"We're facing a critical time in Inventory Performance - from customer management, assortment planning, merchandise allocation, supply chain execution and price management to store management - it affects every aspect of our business. We need to replace our static processes and information reporting with more robust and dynamic inventory management tools if we expect to survive in this increasingly competitive environment."

Sound familiar?

In today's rapidly changing environment, a retailer has to remain proactive about the business to remain competitive. Yesterday's tactics just don't work any more. Consider your business as it relates to:

• Merchandising
• Store Operations
• Distribution & Logistics
• Human Resources
• Information Technology

Interested in more information? Contact Us!

Merchandising
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Broadly defined, merchandising encompasses retail functions which include purchasing, assortment planning, margin and financial planning, inventory management, pricing, vendor management…through product development, product allocation, advertising, administration, relationship management and merchandise systems.

Due largely to the depth, breadth and entrepreneurship requirements of the merchandising position, at all levels within the organization, complete control over the product life cycle can be terribly elusive. Moreover, most organizational practices and policies effects multiple departments and buying offices and therefore requires focus at the highest level within the organization.

The GARR Consulting Group can assist in improving merchandising effectiveness by managing merchandising initiatives which extend outside of the merchandising nucleus. These initiatives may include but are certainly not limited to the following:

• Vendor, Item, and SKU Rationalization. What is the profit potential of the assortment carried?
• Inventory Management. Where is the breakdown in the linkage between product development, ordering, shipping, allocating, distributing, and selling? How do we improve margins and turn through better inventory management processes?
• Forecasting and Analytics. Do we have the necessary technology tools to enable us to perform our jobs better?
• Vendor Management. How much are leaving on the table? What kinds of service levels do our vendors provide?
• Planning. How good is the planning system? Is it static or dynamic and can plans be adjusted in real time fashion? What variability exists between planning, forecasting, and actual results and what is causing the variability?
• Operational Mechanics. Is time management nearly impossible because of redundant, unnecessary, and archaic practices?

Store Operations
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Store operations includes sales focused initiatives as well as performance and productivity related enhancements. Productivity and performance enhancements permit companies to compete effectively in highly competitive environments while permitting savings reinvestment in revenue enhancement initiatives such as sales and service programs, customer service initiatives, capital expenditures and technology.

Competition for employee's, retail saturation, changing customer lifestyles and a myriad of other factors are constantly challenging the way store executives think and react to often perplexing retail business conditions. The changing conditions are so fluid and dynamic that store operators must not only quarterback the team, they must also work the sidelines as the principle cheerleader for the rest of the team.

The GARR Consulting Group can assist retail store executives by raising the bar in the performance and productivity arena in addition to building a platform for building and sustaining revenue growth. Selected store operating opportunities may include:

• Store of the Future. What store layout maximizes customer satisfaction and enhances the shopping experience while reducing operating inefficiencies and high operating costs? Is our concept store meeting or exceeding performance expectations? Has service been defined and what profile of employee can best deliver those service expectations?
• Performance Improvement. What activities, tasks, and investment are necessary to achieve operating model requirements? How many people do we need now, next week, and in the future? How do we simplify and minimize the learning curve? How do we match workload requirements to staffing and how do these requirements influence service?
• Customer Service. Do we deliver the service we "think" are customer's want or what they demand? What are customer's perceptions of our service levels and how do they rank service requirements? What is our service model by channel and by market?
• Employee Retention. Is employee retention an afterthought? How do we identify and reinforce the top performers and how do we define "top performer"? How do we contribute to an employee's feeling of success?
• Organization. Since organization drives behavior, what behaviors are resulting from our organizational alignment and are they desired behaviors? How does organization enhance of impede our performance?

Distribution and Logistics
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Distribution and Logistics is the practice of moving freight from supplier to stores in a cost effective manner while meeting or exceeding service and performance requirements often through multiple channels (i.e., web, mail-order, retail store), multiple markets and using in-house and/or contract labor.

Distribution and logistics is often a tradeoff between achieving higher productivity rates and reducing costs or achieving somewhat lower productivity rates with higher costs while reducing costs elsewhere in the supply chain (e.g., merchandising or store costs). Service agreements between distribution and vendors, buyers and stores are imperative as is an appropriate vehicle which tracks service performance including quality. Distribution may be a combination of pre and post distribution depending upon the needs of the business.

The GARR Consulting Group's performance improvement practice focuses on assisting retailers improve their supply chain management practices through improvements in service levels, reductions in total company operating costs and increases in inventory turn. GARR has experience across the distribution spectrum including:

• Distribution Planning and Strategy. What are the corporate goals and objectives and how does distribution align with these goals and objectives? What does the distribution and logistics network look like 3-5 years from now? How do we move from today to tomorrow?
• Distribution Design. How do we meet the needs of the business while minimizing capital expenditures? What are the functional space requirements by activity? Does the design allow for flexibility if the business requirements change? What is the expected return on investment over the planned life of the facility?
• Performance Improvement. Are cost per unit and units per hour in the top quartile of our market segment? What are the operating costs by merchandise category, activity, and employee? How do we combine standards, organization, design, and technology to improve productivity and performance
• WMS. Does our warehouse management system support our desired operating practices or are we changing our desired practices to meet system operating requirements? Which system is best for our organization and how do we select the right resource? Do we enhance our existing system or purchase new?

Human Resources
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Hiring, training, rewarding and retaining the "right" employee is extremely challenging in today's retail market. The AMA estimates that the cost of turnover may be as high as 40% of total payroll when including lost productivity, Human Resource department costs, training, and benefit costs. Flexibility and quality of life issues are becoming more important in the work place as the demographics of the labor pool change. Over saturated retail markets has placed increasing stress on employers to find the "diamonds in the rough".

Many retailers have homogenized the employee relations and development parts of their business. Employee surveys, performance reviews, compensation, policy, and practices are often structured to fit the perceived needs of the employee pool collectively but not individually. Consequently, retention levels may be at all time lows or near all time lows. Each employee has specific requirements to feel successful much like every human has specific DNA. Moreover, with increasing stress in family and social lives, employees may require assistance in resolving issues outside of the workplace which impact performance.

The costs of turnover are often hidden. As companies apply pressure, perhaps inadvertently, on managers to meet payroll targets the hidden costs increase. Quality, service, and work content typically plummet…things are left undone in order to complete the basic operating tasks. The GARR Consulting Group considers the employee pool as an integral part of the operating model. GARR can assist retailers with:

• Human Resource Strategy Articulation. What is the ideal Human Resource model for your organization, competitive factors, and particular markets? What model integrates the corporate mission and vision with specific employee needs and desires? What are the Human Resource goals and objectives for the foreseeable future and are they aligned with operating goals?
• Retention Initiatives. What common threads have we identified for lack of retention? What should be the components for improving retention? Why have past programs failed….were they related to execution, approach or perhaps none of the above?
• Training. Where do we spend our training dollars and are exempt and non-exempt employees receiving the right training to enhance success rates? How is training being delivered and measured? Do we have specific instruction at every level within an employee's career development?
• Mentoring and Coaching. Who in the organization is responsible for an employee's success and how is it measured? Is coaching the responsibility of team members and peers and is it a formal or informal program?
• Rewards and Incentives. What types of rewards and incentives are being offered and are they effective? What is a "reward" for a given employee (i.e., promotions, expansion of responsibility, monetary compensation, non-monetary compensation, mastering a particular position or improvement in lifestyle)?

Information Technology
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While Information Technology is often discussed as the "great enabler" it can also be the "great disabler". Technology which, when implemented, fails to support how the company desires to operate to achieve strategic goals and objectives or fails to provide the intended benefits can have a crippling effect, over the longer term, on operating profits. Horror stories abound surrounding botched Information Technology initiatives that were shelved for lack of progress, stopped because of cost overruns or simply failed to meet expectations following implementation.

Successful Information Technology initiatives seem to always have five common threads. First, they are important to the organization as a whole and have stated goals and objectives which provide value to the organization. Second, they reach out cross functionally to all areas which will be impacted by the implementation. Third, they possess strong management teams well versed in the technical and functional aspects of the implementation and who can maneuver the highs and lows of the technology implementation life cycle. Fourth, they involve establishing appropriate expectations surrounding what the technology will deliver to the organization, often involving many positives but perhaps some negatives as well. Fifth, and perhaps most important, they are supported by training professionals who are included on the team and have the expertise to move the system from an unusable to a usable status and help alleviate apprehension associated with a new system.

The GARR Consulting Group has experience in all aspects of Information Technology. More specifically, we can manage and help insure successful implementation. Selected initiatives would include but not be limited to:

• Strategy. What systems are most important to the organization and provide the highest return? What is the software, hardware, and communication infrastructure required to achieve the near and longer term objectives of the organization? How do we achieve competitive advantage through technology?
• Software Selection. What are the functional and technical requirements which are important to the organization? How do the competing suppliers differ with respect to functionality, costs, service, support, scalability and technical composition? How well will the software integrate with existing systems?
• Systems Development. How successful have we been in the past developing new systems? What are the key success factors, how do we measure and ensure success? What resources are required and will the organization support the development team?
• Functional Requirements Definition. What is the scope of the initiative? How do we achieve functionality without over design? What are the expected deliverables? What personnel is required to ensure the best possible design?

Interested in more information? Contact Us!