Retailers: Set wheels in motion now for a successful year

by | Jan 26, 2017 | 3PLs, Omnichannel, Retailers, Suppliers

During the holidays, if you work in retail and related fields, it feels like you’re constantly running to put out one fire after another to keep products stocked and customers happy. Naturally, during this time of upheaval, companies are reluctant to make big decisions and major changes during that time.

Each December (and often even started back in November), there’s usually a freeze on adding new technology or new services, changing policies and in some cases, even retirements and promotions are held off until the holidays are over. It’s understandable. After all, the middle of December is not the time to introduce a new product line, launch new e-commerce capabilities or place someone into a brand new role.

Of course, when the new year rears its head, January usually brings an influx of changes. New processes, new tech, new people, new positions and even new departments. January is a great time to re-evaluate, reorganize and start new processes to work together better towards this year’s goals.

Looking at your data

Ideally, you hopefully did some legwork in December on how to make the new year better so you could hit the ground running once the calendar flipped to January. With how busy the month is, though, so don’t fret if you barely had time to catch your breath, let alone gather the necessary data for retooling for the next year.

Because you have the full data for the previous year, January is the perfect time for reflecting on how you did and revamping your organization to do better.

For example, if you’re a retailer, you should be looking at marketplaces and channels that already exist, but you’re not in, and start exploring those relationships now. Figure out what integration will look like, and lay out the steps to do it. Start your company’s internal evolution at the starting at the beginning of the year and test everything so that you have plenty of time to get ready for the next holiday.

If you’re a supplier, you should be looking at how well you performed for your retailers, and maybe evaluating whether you want to add services. Retailers are telling us that they even more need drop-ship capable vendors in the new year. Many are also seeking better inventory visibility from their suppliers. Perhaps you’re doing fine with your retailers and are even considering selling directly to consumers yourself.

Looking at your peers

So it’s great to look at what you’ve been doing and how you can improve what you already have, but there’s a great value in taking a look at what your competitors and peers are doing as well to be sure you are gaining market share and staying relevant with consumers.

Enter the latest installment of our Retail Insight survey. For the past five years, SPS Commerce has teamed with Retail Systems Research (RSR) to survey hundreds of players in the retail industry to understand their outlook and strategic focus for the next year, and this year is no different. SPS just released its most recent report in January and it is chock full of insights from retailers, suppliers, distributors and logistics firms on their plans for this year, including where they experience difficulties and in many cases what they plan to do about it. In this particular report, we also examined the cream of the crop – the companies that are really cruising to success in this omnichannel era – and picked apart what they’re doing well in the hopes that our research can help others boost their plans for improving in the new year.

Testing your updates and upgrades

If you get things rolling early enough, you can even begin running performance tests on smaller shopping holidays, like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. And let’s not overlook how Prime Day and the back to school shopping season can be mini tests for the big holiday shopping season that starts on Black Friday (or before).

The first quarter is where you lay the groundwork for a successful rest of the year. There’s always room to perform better, and with how fast the retail world is moving, it makes sense to review all of your systems, from fulfillment to technology to human resources to marketing and sales– there are so many different moving parts that can be improved and have a positive impact on your bottom line.

It all starts with gathering the necessary data and information, extrapolating the lessons you need to learn and then making an action plan for how to carry it out.

SPS Commerce offers business solutions for analyzing data to assess how you are performing and how products are selling, as well as fulfillment and item management solutions needed to meet the demands of today’s consumer for rapid delivery and vast assortments. For more information, please visit our website and contact us to learn more about how the SPS retail network can help your new year be even brighter.

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Scott Bolduc

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