The Quest For A Resilient And Agile Supply Network
Benchmark Report
Brian Kilcourse and Steve Rowen, Managing Partners, RSR Research
July 2023
Today, retail supply chains are fragile, and agility (the ability to quickly adjust to changes in demand) and resiliency (the ability to respond to supply chain shocks) have become boardroom issues, even while challenges on the consumer side are still being addressed.
This report analyzes both sides of the problem: surveying 87 qualified retailers and over 1,000 US-based shoppers to gain their insights:
The Authors of this Report discuss the results of their Research in the video below.
17.31 Minutes
Key Findings of the Report
The following are some of the highlights of what they told us:
- When it comes to external Business Challenges, retailers express concerns bordering on alarm that legacy supply chains cannot support the growth in their businesses. 81% say they are growing faster than their supply chains can sustain. Even more, they suspect that all the variable costs associated with supporting new consumer shopping behaviors are undermining profitability – and raising retail prices to cover those variable costs is not a workable solution. They are in a very difficult position.
- While shoppers grow frustrated, and report that they feel little has been done to solve for this growing host of problems, retailers do feel as though they are making real progress on the planning side. In the Opportunities section of this report (starting on page 16 of this report), 57% of retailers say improvements in forecasting analytics and the new data available to retailers have had a profound impact on the precision with which planners can forecast consumer demand.
- Despite being presented with a long list of Organizational Inhibitors to best identify what’s keeping them from doing more (page 23 of this report), nearly half of the retailers in our study select the lack of top-level support as a top-tier challenge. With all of the attention supply issues are currently receiving, how can this be? The answer relates to measurement tools: 41% of retailers say the metrics they use to gauge success are old and irrelevant. Many executives likely have no idea how poorly their own supply chains are performing, as metrics based in “efficiency ratings” may be telling them everything is just fine.
- It is surprising how quickly artificial intelligence and machine learning have become high[1]value technologies for retailers. In the wake of all the changes and disruptions that have occurred since 2020, retailers are viewing AI/ML as the best technology to help them address several nagging challenges – but most prominently, improved forecasting. In fact, 81% of the best performing retailers have already begun implementation of some type AI[1]based forecasting Technology Enabler to develop multiple demand generation scenarios.
This analysis begins on page 27 of this report.
Based on our findings, we also offer several in-depth and pragmatic suggestions on how retailers should proceed. These recommendations can be found in the Bootstrap Recommendations portion of the report.
We certainly hope you find the data and insight valuable,