Requirements from fashion retailers for improved stock management, supply chain collaboration, and pricing strategies were key themes from the sessions at the Retail Technology Show, which took place at Olympia London on 24-25 April 2024.
Representatives from retailers ranging from AllSaints and Asda George to Harrods, Primark, and River Island were part of a packed two-day agenda crammed full of retail knowledge sharing, inspiring industry stories, and brand benchmarking opportunities.
We were in the audience and have picked out the key talking points:
Stock management – and particularly optimising visibility of that inventory – is essential for an omnichannel world and to drive business efficiency.
Supply chain collaboration is needed to reduce costs, soften environmental impact, and be a better retailer.
Setting the right price is crucial – retailers shouldn’t go too discount-heavy, but they need to show empathy in a challenging economy.
Stock visibility
Speakers from Primark, River Island, and George at Asda at the Retail Technology Show all discussed the importance of optimising stock management. It’s clear that fashion retailers operating in an omnichannel environment need to be exceptionally proficient in this area, particularly in making inventory visible to the wider organisation, to drive sales and customer satisfaction.
George at Asda and River Island have both undertaken extensive RFID projects in recent years that – according to these businesses – have improved availability for customers and also enhanced their overall operations.
Simon Pakenham-Walsh, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at fashion chain River Island, which operates 240 stores across the UK, stated that the technology can “better integrate the in-store and digital experience for example, in the future”.
Already, a willingness to embrace and invest in such technology is yielding results for River Island. Pakenham-Walsh, who joined as CIO this year from Sweaty Betty, explained how stock availability has risen from 70% to 98% following the introduction of RFID, while a 3% uplift in sales was reportedly achieved because stock was consistently available.
Nathan Jennings, Senior Director for Transformation at George at Asda, the largest of the UK supermarket fashion businesses, explained how customer feedback consistently indicated that availability was the number one factor people wanted George to improve. Investing in an item-level RFID roll-out has helped enhance that and ensure the retailer always knows where products are in its supply chain, and, according to Jennings, other departments are exploring how they can leverage the technology to make improvements, for instance in supply chain management and identifying shrinkage patterns.
Kirsty Buxton, Senior Transformation Manager, RFID, at George, also discussed how obtaining accurate inventory data can advance the business. The company aims to “unlock buy online, pick up in store”, she said, as well as embedding George products on the wider Asda grocery website. Meanwhile, inventory-by-store data is already displayed on the Asda at George website, which is driving sales and providing customers with certainty about their purchases.
“If a customer can’t find the item they are looking for, they can search [online] in another store,” she explained.
Speaking more generally about technology and the power of artificial intelligence (AI), Paul Sims, Chief Architect at Primark, discussed how AI could be beneficial in the product design process and in forecasting demand, enabling stock to be appropriately inventoried.
Fashion retailers looking to enhance inventory visibility and optimise product allocation should also consider the BlueCherry ERP, which is specifically designed for their industry and speaks their language.
Supply chain collaboration
It was particularly interesting to hear Simon Finch, Supply Chain Director of Harrods, discuss how improved collaboration throughout the supply chain can drive both operational and sustainability benefits for retailers.
One example Finch shared with the Retail Technology Show audience was Harrods’ partnership with Burberry.
“How do we resolve the trade-off between cost and sustainability?” he asked delegates.
“Enabling us to offer our brand’s inventory at our brand’s locations has allowed us to provide a better service to our customers while also reducing costs and improving sustainability.”
With Burberry, a Harrods online shopper in the US can purchase one of the brand’s famous trench coats, for instance, and that product will be shipped directly from the Burberry distribution centre in New Jersey, thanks to clever thinking and technology implementation.
“Actually, that coat would originally have come from SW1 [in London] and been shipped to the US with all the delays and costs that would incur for the customer,” Finch noted.
“Now it comes from the Burberry warehouse, which is actually in New Jersey.”
Indeed, fashion retailers using BlueCherry’s ERP can also enhance their strategic decision-making and increase enterprise visibility in real time, allowing them to gain more control over their supply chains.
Setting the right price
Meanwhile, in another theatre early on day one of the Retail Technology Show, AllSaints Chief Innovation Officer James Reid attracted a crowd to explain the fashion retailer’s mobile app strategy.
Rather than focusing on the supply chain per se, he concentrated his session on technology transformation, and how the business transitioned from a position during the pandemic where it “didn’t have the capabilities I wanted” to one today, where a single basket is now accessible everywhere from online, mobile, to the new app.
Customers can switch seamlessly regardless of their entry point, he explained. A new app is central to AllSaints’ modernisation, providing early access to product and marketing experiences that can’t be found elsewhere – helping to boost e-commerce sales at the retailer since its launch.
Regarding pricing strategy, Reid acknowledged that discounts had been part of AllSaints’ approach during the Covid period, but the aim is to move customers away from chasing deals. Heavy markdowns across the retail industry do not assist in growing the top line.
“It’s not easy,” admitted Reid, alluding to the challenging economic conditions retailers are operating in – and will continue to operate in throughout 2024. However, with technology transformation, AllSaints is refreshing its proposition and moving in a positive direction.
We at BlueCherry understand that apparel companies face increasing complexities in their supply chains, and they are tasked with reducing cycle times and controlling product costs. BlueCherry Enterprise Resource Planning assists the top fashion brands in overcoming these operational and market challenges.
We were encouraged by all the excellent work we heard about at the Retail Technology Show in London, regarding the efforts fashion retailers are making to improve stock visibility, revamp supply chains, and tackle major issues such as optimal pricing strategy. However, there is always more that can be done.
Connect with a member of the BlueCherry team today online to book a demonstration or obtain additional information about how our ERP perfectly aligns with what apparel retailers and brands are aiming to achieve.
