5 Reasons Why an RFP is Crucial to Your System Selection

| Curt Barry

Without an RFP and demos it’s hard to go through the system selection process and know if what you’re looking at is materially better than the existing one. Here are five compelling reasons to go through an RFP process to vet systems and vendors and make sure you choose the right one for your business needs.

How Frictionless Inventory Flow Delights Customers

| Steve Weber

Not only does accurate visibility influence customer experience, it also drives all downstream operational decisions including fulfillment, allocation and distribution. Just like you can’t manage cash flow without an accurate bank balance, you can’t manage fulfillment without inventory accuracy – making it flow like water. Here are some ways to make it happen.

Gaining Perspective on Your Operational Performance

| Mike O'Brien

Meeting the demands of today’s always-on shopper has never been more challenging. So how can you gain a window into how you’re doing compared to others in the industry as you set your investment priorities? Multichannel Merchant’s exclusive benchmarking project with F. Curtis Barry & Co. will help you gauge your operational performance across key functional areas.

retail imports

Retail Imports Up as Holiday Shopping Continues

| MCM Staff

Retail imports should be up 3.2% this month vs. 2015, as stores bring in the last of holiday merchandise, according to the monthly global port tracker from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. The numbers come as NRF is forecasting $655.8 billion in holiday sales, a 3.6% increase over last year. The NRF saw the increase as a good sign for both the retail industry and the economy overall heading into the latter part of the holiday rush.

How Do Your Merchant Operations Metrics Measure Up?

| Curt Barry

How do your merchant operations stack up across the distribution center, inventory management and the contact center? This exclusive benchmarking project and report from Multichannel Merchant and F. Curtis Barry & Co. will help you gauge your success across all 3 areas. If you’re a senior operations executive, be part of the benchmarking discussion and hear about the results at Operations Summit 2017, March 27-29 in Pittsburgh.

Warehouse/Distribution Center, order management system, ERP, operations and fulfillment, system integration, VAR

8 Things to Do Now to Ensure Success Next Peak Season

| Curt Barry

While we’re not through peak season yet, there are 8 quick steps you can take now that will help with post-season assessment of your fulfillment operations and planning for 2017. They will prove invaluable in January and February as you look for ways to implement improvements during the next peak.

23 Ways to Improve Your Inventory Management

| Curt Barry

In the age of omnichannel, inventory management has become a strategic function impacting profitability. Based on work with hundreds of multichannel companies, here are areas to consider making changes in order to get more out of your inventory investment.