Thought Leader Blogs
Read new thoughts from RedPrairie’s Retail and Supply Chain experts
No matter the economic climate, the retail and supply chain industries are constantly changing. New ideas come to fruition, and old ones become obsolete, but leaders are always on top of the latest trends and best practices. Each week, RedPrairie’s staff of experts in the field share their thoughts in four different blogs, highlighting the most current topics within Inventory, Workforce, Transportation and e-Commerce. Check back frequently and join in the conversation.
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April 2, 2012
Michelle Campbell, Supply Chain Industry Director, Michelle.Campbell@RedPrairie.com
So let’s face it, the world and certainly my life are becoming more and more insanely busy. There is no time to do anything these days. I have been a fan of home shopping for groceries for quite some time now and have tried most of them - you mess me about once and my loyalty is gone, I’m off to try someone else!! Now don’t get me wrong - I don’t trust the store pickers to pick everything for me, and am not totally lazy, but for my bulky basics type shop home delivery is great. More
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November 24, 2011
John Bailey, Retail Industry Director, John.Bailey@RedPrairie.com
With retailers such as New Look announcing that it will be a significant driver of sales within the next three years, click & collect is growing at an unprecedented rate. And it is not only the retailers themselves that are driving this growth – customers really want it too, with a recent survey from Postcode Anywhere revealing that more than half of online shoppers want to see options to collect in store. So if everyone is doing it, it must be simple – right? More
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July 27, 2011
Michelle Campbell, Supply Chain Industry Director, Michelle.Campbell@RedPrairie.com
As we hear in the news of more EU countries seeking a financial bail-out, banter down the pub on the state of the economy moved on to people moaning about not getting paid for all the work they perform... Everyone seemed to be doing a little extra here and there without question or in some cases, without recognition for it. That principle seems to apply in the logistics industry too. So my question is ‘are you being paid for everything you do?' More
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May 13, 2011
Michelle Campbell, Supply Chain Industry Director, Michelle.Campbell@RedPrairie.com
Everyone wants to get more for less. I do. Two meals for the price of one – sign me up! But in the context of supply chain when you’ve got your warehouse up and running, and ship shape, what else can you do to squeeze more efficiency out of it? More
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August 17, 2011
John Pym, Transportation Industry Director, John.Pym@RedPrairie.com
As individuals we love them, we get an extra day’s leave.
From a transport and distribution perspective they are a pain. It always seems to be the same volume handled in the week with one less day to do it in! This is just the tip of the iceberg... More
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June 13, 2011
John Pym, Transportation Industry Director, John.Pym@RedPrairie.com
So you have decided you need a Transportation Management System (TMS). No doubt you have one part of your business looking for candidate systems, another listing functional requirements and people working on your RFI/RFP documentation. All good stuff that has been done time and time again for every system procured. This is ticking all the boxes on what should be done, but what actually makes TMS implementation a success? In this blog I would like to share some of the points that I believe will determine the level of success you will get...More
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May 18, 2011
John Pym, Transportation Industry Director, John.Pym@RedPrairie.com
I often find myself in conversations with people seeking advice on how best to justify the adoption of a TMS in their organisation. This is always interesting because there are many areas to cover in order to capture the full range of benefits in a quantifiable manor so you obtain an accurate ROI calculation More
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April 18, 2011
John Pym, Transportation Industry Director, John.Pym@RedPrairie.com
In its basic form transport is simple. A product is moved from A to B at a price agreed with the carrier. But as we all know, supply chains are much more complex than that and with increased complexity comes cost, administration, order tracking and ‘paperwork’. Are you in control? More
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January 16, 2012
John Bailey, Retail Industry Director, John.Bailey@RedPrairie.com
We’re all familiar with the saying ‘the left hand doesn’t know what the right one’s doing’, which is generally taken to mean a breakdown in communications between two parts of the same organisation. For major retailers, ensuring consistent, efficient, effective communication of corporate tasks between central and regional management and store staff across hundreds of locations is a major, daily challenge, as is the ability to monitor the completion of these tasks... More
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June 7, 2011
John Bailey, Retail Industry Director, John.Bailey@RedPrairie.com
In my last post, I tempted you with the prospect of talking about how granular workforce management should be. And whilst this is still a topic that I’ll be blogging on soon, I thought I’d share with you some thoughts I had on retail theft as this is a good lead into WFM granularity More
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April 26, 2011
John Bailey, Retail Industry Director, John.Bailey@RedPrairie.com
When I think back to how the management of people in retail has changed, in say the last 10 years, I recall a number interesting observations. The one that sticks in my mind and is still a hot topic of debate, is how store managers and retail businesses manage the process of scheduling their workforce. I believe that it should be more scientific as there are so many tools to enable effective workforce management. Let me explain... More
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April 20, 2012
Roger Mitchell, VP e-Commerce, Roger.Mitchell@RedPrairie.com
It’s my wife’s birthday soon and I decided to buy her some jewelry - after some careful hints from her delivered via the children! I would like to relate my experience to you, as it tells us something about shopping in the UK and what might be improved... More
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March 28, 2012
Roger Mitchell, VP e-Commerce, Roger.Mitchell@RedPrairie.com
Search has become increasingly important in e-commerce websites. It has become the primary means for customers to find products and is often the first action that a consumers perform when reaching a site. The behaviour of customers prior to purchase is a key part of the way that a website works, as only between 2-5 per cent of visits actually turn into orders. This offers huge potential for sales meaning that search becomes an integral part of the site experience and has a direct impact on profitability. More
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November 23, 2011
Roger Mitchell, VP e-Commerce, Roger.Mitchell@RedPrairie.com
Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals have been a mission critical system in many businesses for decades. From mechanical cash registers to modern, software-controlled devices, to the latest models boasting touch-screens, integrated credit card readers and advanced management capabilities, today’s POS terminals are still responsible for handling the majority of retail transactions More
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September 28, 2011
Roger Mitchell, VP e-Commerce, Roger.Mitchell@RedPrairie.com
Hello, my name is Roger Mitchell and I am Vice President EMEA for e-commerce at RedPrairie. This year RedPrairie acquired a major e-commerce platform providing a complete online and supply chain solution. With this capability comes a new perspective on how to make your brand perform as a leading online website. On this blog I will be looking at different elements of the e-commerce environment. In my first post I look at some key questions… More
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