Overlooked Strategies for Managing Volatility in Modern Retail Supply Chain

At this year’s RVCF Conference, industry leaders came together to confront a quiet but costly reality: the retail supply chain’s biggest challenge may not be innovation gaps or technology shortfalls but overlooked fundamentals that keep daily operations in reactive mode.

Moderated by Brandon Pierre, VP of Customer Success at SPS Commerce, and joined by Dr. Gibson (Auburn University), and SPS Commerce customers Andy Sutphin (Sprouts Farmers Market), and Tim Forseth (Sunkist Growers), the session unpacked what’s truly driving volatility, why the “perfect order” remains elusive, and how collaboration, more than control, is emerging as the key to supply chain performance.

The Volatility Hidden in Plain Sight

Across more than 4,000 retailers globally, SPS Commerce data reveals that the average order changes six times before it’s fulfilled. Those changes, from adjustments to price, quantity, or ship windows, may look minor in isolation, but together they put more than $600 billion in product, inventory, and shipments at risk annually.

While teams on both sides of the retail relationship feel the impact daily, few organizations are quantifying it. And the problem is getting worse: order acknowledgements with changes have doubled year over year. That’s 1 in 10 from last year, to 1 in 5 today.

Translation: Retail orders have systemic inefficiencies that few companies are tracking — and it’s quietly eroding margins, trust, and supply chain reliability. What looks like small, routine order edits (price, quantity, timing) signals a major coordination breakdown between retailers and suppliers.

The drivers of this volatility are complex but familiar:

• Price mismatches fueled by tariffs and shifting cost structures
• Smaller, more frequent retail orders to maintain agility and minimize inventory exposure
• Fragmented communication between partners slowing real-time visibility

The Decline of the Perfect Order

For over two decades, the industry has pursued the “perfect order,” a transaction with no errors, no exceptions, and no manual intervention. Yet even at its peak, the average perfect order rate hovered around 70%, with some companies struggling to hit 20%.

The reality of today’s retail industry makes perfection an illusion. As customer expectations drive more personalization and just-in-time fulfillment, change itself is now part of the process.

The takeaway: success no longer means eliminating change; it means managing it with precision.

Collaboration in Action: Lessons from Sprouts and Sunkist

A standout example of this kind of flexibility is the partnership between Sprouts Farmers Market and Sunkist Growers, whose collaboration demonstrates the power of proactive, data-driven decision-making.

Their model includes:

• Weekly data-driven conversations using shared industry sources like IRI and Nielsen
• Proactive forecasting around demand trends and production capacity
• Dedicated onboarding support for new suppliers—far beyond the traditional “here’s a packet” approach that fails to take the supplier’s unique business needs into account

Timing and communication make the difference in this partnership. Electronic acknowledgments sent three days in advance can be processed within 15–30 minutes. Same-day changes, however, require a phone call and carry a 50–70% higher error risk.

By using shared, unbiased data and maintaining regular touchpoints, both sides gain visibility and confidence, to adjust without disruption.

Building Resilient Supply Chains: What Works

The session concluded with a set of clear, actionable recommendations and best practices for any retailer/supplier partnership:

1. Plan for disruption, not perfection.
Run scenario-based “what if” simulations. Build redundancy across supply partners. Expect volatility and train for it.

2. Measure the right metrics.
Track where and why changes occur. Differentiate necessary business shifts from process failures. Automate repeatable changes; reserve human attention for true exceptions.

3. Get onboarding right.
Define every SKU variation and pack size up front; it’s much simpler to avoid supply chain complications down the road if both parties are aligned on item data from day one. Set explicit response-time expectations and communication protocols based on urgency.

4. Elevate collaboration as a performance lever.
Share data early and often. Use neutral data sources to create mutual accountability. Establish weekly rhythms between buyer and supplier teams to address small issues before they snowball.

The Bottom Line

The modern retail supply chain doesn’t need perfection, but it does need agility, transparency, and shared accountability. Brandon Pierre summarized this point: “Every change is an opportunity to improve the system if you can see it, measure it, and respond in time.”

By embracing visibility and collaboration, retailers and suppliers can turn volatility into a competitive advantage and finally close the gap between order promise and delivery reality.