Leading retail sourcing and supply chain management expert, Tim Chiu sits down with Jane Singer, Director and Head of Market Intelligence, Inside Fashion to discuss one of the most important topics in today’s retail industry – Strategic Sourcing and Procurement and Speed-To-Market.
Tim reviews the best way to explain the importance of speed to market is by explaining how decreased speed to market can hurt – by giving the competition the advantage when it comes to innovation, allowing them to reach consumers with new products, services or offers before you do. Decreased speed to market also allows retailers to develop a reputation for being a follower rather than an industry leader.
Getting products to market quickly is on the top of the agenda for 67% of all retailers in the industry but the basics apply to them all: A rapid speed-to-market equates to happier customers, a better competitive position, more sales and higher profits.
Tim and Jane have an incredible, educational and insightful conversation about what retailers need to do to decrease the delay between retail souring, product launch and products on the shelf. Tim talks about how the retailers need stronger supplier collaboration to develop private label products faster and how both the retailer and supplier need to work on how to increase the speed at which the products reach the shelves.
In this short interview you will learn about the best supply chain management programs, how to compress time in the product development workflow, how to reduce lead times by 20 – 40% and how to reduce supply chain cost by 20 – 30%.