Retailers Make Promises and Their Supply Chains Fail Them

LONDON, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

"For retailers, leveraging technology and analytics is critical for near-perfect execution of deliveries in peak trading season," says Retail Champion, Clare Rayner in an interview with Manthan Systems

Retailers need to refocus attention on their core back-end processes and supply chain infrastructure to deliver efficiently on their brand commitments, cautions Clare Rayner, retail-expert and founder of 'The Retail Conference', an annual retail industry event in the UK.

In an exclusive interview with Manthan Systems, a global leader in retail Business Intelligence and Analytics solutions, Rayner speaks about the recent trend among retailers to be overly focused on 'innovative' customer engagement models such as mobile apps and m-commerce at the expense of fortifying their core supply-chain processes.

 "It is as if their core commercial processes - supply chain planning and distribution systems - have been de-prioritized by retailers in favour of spending budgets on new apps, mobile websites and so on. I believe that retailers that are not investing in revitalizing the day-to-day operational areas of the business are putting their businesses at risk," says Rayner.

"Retail technology is as fundamental to supporting all business processes as it is to fostering innovation. Retailers need robust backend systems and processes and they need to figure out how to ensure availability of the right products at the right stores, if they are to have a winning edge in an omni-channel environment."

Andrew Blatherwick, President, Manthan Systems, Europe states, "Appropriate analytics and monitoring tools can help retailers with in-depth planning and early resolution of issues in the supply chain before they actually impact the end customer."

Interview Highlights

• Retailers leading only on 'innovation' without the operational infrastructure to support it are destined to fail and today's customers will not tolerate failure.
• Social media and other mass communications tools give every consumer an instant  platform and they can cause damage to retailer's brands that do not live up to their promise  
• Critical path tracking-tools can help retailers a great deal in managing unplanned issues in the supply chain. However, with the global economic downturn, few UK retailers are biting.
• Retailers implementing supply chain technologies and best practices stand to gain a clear edge in the market.

For more insights on the challenges and opportunities associated with retail supply chains in retail, go to the entire interview at: http://thoughts.manthansystems.com/in-conversation-clare-rayner-retail-expert/

Clare Rayner, the founder and host of 'The Retail Conference', an annual retail industry event in the UK, is a frequent media contributor on developments in the retail industry. She has authored a book, 'The Retail Champion: 10-steps to Retail Success' which is soon to be published.

About Manthan

Manthan Systems produces cutting edge analytic solutions for global retail and CPG organizations. Manthan's award winning products, under the brand name ARC, span a wide range of retail segments and formats, transforming decision making for some of the biggest names in global retail. 

For more information, visit http://www.manthansystems.com.

Media enquiries: media.contact@manthansystems.com, +44(0)207-554-8609.