PLAN AHEAD FOR 2023
RETAILERS, TAKE NOTE
PEAK PLANNING Planning and communication will be key moving into the biggest e-commerce days of 2023. Holiday deal days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring a huge influx of orders to businesses, and retailers and warehouses or fulfillment partners will need to approach this with clear communication and collaborative planning. For example, warehouses typically receive an uptick in orders over the weekend, and they may decide not to accept more orders on Monday or during deal days. This allows them to focus on getting the weekend’s shipments out the door, stay on track, and keep up with demand without getting overwhelmed. Planning ahead, and clear communication between retailers and warehouses, will encourage timely and ecient fulfillment. –Kelton Kosik, Senior Director of Supply Chain Strategy, Ware2Go
OVERVIEW
We will continue to see the retail industry focus on self- service and customer interaction. With the rise of self-checkout in the past two years, customers have become increasingly accustomed to and interested in contactless purchasing options. Retailers have also turned to these solutions as they have navigated labor shortages and will likely continue to implement new technologies that provide customer service without human involvement. In addition to self-checkout, we could also see the growth of AI solutions in retail and e-commerce, including sending re ll reminders to devices that help guide customers through a store. Many retailers are creating apps for customers that combine a personalized shopping experience with the ease of shopping on personal devices for both in-store and online shopping. Additionally, as mobile technologies have progressed and become more affordable, handheld devices have become more widely used by retailers for customer service within the store. –Ansley Hoke, Senior Vice President of Marketing, ScanSource
TREND TO WATCH
Digital penetration will continue to increase in 2023. This is especially true across social media channels, where 48% of consumers are likely to purchase a product directly from TikTok while 65% have purchased from a streaming platform. Retailers will need to continue optimizing their operations to mitigate excess spending. They will also need to invest in integrated software systems so they can oer a unified and consistent cross-channel experience that appeals to consumers and be able to fulfill orders strategically, from any location. –Fara Alexander, Director, Brand Marketing, goTRG
TO DO
For e-commerce retailers, growth in 2023 requires a heightened and multi-faceted focus on the customer. Customers will build an af nity for and become brand loyal to e-commerce retailers that keep promises in terms of product expectations and delivery time frames.
Companies will strive to be more environmentally and socially responsible as well as encouraging their customers to make more environmentally conscious decisions. As a result, e-commerce retailers will adopt ESG-focused policies, technologies, and products that nudge the customer to think and act in a more sustainable way. For example, organizations will use technology to help customers make more informed purchases to reduce returns. To help reduce their impact on the environment, retailers will get creative at checkout with prompts that inform customers how their delivery choices impact the planet, such as adding a customer informational message that by switching from next-day to 3-day delivery saves x amount of carbon emissions, or saves x gallons of fuel, or saves x number of trees. For those instances when there is a need to return an item, creating new and/or adjusting current return policies that make returns quick, ef cient, and pain-free will be paramount and will become a hallmark of the best e-commerce retailers. –Jim Barnes, EVP of Commerce Technology, Körber Business Area Supply Chain
Supply chain optionality
Retailers need to better anticipate spend and plan for customer demand in 2023. The key to doing this is supply chain optionality. Retailers can save on procurement spend by having a good handle on how much they are spending to get their products out to the shelves and balancing this spend against the number of touchpoints in the supply chain. Another important factor retailers will have to contend with is the TikTok eect, the social commerce phenomenon causing a brand to be stripped of its inventory seemingly overnight. A brand’s demand can multiply 20 times in a short period of time because of a viral video. With social commerce shopping trending upwards, brands must incorporate and plan for these spikes in their demand modeling and prepare for a range of possibilities including extremes. –Dr. Madhav Durbha, Vice President, Supply Chain Strategy, Coupa
January 2023 • Inbound Logistics 217
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