For Jay Dempsey, a foundational pillar of loyalty is being in stock. That’s why, as the retailer chair of the eB2B retail merchandising group for Conexxus, Alexandria, Va., he is focused on what he describes as electronic “gaps” in the supply chain.
Dempsey took time for an interview with CSP Tech on electronic business-to-business communication, or eB2B.
Q: Where other people are talking loyalty, mobile payment and beacons, why are you focused on supply chain?
A: I don’t get to see life about that end of the technology conversation as much as the backside, and that’s been more around eB2B collaboration with supply channels. It’s where our biggest profit opportunities are.
Q: How so?
A: Every time we can better execute and do it more cost-effectively, it improves sales. It’s about being in stock, auto- replenishment, getting timely information and making a total commitment to inventory control.
Q: What exactly is the problem?
A: It’s making communication between the supplier and retailer fully electronic. When that’s not the case, there are errors. The cost issues become overwhelming when we have to continually clean up mistakes. Major suppliers have made significant improvements, but there are still gaps.
Q: Can you be more specific?
A: Latency in what’s delivered and what’s invoiced, and the process of managing returns and out-of-date merchandise. Every store has thousands of dollars tied up in stuff, in their back rooms or returned, or the supplier is still waiting for final credit through a master distributor.
Q: Why is that?
A: The recession forced many suppliers to hold off on technology. Some run on systems that are 10 years old. They say they’ll invest but it always gets put off until next year.
Q: What can be done?
A: I’m hoping mobile applications will evolve to help out. Many of the major suppliers are working with their distributors, but we need more involvement. As a member of Conexxus and NACS, our subcommittee is working on it, but we need more involvement from retailers.
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