With Omni-Channel’s having become the ‘blitzword’ today, consumer Companies no longer consider the following operation a challenge, but a solution, i.e., Supply Chain. McKinsey raised the question as to how many organizations had a clear-cut approach with regard to omni-channel; about 80 per cent said that they were trying to make progress in that direction, with 20 per cent who considered themselves to be on the right side of it.
It is true that the feat of building adept supply chain capabilities may be herculean, but winning with omni-channel for world-leading CPG players is actually a few skips away. Here are the insider’s secrets:
- Multi-directional collaboration – The phrase of ‘omni-channel supply chain’ might be better had by the nomenclature of ‘omni-functionality.’ Looking at its business functions and operations, an organization that conducts everything from an integrated perspective, by, for eg., setting up cross-functional teams, with the onset of the omni-channel journey through the defining incident to implementation – which are the teams who are given resources with authority who can be decision makers to drive progress. The functions so represented, are inclusive of marketing, IT, supply chain finance, customer service, brick and mortar store operations, and e- Commerce.
- Omni-channel know-how – The second best-have is a go-to-market and service agenda, which outlines which channels the Company ought to serve, and what they want to offer to their customers online, in their own brick-and-mortar stores, or to wholesale and/or retail customers. The course that the Company charts out needs to be defined in such a way that every channel, product category, customer group, and location carries their bearing which sounds out the Company’s USP, enabling the desired integrated approach to serve customers better.
- Supply chain grid – The third must-have for omni-channel fruition, is an optimized supply chain network/grid. Getting the right kind of support requires a Company to laterally conceptualize the outcome of positioning inventory or the uniqueness of product delivery by personalizing even their flow from the factory to reaching its customers. Deciding who the chosen partners would be, how they would run the show and which other organizations that should be partnered with, will help in strengthening the grid and aid in meeting service levels, decrease distribution costs, and maximize profitability.
- Consumer and product flow analysis – Consumer and product flow analytics include certain elements, such as comprehending cost-serve expenses for various service levels. These can be combined with a proliferation of benefits that accompany it (consumer and product flow analytics). It also helps in a deeper understanding of underlying drivers in consumers’ behavior, which translates into novelty in demand (demand shaping) as well as dynamic pricing.
- Flexible transition plan – Implementations have got to be malleable when it comes to new segmented supply chains. The approach and mindset has to be different each time, as frequent changes and rapid adjustments in the world of omni-channel requires the project implemented (with change management) to be iterative, contemporary, yet traditional. Further, implementing smaller pieces before everything is ready, testing and learning with the help of pilots and experiments on a small scale before rolling it out to the whole organization also helps in ideation, before finally applying those ideas (prior to implementations) across the broader spectrum.
So, what have you deduced? An improved supply chain performance with omni-channel through an emerging data source that gives you the required anteing-up, is a successful CPG’s only call. Take it now, read up here and come along with us!