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A significant majority of retailers still need to address the fundamental processes that underpin effective 21st century retail operations. Today, very few retailers are managing multi-channel retailing well. There is no central visibility of stock across every channel and no ability to reallocate stock between channels on the fly to maximise sales.

Omni-channel may be a compelling retail concept. But before any attempts can be made to undertake the sophisticated front-end activities that will deliver merchandise and promotion consistency across the brand and every channel, retailers need to impose far greater control over the core operational processes.

The challenges associated with Omni-channel fulfilment and managing the new patterns in purchasing behaviour are extremely tough to manage. There is a need to bring product to market faster, but also to drive down costs through more effective vendor negotiation and production tracking. There is also a need to improve the way product assortment is managed in each channel to reflect changing buying patterns.

It is only by improving supply chain visibility, critical path management and warehouse management that retailers will be able to impose tighter controls and maximise sales all year round.

Dominic Potter
UK Managing Director
Momentis Systems
www.momentis.com