Fashion retailers face an uphill battle. Short product lifecycles, constantly changing trends, and the need to stock multiple sizes and colors create a logistical nightmare. In the United States alone, retailers are sitting on $740 billion in unsold goods.
Maintaining optimal stock levels is a complex challenge in the ever-evolving grocery retail landscape, especially concerning perishable goods. Grocery retailers must strike a delicate balance between meeting customer demand and avoiding excess inventory, all while managing the unique challenges of fresh produce, dairy, and meat products.
The race is on, and CPG companies are stepping up their efforts to reach consumers directly. In fact, the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model is fast becoming a critical sales channel for CPG brands. Why? D2C isn’t just a buzzword—it’s reshaping the way brands interact, sell, and deliver to their most valuable asset: their customers.
Control Towers are the new essential for modern supply chain planning. Unlock real-time visibility and control over your entire supply chain. Monitor KPIs, optimize inventory, track suppliers, and streamline logistics with AI-powered predictive analytics. Enhance collaboration, prioritize tasks, and make data-driven decisions to increase efficiency and agility.
Today’s retail landscape is a battlefield. The competition is fierce, and customer expectations are higher than ever. Retailers can lose up to 20% of potential sales due to poor assortment planning. With so many choices, …
Vendor collaboration is a joint effort that creates a competitive advantage for every stakeholder. It reduces overall costs, errors, and inefficiencies for everyone involved. A collaborative supply chain lets businesses grow together with vendors while improving efficiency and visibility of the supply chain.
Recent statistics have revealed a surge in sales across the United States, indicating a growing trend that has caught the attention of both consumers and retailers alike. Retailers must reassess their inventory strategies to adapt to rapidly shifting market demands driven by trends.
There are various use cases of AI/ML for demand planning of fresh products, from producers to large grocery chains and even small delis in the suburbs. In this blog, we’ll discuss the use of AI/ML demand planning for fresh products to help maximize sales and reduce waste.
Like millions of other professionals working remotely from home, I ditched my business suits and high heels in favor of more comfortable styles. However, I had been holding onto my closet full of gray and …
Retailers know firsthand how quickly the market can change. One day, a product is flying off the shelves, and the next, it’s gathering dust. That’s why it is important to stay on top of the supply chain planning trends – they can make all the difference when it comes to staying competitive, reducing costs, and meeting your customers’ needs.
As we are winding up another year full of disruptions and opportunities, businesses are already hard at work planning for the next year and beyond. Both in the budgeting and the S&OP processes, Demand Planning …
As a child, I was mesmerized by beauty pageants, especially Miss World, where women from all around the world strutted in gorgeous fashion. I vividly remember the moments when the top winners declared their lofty …
Autonomous E2E decision making isn’t a distant dream; it’s the reality crafted by the synergy between Unilever, a global consumer goods giant, and Solvoyo, the norm-busting partner in end-to-end supply chain planning.
Fresh produce has a limited shelf life, often measured in days rather than weeks. This places tremendous pressure on fresh supply chains to minimize delays, disruptions, and damage at any stage of the supply chain.
Logistics are part of supply chains. The purpose of a supply chain is to do one thing – enable a company to grow. However, focusing only on transportation will reduce costs but invariably will cause issues in other areas.
Food waste is a critical global issue that affects our environment and exacerbates hunger and food insecurity. It is alarming how much edible food is lost or disposed of each year. This waste squanders valuable resources, contributes to climate change, and has far-reaching consequences.
What are the critical factors that contribute to long-term success in SaaS supply chain planning technology adoption, and how can businesses optimize ROI through ongoing post-deployment initiatives with the support of a dedicated customer success team?
Supply chains are notoriously volatile. Creating autonomous supply chains won’t eliminate volatility, but AI has the ability to evaluate data and make recommendations that will mitigate an identified issue. AI will also minimize disruptive ripple effects across the supply chain.
Supply chains are notoriously volatile. Creating autonomous supply chains won’t eliminate volatility, but AI has the ability to evaluate data and make recommendations that will mitigate an identified issue. AI will also minimize disruptive ripple effects across the supply chain.
As managers and executives in Software Development, one of our primary challenges is building and retaining high-performing development teams. As demand for software developers increases every year, this challenge is becoming immensely difficult to tackle.
Companies are giving away ‘Senior’ titles abundantly like a candy cane and promoting their developers to senior roles hoping that they will take on more responsibility and lead their teams to success.
Last year, I wanted to be a grateful child and buy a sweater for my mom. It was Mother’s Day, so I logged on to one of the prevalent e-commerce sites. I browsed and eventually …
Commerce is global and regional at the same time, the world is getting smaller and more interconnected, and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers operate in this build-anywhere and sell-anywhere market. Consumers are ever more conscious of value, sensitive to health and environmental issues – especially after the COVID pandemic, each demanding more options for their money.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are hot topics being discussed in the retail world. Across the globe, whether they are grocery, mass merchant, or fashion, retailers are looking for ways to make faster and smarter decisions using this technology. Among the leading applications of AI & ML in planning are forecasting and replenishment processes.
Companies tend to engage in a request for information (RFI), request for quote (RFQ), and request for proposal (RFP) processes to make sure they end up choosing the right software that meets their business and IT requirements. However, I believe there is a major drawback in this traditional process that ignores today’s fundamental improvements in technology and the need for higher speed in business decisions.
Omnichannel planning has become a central part of retail supply chain planning, with online shopping steadily rising since 2010. With the global pandemic, it became a necessity. Consumers who realized the ease of use of online shopping – choosing items from the warmth of their seat and having them delivered in a couple of days – gained a new habit. This new habit was reflected in the numbers. In the US, the share of e-commerce sales has risen from 4.2% to 11.8% between 2010 and 2020. That share reached a whopping 16.1%, in Q2 of 2020.
From segmenting customers to planning replenishment strategy for store groups, cluster analysis in the retail industry provides many benefits.
From marketers using it for running targeted campaigns based on customer segments, investors building diversified financial portfolios, and supply chain managers planning their replenishment, cluster analysis is a powerful tool for all businesses.
How do you measure the performance of your retail stores? Ordering by a metric and comparing the best and worst might also be useless most of the time since they probably have different dynamics.
Discover the steps to implementing an effective cluster analysis for making smart decision in the your supply chain planning and boosting your business.
Volatility and ambiguity are not going away from our lives. We need planning platforms to keep up with all the changes. Discover the importance of Composability in fickle times.
Paris Agreement in 2015 had an aggressive target of limiting the global increase in temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2030. But in Glasgow 2021, countries with the largest manufacturing & mining base were dragging their feet, and global commerce does not accept much responsibility on this issue.
How a Supply Chain Digital Twin can help a Production Planner when there is an unexpected disruption, let’s take a look at a day in her life
Algorithms, Automation, Architecture and Agility are the 4 Must-Haves that differentiate the next-generation of supply chain planning platforms.
Effective supply chain management begins with aligning supply, demand, and inventory planning according to business strategies. You need integrated, automated, and intelligent planning systems to manage millions of daily decisions.
Adopting next-generation integrated planning and analytics platforms with digital workflows, advanced analytics, AI/ML, and automation capabilities will be the way to win.
Speed and availability are the most important reasons customers choose RGD and Q-Commerce companies. To keep up with the demand, these businesses have to keep investing in automation across all supply chain points.
“Yes” is a powerful word. We all enjoy hearing the answer “Yes” to all our requests, especially in business. But is it possible to receive a positive response all the time? Unfortunately not. The reason …
If you have recently been looking to purchase a car, a television, or a home appliance, you may have noticed that prices have been on the rise as of late. Some products have been suffering …
Using AI in inventory management helps enhance inventory replenishment, improve employee performance, support data accessibility and reduce cost
Last mile delivery defines the last leg of the supply chain journey. Goods are taken from dark stores, special fulfillment centers
Last year, my cousin had a daughter, and I became an uncle for the first time. Naturally wanting to be a contender for the best uncle ever, I wanted to send a care package for …
At the end of 2019, we decided to implement OKRs at our company. At the end of 2020, we started to change the way we set and manage OKRs. So, what went wrong? In OKR …
Remember those times when we used to stroll down the block and find local stores such as the mom-and-pop diners and get the chance to relish the coziness and sense of family environment there. Even …
It was mid-March when my flatmate and I burst into a panic as the first cases of COVID-19 were officially announced. Both of the companies we were working for abruptly told us to stay home …
Increasing churn, decreasing average ticket? Check out our tips on how Customer Success can help your business. Customer Success is a marketing strategy that was developed for SaaS (Software as a Service) companies to keep …
Imagine you can control your production lines with a mouse click or a touchscreen swipe to optimize your supply chain in real-time – along with the ability to enjoy a seamless, customized experience. With next-generation …
Are you using spreadsheets as a supply chain planning tool to collect and manage your data and perform analysis? Well, you’re not the only one hopping from one Excel sheet to another all day at …
Imagine that you’ve decided to make your favorite chocolate chip cookie at home. You opened your favorite recipe, prepared all the ingredients, and pulled out the blender in your kitchen. You then preheated the oven. …
When the pandemic erupted, one of our top priorities as a SaaS company was to ensure that our response was rapid, uninterrupted, and most importantly sustainable in the long run. Solvoyo’s Development & DevOps teams …
At Solvoyo, we are also concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic. Our thoughts are with all human-kind and hope that the global community will come out of this period with the least damage and the most …
COVID-19 is changing the way we think about almost everything: the way we live, the way we work, our plans for the future and our evaluations of the past. We hope these times of crisis …
It is 2020; we now have reasonably accurate short-term weather forecasts. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US, reports that the five-day weather forecasts are approximately 90% accurate, 80% for the next …
It has been many decades since a circuit is designed digitally and its performance tested using a digital twin, an architect constructed the building and laid out its HVAC and plumbing on the building’s digital …
There is a riddle I asked my kids when they were little. Although there are multiple variations of this riddle such as two paths, two doors, two houses, two guards, or two sisters, the idea …
I am studying 10th grade in high school, and I am already confused about choosing my future job. I’m not sure about which engineering discipline to study at university. Luckily, I received an invitation from …
What is Digital Transformation? Digital transformation is transforming your decision-making processes with technology — utilizing new sources of innovation and creativity such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, virtual reality, to enhance customer …
I do not believe in horoscopes, but people tell me that my sign has everything to do with many of my quirks, such as ordering, organizing, and following routines. Putting things in order is my …
Organizational Agility along with Digital Transformation, Machine Learning, Big Data and Blockchain technologies was one of main trending topics for 2018 and will continue to be in the hit list for 2019 as well. Each of …
“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives, it is not the strongest that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust …
Growing up, I was a huge fan of comedian Steve Martin. For many a Halloweens I simply wore an arrow through my head. I would have worn the white suit if I had one, but …
Magdalena Yesil is a force to reckon with! She has done many firsts in her life, including at Salesforce, where she was the first investor and founding board member. A technology pioneer, she founded three …
This is the best of times and worst times for retail. On one hand, online sales taking retail to new frontiers by offering endless choices from the comfort of home and taking away from the …
The study from the ARC Advisory Group (2016) and the most recent one from The Hackett Group (2018) are remarkably similar in their basic observations: “supply chain visibility & analytics” remains at the top-of-mind for the executives. Many large …
I love a good pizza. I am not a big fan of deep dish Chicago style, or California style with weird ingredients. My favorite pizza is the father of all pizzas, properly baked, Pizza Margherita …
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been the talk of the industry a lot now. Resisting to adopt this technology is futile. So here’s the working logic of machine learning and also its current and future significance.
“ENTJ?”; I was in my 20s when I did my first Myers Briggs personality test working in Corporate America. It was quite revealing to understand that most of our differences emanate from the way we …
Over the last decade, apparel retail has gone through a significant shift and has turned into a game of fast, faster and fastest. So many of the previously well-known retail brands are now struggling to …
As the world’s leading consumer products company, P&G has a well-deserved reputation for innovation – from reinventing the oral care market in the 2000’s with its Crest White strips to recently launching an Uber for …
As I was growing up, one of my most recurrent dreams (other than being invisible), was to plant a chip in my brain to load every piece of information I found interesting. In fact, when …
In today’s dynamic and competitive retail landscape, value offering is becoming more relevant to apparel brands competing for the last dollar in a consumer’s wallets. Value offering, however, is not just about price. It is …
I have two millennial sons. They (and their girlfriends 🙂 ) represent the radically changed customer base faced by specialty retailers. They buy with vastly more info available to them from their mobile phones, tablets or …
As supply chain planners, much of what we do is to anticipate future outcomes and plan our activities around those expectations so as to optimize business results. What do you do though in the aftermath …
Spreadsheet software is holding your supply chain performance hostage. True – spreadsheets are low cost, easy to use, extremely versatile and universally known and loved. It has and seems to continue to get the job …
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a fantastic concept when you first hear its tricks and promises. It helps organizations align their demand and supply to meet the needs of their customers and achieve their …
That acquisitions often fail is a well-known fact. We all remember the horror stories that were the coupling of SprintNextel or AOL Time Warner. So the last few weeks when news of two major software acquisitions …
Recently several partners have reached out to us putting Solvoyo in front of wholesalers and distributors and starting the conversation of what the next generation supply chain planning means for the wholesale and distribution business. …
For the supply chain manager today, there are no dearth of online resources and expertise to guide them. From advisories by corporate biggies like Gartner or ARC, to research from leading supply chain academic programs, …
On Feb 17, 2016 Supply and Demand Chain Executive Magazine named 28 supply chain leaders as the 2016 practitioner “Pro to know” featuring executives from companies as diverse as food and commodities giant – Cargill, …
That Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a critical business process is no longer in doubt. Today, surveys after surveys indicate the rising adoption of S&OP across all industries, with almost 80% of companies reporting to have some …
Forewarned is forearmed, they say. It’s an adage that supply chain managers seem to have taken a little bit too close to heart. Despite record investments in forecasting software over the last decade, supply chain …
This post is an extract from a letter sent by Koray Dogan, our CEO, to all of Solvoyo’s customers and supporters in late 2015. As we all reflect on the year that has been and …
With the recent COP21 agreement, the focus is back once more on climate change and global efforts to reducing CO2emissions. As the full implication of this deal gets transcribed – the fundamental impact is clear …
With climate scientists and negotiators from 190 countries recently announcing a landmark deal to cap the rise in global temperatures to well below 2◦C from pre-industrial levels – now is a good time for everyone …
There are leading and lagging economic indicators. Experts have debated the role and importance of various data points for years. Supply chain indicators can be both insightful and misleading. For example, do increased retail inventory levels foreshadow …
Just imagine, Budweiser-Coors Banquet Beer-Molson Canadian-Corona-Beck’s-Bud Light-Coors Light (The Silver Bullet)-Miller Lite (Less Filling, Tastes Great)-Michelob Ultra-Miller High Life (The Champagne of Beers)-Stella Artois-Leinenkugel and so on and so on, all a part of the …
Simple and simplistic are words often misused interchangeably, but Albert Einstein understood the difference when he observed “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Einstein valued simple solutions. Yet, he also …
Crazy enough the ongoing conversations and debates surrounding omnichannel for retail (including retail consumers, suppliers & service providers) hasn’t lost momentum or for that matter interest level. With that in mind, Dr. Jim Tompkins presented some …
I apologize to the faithful followers I have (assuming you haven’t given up on me and are not actually reading this apology) but it seems my blog writing dried up much like the relentless Texas …
Legendary jazz pianist, Thelonius Monk was asked by a fan how jazz seemed to come so easily to him. His response: Hey, man, simple ain’t easy! With that statement, Monk first acknowledged that his goal …
Supply chain planning used to be a lot easier, but in today’s world of global sourcing and an almost infinite array of paths from the source to the customer, the complexity is daunting. That’s why …
When it comes to supply chain management (SCM) software, having the ability to do what-if analysis is a critical requirement for making good business decisions. What-if analysis allows users to explore multiple scenario options, compare …
Mid-sized companies face a unique set of competing pressures: the need to keep pace with ever-changing consumer demands, build a scalable foundation for profitable growth, and deploy limited resources – both people and capital – …
Every professional responsible for his or her company’s supply chain planning and execution probably realizes that there are a number of inefficiencies in his or her system; they just might not be able to pinpoint …
Recently as I crossed over the surging muddy red water of the Red River into the great state of Texas, I wasFlooding-in-Wells-008 reminded of how quickly things in life can change. Not three months ago …
As a mid-size retailer, you can likely identify – to the penny – how much it costs to order, store, and deliver your products. But if you were told tomorrow that your company was planning to add a number of stores in …
Who is Solvoyo? Our boilerplate says that we’re an enterprise software company providing strategic, tactical, and operational planning in a single platform that gives customers the most comprehensive capability to maximize profits while minimizing costs. But …
Howdy y’all! It seems I’ve taken another long break from putting thoughts into words in this space. Unfortunately I don’t have a litany of events and whimsical anecdotes to account for my absence like I …
The choice of supply chain software is an important one, primarily because of its ability to significantly improve a company’s processes, reduce waste and improve profitability. Supply chain leaders may not be fully aware of …
As a part of the Customer Success Team at Solvoyo, I recently unexpectedly found myself in Orlando FL for the annual Retail Industry Leaders’ Association (RILA) conference. For a recently employed graduate in Turkey, it was …
The RILA team did it again! Bringing together the greatest minds and strongest leaders in a complex and diverse discipline such as Supply Chain is a grand feat indeed. I’m most impressed with the comprehensive coverage …
2015 was my first adventure to the NRF big show in the Big Apple. It was impressive to say the least. The expo floor “booths” in many cases were more suitable as actual “brick and mortar” establishments …
A title made up of a double entendre (not sure if I used that right or if its appropriate but it sounds smart if not multi-national). Not only are we planning a super impressive presence …