As a strong retail holiday season dangles before us – B&M retailers race to restock inventory. The Supply Chain hasn’t quite recovered from the onslaught of online purchases initially fueled by convenience and later by the global pandemic (for perspective, a relatively common once-in-100-year natural cycle of viral hardship that is, for the most part,... Read more »
GMROI is one of the most important metrics in the retail/supplier world because it allows you to understand both the velocity with which your inventory is turning and the return you are getting on your investment. GMROI is a measure of inventory productivity that shows the relationship between total sales and the gross profit you… Read more »
Moving into 2010, most retail economists are predicting a continuation of the “do more with less” retail buying strategy. This will mean high fill rates, accurate forecasting, and proactive out of stock analysis will be critically important to maximizing sales. I would like to begin a discussion on the best practices for getting a replenishment… Read more »
Retail economists now predict solid growth for 2010. The International Council of Shopping Centers projects annual sales will increase 3% to 3.5%, the biggest jump since 2006. “It’s a story of the turning of the corner for the retail industry,” said Michael Niemira, the group’s chief economist. “We are probably now outside of the recession,… Read more »
Brrr, it’s cold outside. I live in south Florida and we have been experiencing record low temps for well over ten days now. Last night it got down to 28 degrees at my house! I know-28 degrees would be a welcome heat wave for many places in the US right now, but down here this… Read more »
Started a new category on Twitter for EDI 852 research and information. Follow rainmakergrp and watch for #edi852 to stay up to date on all things regarding point of sale data analysis, and specifically EDI 852. Topics will include how to best use EDI 852 for analyzing retail sales performance, on hand inventory forecasting and… Read more »
Many of the vendors we work with have a specific planogram they agree to with a buyer on an annual or semi-annual basis. After reaching an agreement with the buyer on the planogram, the vendor estimates sales and then creates a production forecast based on the number of facings and estimated sales. The problem many… Read more »
Nordstrom recently announced its plans to invest approximately $40 to $45 million in technology upgrades next year, maintaining its level of IT spend year-over-year. Over the past year, the luxury department store has been heavily focused on evolving its multi-channel business. This focus has clearly paid off, since the luxury department store most recently reported… Read more »
NEW YORK (Nov. 23) According to The Conference Board, U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $390 on Christmas gifts this holiday season, down from last year’s estimate of $418. “Consumers are approaching the holiday season very cautiously,” says Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “Job losses and uncertainty… Read more »
Several recent meetings with vendors has highlighted a growing trend – POS data analysis has been and continues to be an operations imperative, but vendors are increasingly finding strategic value in POS analysis. EDI 852 forms the foundation of the analysis with UPC and store level sales and on hand. But looking beyond sell thru… Read more »
If you are a Walmart vendor, you have access to a wealth of data via Retail Link. As a service provider, we work with a lot of Wal-Mart vendors, helping them to analyze the point of sale data made available by Walmart through Retail Link. Sometimes a vendor will ask us “If I have Retail… Read more »