For any retailer, having a supply chain that operates tightly and without error is the key to success. Failings in the chain can lead to time inefficiency, profit damage and ultimately the loss of customer satisfaction. The ramifications of not placing attention on the management of a strong supply chain can be severe. As a result of this, retailers are increasingly looking for ways in which to identify and eliminate any weaknesses.

Look at the entire supply chain

Where many retailers fall down is in the ability to look at the chain as a whole, end-to-end: from what occurs just before the point at which the product enters the supply chain, and when it leaves. A good way of examining this is via process flow mapping. This can be achieved by looking at all aspects of the product, and the various inputs and outputs encountered throughout its creation and distribution. This exercise provides valuable insight and awareness into where third party communication may be required through the need to develop dependable interfaces, as well as where supply chain efficiency may be at risk through poor stock management.

Optimise efficiency: Auto Replenishment System

When looking for a way to ensure that stock levels are optimised, having a robust, flexible replenishment system is the first module to consider. Forming part of an omnichannel retailing approach, an auto replenishment system, such as Merret, assists with the movement of stock between locations via user defined algorithms, which allows retailers to have dynamic control and maintain correct inventory levels.

Sales performance can be tracked, whilst promotions or seasonal increments can be forecasted and stock level changes made accordingly. Removing issues around products ‘out of stock’, an auto replenishment system uses rationing, ensuring stock reaches the destination it is most needed, and intelligent substitution of continuity items. 

Optimise cost control: Purchase Order Management

Forming part of the omnichannel supply chain, a further benefit of Merret is its Purchase Order Management system, which allows buyers to build product ranges with financial accuracy in changing environments. Landed costs are accurately calculated automatically, with variables such as freight & duty included. As purchase orders can be set as flexible, re-raising them if a delivery is incomplete is unnecessary; the system allows for receipt of additional deliveries, should they be required.

Other advantages of using Purchase Order Management include purchase order creation defaults, and multi-drop purchases orders, which allow agreements with suppliers for large amounts of product, which can then be phased into the supply chain when required.

Optimise stock levels: Central Stock Pool

The cornerstone of any omnichannel supply chain is a central stock pool, sitting at the heart of the chain. From a central pool, orders can be fulfilled no matter which channel due to a single, centralised view, meaning that inventory is used in the most cost efficient manner. This encompasses what is held in the warehouse, as well as in stores. As a result of this, terminal stock is reduced with less excess ordering, supply chain efficiency can be tightened up, and the sell through of full-price stock rises.

Linking this with a warehouse management system, order cycles can be improved and stock levels easily adjusted due to the way a WMS interprets past data trends, predicting changes in stock activity before they occur.

Join leading retail brands such as ASOS, Harvey Nichols, Whistles, Mint Velvet and more, and optimise your supply chain for global omnichannel retailing.

The post Identifying Weaknesses In Your Supply Chain appeared first on Retail Assist.

We are very proud to announce that Retail Assist has been shortlisted for the BCS UK IT Industry Awards 2018, in the category of ‘Services Company of the Year’.

With tough competition, Retail Assist has made the prestigious UK IT Awards shortlist, alongside 9 other IT services and solutions providers.

The BCS UK IT Industry Awards recognise the organisations that have demonstrated excellence in their industry during the past 12 months. The awards seek to reward organisations who have contributed to the development and deployment of innovative IT systems that improve business operations or enhance public services.We would like to thank everyone at Retail Assist for their hard work and efforts in delivering exceptional Managed Services to leading international retail and hospitality brands.

Last year, Retail Assist took home the trophy as winner of this category and we were also voted ‘Best Managed Service Desk’ in 2016 by the Service Desk Institute. These awards are a testament to our teams of their continued dedication and diligence.

This year we have acquired a staggering total of 9 new clients, including major retailers Ted Baker and Seasalt, taking our number of brands supported to 45. With more Help Desk users, we now support 800+ more sites worldwide in 12 languages. You can find out more about our achievements this year so far in our video.

We look forward to the next stages of the awards which include a judging day in September, followed by the final Awards ceremony on Wednesday 14^th November at Battersea Park Events Arena in London.

The post Finalists for BCS UK IT Industry Awards 2018 appeared first on Retail Assist.

You can also watch the video on our YouTube channel here.

Reflecting on 2017

2017 has been a milestone year for Retail Assist. In April, we gained a multimillion pound investment, which will support continued business growth for Retail Assist as a global, software-enabled solutions and services business.

We also celebrated our 18^th year of trading, and gained 4 new customers, including Jigsaw, our latest Help Desk customer. We’re proud to provide around the clock support to 40+ brands, across 9,500 sites in 65 countries across the globe, in 10 languages. (And that’s an industry leading set of stats!)

We also became Services Company of the Year, awarded by the BCS Chartered Institute for IT.

We have been working to deploy latest technology and are developing some of our own. (Look out for this in 2018!). Internally, we have pioneered a UK first management apprenticeship scheme, to progress our next generation of managers.

Of course, we could not have achieved this without our customers, partners and colleagues; thank you for your continued support throughout 2017. Have a wonderful Christmas and here’s to a prosperous 2018!

The post Christmas 2017: A Year in Highlights appeared first on Retail Assist.

Our data exchange solution is enabling retailers to trade confidently across the globe with various partners. Watch our latest video to find out how Ra-X supports international ambitions and channel expansion.

The post Retail data exchange solution: video appeared first on Retail Assist.

Black Friday 2017 stats

The squeeze on consumer spending power and the spread of discounting over a longer period may have made Black Friday 2017 a harder sell. We round up the statistics following the official Black Friday weekend to find out if the consumer appetite is starting to fall.

Black Friday 2017: The stats are in

Online has dominated Black Friday sales this year, as predicted in our Black Friday research. Overall spending is up on last year, despite a fall in the number of shoppers visiting stores.

Early on Friday, a dip in web traffic and fewer shoppers on the high streets suggested that the appeal of Black Friday might finally be in decline. Despite this, momentum built throughout the day, with Barclaycard estimating that Black Friday spending was 8% higher than last year, before the official results are in from the ONS.

Black Friday vs Cyber Monday

Online transactions in the week before Black Friday were up 11.3% as retailers launched their sales early. This trend may have accounted for the dilution of high street figures.

On Black Friday itself, John Lewis said that it had seen its biggest ever hour of online trading, with 705 units purchased per minute on average between 9am and 10am. “iPad” was their number one search term recorded, suggesting that technology is still a preferred product for Black Friday deal-searchers.

Cyber Monday, taking place today, is in full swing, with retailers promising to continue Black Friday discounts until close of play.

Black Friday on the high street

While ecommerce continues to grow, this year significantly less shoppers hit the high streets to take advantage of Black Friday deals, continuing a longer-term shift in shopping habits. 

The best clip to sum up Black Friday 2017 on the high street? Perhaps the the following video live from Oxford Street.

At 8am, with national media gathering to capture the doors opening at Currys PC World, one lone shopper made the headlines instead of the usual frenzied crowds.

Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times. High street footfall was down 4.2%, whilst retail parks and shopping centres also experienced a 3.6% decline in footfall. The statistics, compiled by Springboard, were significantly worse than an expected decline of 0.6%.

What can we expect next year?

Has Black Friday finally moved from an “event in its own right” to playing a part within wider Christmas promotions?

We have definitely experienced a shift over the last couple of years to longer Black Friday sale periods. Not only does this reduce increased pressure on retailers to perform on one day only, but also reduces the possibility of websites crashing and long queues in store – one of the biggest “put off” factors for consumers.

Although many analysts have begun to call time on Black Friday, and given that more consumers themselves planned to avoid Black Friday, once again it has been proved successful in terms of online sales. FOMAD (the fear of missing a deal) has reportedly been responsible for increasing Black Friday 2017 impulse buys - 43% of Brits admit "fear of missing a deal", leading to needless spending -  an interesting theory that we could see researched further ahead of next year.

The post Black Friday 2017: the verdict appeared first on Retail Assist.

As omnichannel customer demand continues to put unrelenting pressure on retailers, the need to look for ever-smarter modes and methods of working practices also increases.

Retailers looking to remain competitive search for ways to operate faster, more efficiently and at lower costs. For those dealing with multiple warehouses and large amounts of stock, a Warehouse Management System (WMS) is a vital tool. Watch the video here.

What is a Warehouse Management System?

In any business which deals with a warehouse or distribution centre, accuracy and efficiency are pivotal to maintaining good customer service. To assist with this a Warehouse Management System (WMS) takes the form of an individual software application, or can come as part of an Enterprise Planning System or ERP, designed to support the many aspects of management that are needed.

Stock levels, staffing, planning and stock movements all form part of the everyday operations that can be controlled. Different levels of complexity are involved, and services can be tailor-made to cater for exactly what level of management is needed, with everything from voice recognition to tracking technologies possible.

What can a Warehouse Management System do?

Usually of the most interest to a business in regards to a WMS are the Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) which store all aspects of data specific to the product. Elements such as the weight, size, barcodes, labels, dates and materials involved are all stored and can hence be easily monitored and data accessed.

The locations of products within the warehouse can also be controlled, alongside the form of storage, the picking orders for items, as well as options such as secure locations for high-value items, and whether specific conditions are needed such as flame-proofing.

Picking schedules can be created and shared between multiple site locations. A major aspect of a WMS is also its use in monitoring and assessing employee productivity rates such as the amount of items picked within a specific timeframe. Tasks can be assigned and their progress observed, and modifications to plans that may be rendered necessary by fluctuating product or order sizes can easily be managed and adapted to.

How can a Warehouse Management System help a business be more cost efficient?

Due to the way in which a WMS manages data, the most obvious way in which a business will see a financial benefit from its implementation is via inventory accuracy. Eliminating the huge variable that human error brings to monitoring of stock and replacing it with a WMS will bring accuracy levels up, resulting in less unwanted stock being ordered, greater throughput, and less wastage caused. As a business will always be looking for near perfect stock accuracy in order to minimise unnecessary expenditure, a WMS is a massive advantage. Order cycles can be improved in a similar manner.

The ability to see warehouse stock in real-time is another big benefit, as dynamic business decisions can be made with the most up to date information.

A Supplier Management System (SMS) can also be integrated and will allow more control when dealing with suppliers and any other 3rd parties in relation to stock, meaning that focus can be placed on efficiency and maintaining financial control.

If you're interested in our WMS, simply email your requirements to marketing@retail-assist.co.uk or call 0115 9042777.

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Life as Retail Assist's Marketing Officer

Meet Benedict, our Marketing Officer, who has been with us at Retail Assist since July. Benedict is an economics undergraduate from Nottingham Trent University undertaking a yearlong placement with the company.

I was ecstatic to be chosen for this placement, but it was a scary jump at the same time. My knowledge base was economics, and I lacked any knowledge in marketing, but I was keen to broaden my horizons. To my relief, Retail Assist was a breath of fresh air after 2 years of study, especially since my creative side was feeling undernourished.

Day to day

I’ve really enjoyed overseeing the company’s social media, through managing it, I’ve seen how the B2B side of social media works, something that I wouldn’t have learned without being in the industry. I’m grateful to be respected and trusted to represent one of the faces of the company; allowing me to put on my creative hat every week and come up with new angles and messages to talk about our products and services has been useful. It also means that attention to detail is one of the key skills I have developed.

The other half of my job, research, surprised me in how much I enjoyed it. Market research has been great for building my industry knowledge; reading about retail technology, the movements in the market, and searching for good prospect companies. All this has taught me that I’m really interested in what keeps retail ticking and moving forward, as it’s an extremely fast paced industry.

Life at Retail Assist

The team I work with are very professional, it’s been great learning from them all; even if I’m not involved with everything they are doing, I’ve been exposed to the entire sales and marketing process from end to end. As a placement student, my team understand that I’m still learning, all remembering when they were in a similar position to myself which has made me feel welcome.

Enjoying drinks at Hockley Arts Club with the team

The Retail Assist working environment is so vibrant, the open plan office encourages me to work closely with my colleagues, who are all really sociable and good to chat with. Even when I’ve got work to do, it’s always good to be up to date on Love Island... The social side also continues after work, everyone is up for going out for the occasional team drink.

Getting a placement in Nottingham city centre worked out perfectly for me, I’m able to remain involved in university life which I understand is a luxury, as many other placement students end up in different cities. This meant that I didn’t have to give up being the president of the uni climbing club, I got to live with my friends in a cheap city centre flat, and of course I was still able to make it to the occasional Ocean social.

Despite the occasional stress on a few deadlines (marketing really means you have to juggle a lot of different plates and manage multiple priorities), these 4 months have flown by considering how much I’ve learned in this time.

I’m looking forward to finding what more I’ve got in store this year and I’m definitely glad to have some quality work experience on my CV.

Guest Blog written by Benedict Schofield.

We’re currently recruiting for our 2018-19 Marketing Officer from Nottingham Trent University, so please get in touch via marketing@retail-assist.co.uk should you be interested in joining us from July 2018.

The post Guest Blog: Marketing Officer Placement appeared first on Retail Assist.

Store retail strategy

“The high street is dead”, “the department store is dead”. We’re hearing it over and over, and yet stores still form the cornerstone of brand experience, for the majority of successful omnichannel retailers. There’s still a strong customer demand for store experiences – over 70% of all retail purchases touch a store at some point in the journey.

The 21^st century store: John Lewis

Industry stalwart John Lewis unveiled its newest store last week at Oxford Westgate. It’s the 49^th in the John Lewis portfolio, an anchor store of the future, and its most experience and service-led to date.

Being dubbed the “Store of the 21^st Century” by Drapers, the new store centres on providing exceptional experience and service, in order to engage and retain loyal customers.

There are five “dwell” spaces throughout the store, to host “customer experience events” for John Lewis shoppers. These range from traditional personal styling sessions, to modern yoga classes capitalising on the athleisure trend. The new “Experience Desk” is perhaps the culmination of this thinking, where shoppers can buy-in to experiences at a concierge style service, to help the customer arrange and organise their day around their product needs.

One thing is for sure – John Lewis’ store experience is attempting to give the customer exactly what they want from the brand.

Fulfilling the customer promise

“Never knowingly undersold” is perhaps the most famous brand promise in British retailing.

John Lewis operates under banners of quality and customer reassurance. One of the biggest bugbears for customers is the non-fulfilment of the customer promise.

If you promise that an item is in stock, for example, can you ensure that it reaches the customer? This relies on multiple elements - is your stock view in real-time? Is it a central, single view, or do you have ring-fenced stock? Opening up your inventory with a single, centralised view is the best way to ensure you can fulfil the customer promise with accurate stock information.

Consumers are also more demanding: if they need a product “now”, they’ll be put off by out-of-stock notifications, or “wait 2-3 weeks for delivery”. Are you using surplus store stock to fulfil online orders? Ship from store can make you more likely to be able to fulfil more orders, whilst also increasing full price sell through.

What will the store of the future look like?

What we don’t believe is that the store of the future should become a glorified click-and-collect desk.

The store is still the manifestation of your brand in its physical products. So, how to get it right? Make sure they are in the right place, at the right time, in the correct quantities, and sold by store associates with the best levels of product information is key.

John Lewis might have based its new store around experiences as well as its products, but their value lies in the encouragement of brand loyalty, bigger baskets, and future purchases.

The post Investing in the store of the future appeared first on Retail Assist.

Smart home technology: Amazon Key

You’ve given your personal assistant a place in your home. But would you give it the keys?

Last week, Amazon announced a new product in its bid to take over the home with smart technology.

Amazon Key is a new smart lock and security camera system. It permits users remote control, to allow couriers to unlock their front door to place orders inside the home.

Users can choose to watch the delivery live in real-time, or receive a short video after the drop-off for confidence that the courier has completed the delivery with integrity.

Acting, as always, in the name of customer convenience, Amazon is making it simpler than ever to order products for home delivery. Resolving the issue of being out of the house when a home delivery arrives, and removing the need to visit a click-and-collect locker or location, the customer can be sure that their order will be delivered successfully without the need to lift a finger.

The Verge has a great video of Amazon Key in action here.

Can customers trust AI?

Slightly uncomfortable? You’re not alone. One analyst said that Amazon would need to convince consumers that the technology was completely secure if they were to use it as remote permission for a stranger to deliver orders inside their own four walls. There have also been concerns raised over the Cloud Cam, which records continually whilst inside your home. 

If Amazon is as ‘unstoppable’ as the market thinks it is, it wouldn’t take much for a security breach to damage the whole operation – whether that takes the form of the smart lock being hacked, or the courier losing integrity when inside the home.

But, as Amazon has quickly pushed its range of personal assistants into our living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms, the boom of AI is simply undeniable, along with the surprising level of convenience it offers. We are becoming more accustomed to having personal assistants carrying out our "thinking and doing" processes, just as smartphone usage has become second nature.

The growth of artificial intelligence

The much-quoted Gartner statistic could not be more relevant here: by 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human. 

Amazon Alexa can advise you in the kitchen with a recipe, whilst turning up your favourite music, and turning the heating down. But we are now trusting a technology device to unlock your front door with a digital key, which crosses both a symbolic and very physical threshold.

What will be next from the world's largest online retailer? Post your comments below.

The post Amazon Key: do you trust your personal assistant? appeared first on Retail Assist.

When is Black Friday 2017?

This year, Black Friday 2017 falls on Friday 24^th November. We expect the discounting event to continue over the weekend, with Cyber Monday on 27^th November, and stretching over the rest of the week.

Last year, £1.23bn was spent online on Black Friday alone, making it the UK’s first billion pound shopping day. Spanning the whole week, from Monday 21^st November to Monday 28^th November in 2016, online sales rose to an estimated £6.5bn in the UK.

But how many people will shop on Black Friday this year, taking place in just 5 weeks’ time? The results may surprise you, as the “death of Black Friday” has begun to dominate the retail headlines, with retailers reluctant to participate in order to protect their margins.

As in previous years, check out our Black Friday 2017 research in our infographic below.

Black Friday 2017 infographic

In order to analyse consumer sentiment towards Black Friday trading, this year 400 respondents took our Black Friday survey, powered by digital insights company Toluna.

See our full findings in the below Black Friday 2017 infographic. You can view our Black Friday 2016 survey results here.

For the first time ever, more consumers plan to avoid Black Friday this year than those who are planning to participate.

With just under half of respondents planning to buy something on Black Friday (49%), this is significantly lower than the same percentage as in 2016. Of course, this does not account for the impulse buyers that could take unexpected advantage of deals over the sale period.

However, many analysts have pointed towards the fact consumers have become accustomed to an ongoing discounting calendar throughout the year. Summer and autumn in particular have been stunted by mid-season sales. If sales and discounts are less of a “big deal”, and just part of the retail fabric, it’s understandable why the consumer mindset has shifted in the same way as Black Friday becomes “just another sale day”.

Another reason for the declining popularity of Black Friday can be understood from consumers’ strong disdain for Black Friday “hype” – over a third of respondents (33%) dislike Black Friday for this reason.

An online-only affair

79% of respondents are set to be online Black Friday shoppers, which is a small increase on 77% in 2016. The shift to online in recent years can be tracked through our research displayed in the infographic. The majority of Black Friday spend in 2016 was via online channels, rising 12% year on year.

Ensuring that you have extra capacity in place is critical for omnichannel retailers and pureplay etailers alike, as a surge in website traffic can cause fatal outages for those who are unprepared. As well as completing special data capacity increase projects for peak trading, Retail Assist’s 24×7 operations monitoring and support is facilitating greater systems uptime, which is critical for any brand over Black Friday.

Priming your retail operations for peak trading

Long queues and websites crashing were two of the biggest negative factors recorded in our survey, so, how to avoid this on Black Friday 2017?

Till down-time and queueing are preventable issues, if you have the correct support in place. Our IT Help Desk analysts are experienced in front line retail, and understand the real impact of systems downtime at peak periods.

Can you afford to lose out on Black Friday sales? Increased demand means a busy store is inevitable, but making customer service more efficient should be a number one priority for retailers during peak trading season.

You can download our How To Guide: Preparing Stores for Peak Trading, here. Make sure to check out our Black Friday analysis blog, for a full breakdown of this year’s event.

If you’d like to use our survey results, please get in touch at marketing@retail-assist.co.uk. To receive a free high res download of our infographic, also email marketing@retail-assist.co.uk

The post Black Friday 2017 Survey appeared first on Retail Assist.