Coping with Changes in Buyer Behaviour - How to stay in control of your Fashion Supply Chain
In the current climate retailers are protecting capital and cash-flow. This leads to:
- minimising of stockholding by customers - aimed at reducing write downs
- increased options and delayed commitment by Buyers = more styles, smaller orders
- increased change to existing styles/orders in response to market trends
- severe pressures to respond more quickly - dramatically reduced lead time
The above conditions combine with huge pressure to hit 'price points'. This typically leads to:
- huge work pressures on merchandising and sourcing teams, working with excessively manual systems (an estimated 90% of companies still use spreadsheets)
- excessive fire-fighting to cope with the failings of disparate manual systems
- a total lack of any coordinated, business level visibility and 'early warning' system
- increased risk of failure, additional expense e.g. poor coordination= delayed production start and ultimately cancelled orders, excessive air freight costs, lack of product on shelf.
To maintain an effective supply chain in this environment, excellent visibility and coordination are essential, not jusy 'nice to have' options.
Excessively manual systems severely hinder the ability to respond and manage priorities = increased risk of non performance and errors = even more fire-fighting and excess costs. Increasingly companies are concluding that they cannot continue with their existing methods. i.e. There has to be a better way.
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