere ( 24 percent); and buy online, same-day
delivery ( 14 percent).
“Unified commerce enables transparency, or the ‘ glass
pipeline,’ of real-time visibility to inventory, product, and
customer information,” BRP principal Brian Brunk said
in a statement announcing the study’s findings. “This is
the nirvana, or end-state, that many retailers are trying to
achieve with their customer-experience and unified-com-
merce goals.”
Survey respondents were primarily vice presidents or
C-level executives at more than 500 specialty retail firms,
with 45 percent in the specialty soft goods category, 26 per-
cent in the specialty hard goods category, and the remain-
der in general merchandise, grocery, and other sectors.
Companies responding to the survey ranged widely in
size, with 17 percent generating $100 million to $499 million in annual revenue, 26 percent between $500 million
and $999 million, 29 percent between $1 billion and $4.99
billion, and the rest on either side.
—B.A.
alliances
The Swiss department store
chain Manor has commissioned Swisslog to implement
a “Click&Pick” project that
includes an AutoStore automated storage and retrieval
system. … Independent Electric Supply, an electrical
distributor that serves Arizona and California, is using
Descartes’ cloud-based Route Planner On-demand and
Descartes Mobile solutions to boost the efficiency of its
distribution operations. … WorldBridge Logistics Inc.,
a global nonvessel operating common carrier based in
Nashville, Tenn., has enhanced its technology infrastructure with implementation of the CargoSphere system,
a cloud-based global rate management platform. …
Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle market buyout
and growth equity investor, has announced the recapi-
talization of Unishippers Global Logistics, a provider of
third-party logistics services to small and medium-sized
businesses. … Batory Foods, a Chicago-based national
ingredient distributor, has improved both quality and
accuracy since implementing Manhattan SCALE from
Manhattan Associates Inc. In addition, Diltex S.A. de
C.V., a Mexico-based women’s beauty and apparel retail-
er, has selected Manhattan’s Omni-Channel Operations
Platform, including Point of Sale (POS), Clienteling,
Order Management, and Store Inventory & Fulfillment,
to manage online and in-store transactions in Latin
America. … VSP Optics Group’s optical lens manufac-
turing facility in Folsom, Calif., has been outfitted with
a material handling system from Wynright and parent
Daifuku North America.
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