Talk Retail to Me

Solving Both Sides of the Inventory Problem

Parker Avery experts Clay Parnell, Amanda Astrologo, and Rob Oglesby, talk about lessons learned and best practices that have emerged over the past few months in how retailers are handling the huge swings in consumer demand and inventory movements that we have witnessed across all segments of retail due to recent disruptions.

Learn more about The Parker Avery Group's retail consulting services by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/ 

 

You may also like this content:

The Expert Guide to Omnichannel Order Management: https://parkeravery.com/omnichannel-order-management-and-fulfillment/ 

Five Expert Steps to Finally Solve Omnichannel Execution: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/five-expert-steps-to-finally-solve-omnichannel-execution/ 

Solving Today's Retail Inventory Challenges with Strategy and Process: https://parkeravery.com/solving-todays-retail-inventory-challenges-with-strategy-and-process/ 

 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

What to Do When You're Expecting…Customers: Part 2

In this episode, The Parker Avery Group's Change Management Lead Kathi Toll, along with retail experts Tricia Gustin and Heidi Csencsits discuss ways retailers can handle customers and associates coming back into their stores after a major disruption like the COVID-19 pandemic--this week focusing on handling tense or challenging situations. 

Learn more about The Parker Avery Group's retail consulting services by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/ 

 

You may also enjoy this content: 

What to Do When You're Expecting ... Customers: Part 1: https://parkeravery.com/podcast-what-to-do-when-youre-expecting-customers-part-1/ 

The Expert Guide to Organizational Change in Retail: https://parkeravery.com/organizational-change-management/ 

Store-Level Omnichannel Capabilities for Retail's New World: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/essential-disruption-store-level-omnichannel-capabilities-for-retails-new-world/ 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

Beginning the Journey: Emerge from COVID-19

For those retailers that are most impacted by COVID-19 and are either completely shut down or only operating with limited direct to consumer fulfillment, we can’t predict exactly when current conditions will allow re-opening of stores and operations. But it is coming, and it’s imperative to prepare now. How do you effectively re-start your business in a controlled manner, with stores re-opening based on regional conditions, and consumers finally venturing out from behind their computers and mobile devices? Many retailers were working hard or struggling to be competitive before the pandemic. The focus now is to quickly reset at least to where you were before the retail lockdown started, but perhaps there’s an opportunity to go further. How quickly your team can respond and rise to the challenge will determine your place in the future pecking order, if not survival itself.

In the podcast version of the 3rd webinar in Parker Avery's Reconstructing Retail series, Robert Kaufman and Clay Parnell are joined by industry expert Joe Skorupa in helping you::

• Understand what your leadership team should be thinking about now and how to prepare for Day 1
• Learn how to consider a roadmap for the first week, first month, and the initial 1-2 seasons back after being closed
• Hear survey results from other retailers on their experiences, concerns, and plans
• Consider how important accurate and timely data and related analytics will be to ensuring effective decision-making

Watch the video replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ccB2xMas4Y 

Learn more about The Parker Avery Group's retail consulting services by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/ 

 

You may also like this content:

The Expert Guide to Organizational Change in Retail: https://parkeravery.com/organizational-change-management/ 

Retailer's Change Management and Communication Strategy Drive Sustainable Results: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/retailers-change-management-and-communication-strategy-drive-sustainable-results/ 

Organizational Change Strategy Brings Efficiency and Growth to Mattress Manufacturer: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/organizational-change-strategy-brings-efficiency-and-growth-to-mattress-manufacturer/ 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

Triaging Your Inventory: Decisions for Stability

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Parker Avery Group conducted a four-part webinar series, Reconstructing Retail.  This series covered some important topics and focused on helping our clients and friends in the industry. Throughout this series, we shared our firm's pragmatic thoughts and perspectives, with the understanding that for most of us, the pandemic and its aftermath represented the transformation of a generation or even our lifetime. With so much on hold for many retailers and brands, our webinar series allowed us to look forward and at least help retailers catch back up to where they were before or perhaps even get ahead. We all witnessed abundant innovation opportunities that continue today.

Our Triaging Your Inventory webinar focused on inventory and the supply chain. We all recognize the continued distortion in our industry in different ways. Retailers are still trying to keep up with highly fluctuating demand and precarious supply chains. While many of the topics or suggestions may apply to all retail sectors, our emphasis in the webinar was focused on those retailers deemed ‘non-essential’ that were closed and needed to plan to restart.

When introducing the webinar, there was a lot of talk about when shelter-in-place orders would be lifted and when the economy would reopen. At that moment, we did not try to guess the timeframe, nor were we able to ensure when ‘Day 1’ would be. But we did know we would leave our homes again. We would come out from behind our screens and webcams. We would shop again. Consumers would be back. And we, as an industry, needed to be prepared.

Why was focus on inventory so important, especially for retailers that were shut down? We’d venture to say that in February, even early March of 2020, few of us would have forecasted what happened so suddenly by mid-March. We had plans for the season, we were hopeful for a strong 2020, and we had no idea of the coming pandemic and its impact on the world. Post-March, many retailers’ only focus was ecommerce fulfillment and any omnichannel shopping options they may have had. Otherwise, stores were dark, inventory was aging quickly – and unlike fine wine, aged inventory does not get better with age.

For our Reconstructing Retail inventory focus, we introduced the “triage” concept with 3 stages:

• Level 1: Critical – what do absolutely need to address right now
• Level 2: Urgent – what are the next things that will need to be managed
• Level 3: Recovery – what’s next, and how can we balance further stabilization with future opportunities

The webinar featured Amanda Astrologo and Rob Oglesby from Parker Avery, joined by Joe Skorupa, long-time RIS News editor and industry-recognized subject matter expert on all things retail and CPG.

In this Talk Retail to Me episode, our retail experts discussed:

• How to evaluate potential inventory options – risk vs. reward
• How to think about your assortments moving forward
• How to consider future demand, by channel, based on likely store opening and ramp-up scenarios
• What systems and tools will be most useful as you manage through the immediate season and simultaneously plan for the next

Learn more about The Parker Avery Group by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/ 

 

You may also like this content:

Five Expert Steps to Finally Solve Omnichannel Execution: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/five-expert-steps-to-finally-solve-omnichannel-execution/ 

Ask the Experts: In-Store Omnichannel Fulfillment of Omnichannel Orders: https://parkeravery.com/ask-the-experts-in-store-fulfillment-of-omnichannel-orders/ 

Retail Store Inventory Assessment Exposes $65 Per Square Foot in Hidden Profit: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/retail-store-inventory-assessment-exposes-65-per-square-foot-in-hidden-profit/ 

 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

Predicting the Future: Retail’s New World

Even as we work to ramp back up, re-open stores, and improve our view of current inventory positions, we need to start developing perspectives of future sales and inventory demand. The ability to predict and react quickly to customer demand is critical, along with having a common demand signal that can help support various functions across retail planning, pricing, and fulfillment. Retailers can view this near-term period as an opportunity to significantly enhance their ability to quickly and dynamically drive business insights for improved decision-making. In this audio session of our Reconstructing Retail webinar series, Parker Avery experts Sam Iosevich and Amanda Astrologo are joined by industry analyst Joe Skorupa to help you understand:

• The challenges and options for considering future demand as the COVID-19 crisis lessens and our retail economy begins to re-open
• How AI/ML tools can be used to provide dynamic demand signals and quickly produce multiple scenarios
• Options for addressing short-term inventory, allocation, and replenishment challenges while planning for future demand

Watch the video replay: https://youtu.be/j-pZtLd-Rzw

Learn about The Parker Avery Group's retail consulting services by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/ 

Learn more about a unified demand signal by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/enterprise-intelligence/

 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

Mobilizing & Sustaining a Resilient Organization

Have you considered what type of leadership and support your team will need following a major disruption? Do the traditional leadership and change management models feel outdated to you? Parker Avery's industry experts share tools and frameworks that surpass typical approaches and are more relevant in today's environment so you can confidently guide teams through transformational periods. We provide real-world examples you and your teams can use as you tease out the business practices and behaviors that will carry you into the future.

In this podcast version of our Reconstructing Retail webinar series, Parker Avery experts Kathi Toll, Deanna Emsley, and Marty Anderson are joined by industry analyst Joe Skorupa to help you understand:

• Understand how to prepare yourself to lead in a post-COVID-19 world
• Gather skills, tools, and frameworks to prepare your team to build resiliency
• Understand the stages of personal change and learn how to assist your team members during the early weeks of return
• Learn how to collectively assess “lessons learned” and determine which elements your team wants to continue into the new world

Read the recap: https://parkeravery.com/mobilizing-and-sustaining-a-resilient-organization/

Watch the webinar replay: https://youtu.be/j-pZtLd-Rzw

Learn more about The Parker Avery Group's retail consulting services by visiting: https://parkeravery.com/ 

 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

What to Do When You're Expecting: Customers: Part 1

In this episode, The Parker Avery Group's Change Management Lead Kathi Toll, along with retail experts Tricia Gustin and Heidi Csencsits discuss ways retailers can handle customers and associates coming back into their stores after a major disruption like the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

You may also like this content:

What to Do When You're Expecting ... Customers: Part 2: https://parkeravery.com/podcast-what-to-do-when-youre-expecting-customers-part-2/ 

Store Operations Assessment Unlocks Hidden Potential for Discount Retailer: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/store-operations-assessment-unlocks-hidden-potential-for-discount-retailer/ 

Store-Level Omnichannel Capabilities for Retail's New World: https://parkeravery.com/industry-experience/essential-disruption-store-level-omnichannel-capabilities-for-retails-new-world/ 

 

Learn more about The Parker Avery Group by visiting: https://www.parkeravery.com/ 

 

Introduction music:  On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cover image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay