While many of you may have already started your holiday shopping, Black Friday is right around the corner and the "true" shopping season begins. This year there is a lot of debate about stores opening earlier and earlier. Instead of the holiday shopping season starting on the Friday after Thanksgiving, it seems starting ON Thanksgiving is the new trend. I, for one, will not be shopping on Thanksgiving; the thought of having to fight the masses after cooking, eating, and cleaning up is not appealing to me. With the expected growth in online shopping and the "extended" shopping season how will retailers be affected by supply chain visibility or the lack there of?
Not only will stores be open on Thanksgiving, many are offering online deals as well, changing the landscape of Cyber Monday when consumers were offered the "best online" deals. In the "2014 Holiday Shopping Prediction" by Adobe Digital Index, they predict that out-of-stock messages will increase 5-fold on Cyber Monday due to the increased demand and limited supply chain. In addition, they predict that Black Friday will become the fastest growing online sales day of the year with 28% year over year growth.
So where's your order? Not only do we as consumers enjoy the luxury of online shopping from our couch, we want to know where our stuff is! Supply chain visibility, it's becoming imperative in business that you are able to track an order from start to finish, however, in a recent survey (by KPMG) 40% of respondents admit they lack visibility across their extended supply chain. The lack of visibility leads to an increase in the out-of-stock messages, lost orders, inaccurate inventory, and lost sales. Every company demands their own level of supply chain visibility, however, over all it's a necessary step to increase your profitability and remain successful in the long term.
If you're in the other 33% that said their lack of supply chain visibility is due to and inadequate IT system or lack of skills, consider improving your bottom line and explore your supply chain visibly options. If you lose sight of your orders in your EDI, ERP, or delivery order processing/warehouse system start 2015 by increasing your visibility and profitability. While there are many options to assist you with visibly, consider exploring our customizable visibility portal for IBM Sterling B2B Integrator and don't let another order slip through the cracks. At Remedi, we know how important clear end to end visibly is to your business.
