Why S&OP and IBP are Top Corporate Priorities and How Companies are Aligning Strategy and Operations. 

By Nancy Marino Economic, political, and environmental challenges combined with the growing complexity of global operations have made S&OP and the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) a top corporate priority. Indeed, the potential is tremendous in the ...

supply chain shipping carrier

Successful Omnichannel Strategies Are Built on the First 10,000 Miles of the Supply Chain

HOW CAN RETAILERS MODERNIZE FULFILLMENT? The supply chain as we once knew it has been forever changed. Global supply chain issues have been fueled by pandemic factory closings, reduced labor forces and bottlenecks in shipping and ...

MP&A

Managing Your MP&A Team Through COVID – 19

By Richard Pedott Many of us have had to manage a crisis before. It may have been a small scale one such as a natural disaster confined to individual markets like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy ...

Inventory Optimization

Increase Sales and Fulfillment Across Multiple Channels Through Inventory Optimization

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski in collaboration with Mi9 Retail June 2019 The soul of a retailer lies in its stores. It can be seen and felt. It is what makes the brand an exciting place with a distinctive ...

Frictionless Shopping

Can today’s retailers adapt to the need for frictionless shopping?

By Island Pacific in collaboration with Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski June 2019 Retail is facing a seismic shift New technology, the internet, social media and an empowered, fickle and less brand-loyal consumer have combined to create a new phenomenon. We ...

Planning Allocation Island Pacific

Planning, Allocation, Demand Forecasting

By Island Pacific in collaboration with Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski March 2019 How do retailers measure Return on Investment (ROI) from new systems implementations? Technology is transforming every aspect of the retail business, often at a dizzying rate. Innovations that ...

International Growth Island Pacific

How to effectively manage international growth in today’s multichannel environment

By Island Pacific in collaboration with Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski March 2019 Is it possible to create a truly successful international and multi-channel brand? On the face of it, it is easy to understand why any retailers might succumb to ...

Project Management

Project Management in Merchandise Planning and Allocation – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting With any major business undertaking, proper project management plays a huge role in the success or failure of the endeavor. Managing a project from the initial idea, through planning and execution, can be ...

Labor Management

Labor Management – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting No matter how many robots, kiosks and other fancy machines are created to improve the in-store experience, retail stores still need human power to operate and the personalized customer services provided by store ...

Assortment Planning

Assortment Planning – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting Assortment Planning is like a box of chocolates. No really. The next time you have a box of chocolates, take a look at what you have. There are lots of choices that you ...

Grading

Grading, Clustering and Store Attributing – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting Retailers are always looking for ways to achieve the highest margins and least amount of markdowns for merchandise at each store. The key is to assign the merchandise where it is most likely ...

Relex WP

Planning & managing the critical aspects of a full merchandising season

By Charlotte Kula-Przezwanski, Columbus Consulting and Mikko Kärkkäinen, Relex January 2017 In this co-authored white paper with Relex, we discuss the practical aspects of executing a disciplined and organized planning and buying process, and we identify the ...

Enterprise Performance Management

Enterprise Performance Management – Understanding The Basics

By Columbus Consulting Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is an area of software and process which is designed to guide and connect companies through the planning, analytics and reporting activities across the entire organization. Download This White Paper

Allocation

Allocation – Understanding The Basics

By Columbus Consulting At its core, allocation is the optimal deployment of inventory to best meet customer demand. It is usually the last step in the merchandise lifecycle before the sale. Allocation originated from merchandising, when ...

Merchandise Planning

Merchandise Planning – Understanding the Basics

By Columbus Consulting Every planning professional or retail executive knows the answer to this question, right? In reality, though, it’s not that simple. Merchandise Planning (or Merchandise Financial Planning) means different things to different people depending ...

Spreadsheets To Software

Spreadsheets to Software

This white paper produced in collaboration with Island Pacific focuses on the urgency around moving your company away from a purely spreadsheet driven enterprise and onto a more reliable planning solution. Through analysis ...

On Time Execution

Executing On Time

Do you have friends who always run late? It’s annoying, right? When they keep you waiting, you’re not so eager to see them next time. So it is with customers. If you don’t give them what they ...

Agile Retailing

Agile Retailing

Change has always been a constant in retail and the current levels of uncertainty and disruption are likely to continue. Now more than ever, Agility is as important as efficiency and effectiveness. Columbus Consulting have just ...

Faster Product Development

Faster Product Development

The search is over for real world insights and practical steps to shorten ‘concept to customer’ timelines. Download Columbus Consulting’s latest White Paper to learn from industry experts and start your company on the path to ...

OmniChannel Retailing

Omni Channel Retailing

Inside you’ll discover: 6 things you must do, in sequence, to deliver the cross-channel shopping experience your customers expect.2 key internal factors many retailers neglect or ignore–to their disadvantage–in pursuing omni-channel initiatives.3 project-planning forms to help ...

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