News

Consulting firm study: retailers struggle with technology

November 30, 2003

MCLEAN, Va. -- Four out of the six major retail segments lack a well-articulated supply-chain strategy outlining an inventory-management approach, according to a survey-driven study, "Inventory Management 2003: Communication and Technology Bear Renewed Promise," developed by BearingPoint Inc., a business-consulting and systems-integration firm.

BearingPoint's third-annual study represents the opinions of executives from an extensive cross section of the retail industry, including department store, big box, specialty, drug store, home improvement center and supermarket retailers, each of whom generate $500 million or more in annual revenue.

Among the study's key findings:

The supermarket, department store, home improvement center, and drug store segments had the highest number of respondents who did not have a supply chain strategy;

• 44 percent of those surveyed indicated they had no consistent approach to inventory management.
  
• 96 percent cited the need for further employee training to help maintain inventory control and integrity.
  
• 20 percent indicated a year-over-year increase in the use of communication tools with suppliers.
  
• 53 percent selected radio frequency identification (RFID) as an emerging tool to help eliminate obstacles to maintaining inventory integrity.

Other emerging inventory-management trends revealed in the study include: increased internal and external collaboration in the form of category management and vendor-managed inventories; the drive to balance customer demand with floor space; the increased adoption of the Internet as a tool; and the momentum to improve the customer experience with in-store kiosks and in- store terminals.