DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How can retailers and suppliers best improve collaboration as supply chain disruptions continue? What are the biggest benefits from sharing trade data in near real time?

Interactive Edge’s CEO, Zel Bianco comments, featured on RetailWire’s Braintrust:

I had just done a bit of research on this topic and found the following from Kane Logistics: “Retailer-Supplier collaboration: Identifying and eliminating barriers to improve supply chain performance,” to be spot on.

Some consideration suggested by the research:

“For Suppliers:

  • Retailers would like more contact with your sales reps so there are no surprises. No single issue was raised more often than having more direct communication.
  • Product availability is a hot button. Retailers want to know what you know, when you know it.
  • Improve your systems if you lag in this area. Online portals with detailed information like product availability.

For Retailers

  • Your projections could be more reliable. Suppliers want to avoid inventory overages, costly liquidations, and other negative fallout from bad forecasting data
  • Empathize with suppliers, particularly second tier suppliers. As a group, retailers are perceived by supplies as inflexible and heavy handed. Take more time to explain rationale behind decisions.
  • Get better aligned internally to promote alignment between buyers and logistics staff.

Said one retailer: ‘For collaboration to have an impact, we need to go beyond just the sales rep/category captain relationship and allow other supply chain functions, like logistics, to work with their respective counterparts.’”

Read the entire article from Retail Wire:

Retailers and suppliers need to prioritize collaboration now