The next few weeks will be full of interpretation of holiday retail  numbers. Are they up, down or flat? How about online sales? And the big, BIG question … what do the numbers show us about the state of the economy, consumer confidence and the prospects for a 2010 recovery?
The early returns are positive (if [...]

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One of the recurring themes of the New Normal is the increasing complexity of and reliance on extended supply chains with many participants beyond the Tier 1 supplier. Gibson Guitar was given a first-hand (and very unwelcome) lesson in this reality just yesterday when its manufacturing plant in Nashville was raided by the US [...]

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Yesterday, Procurement Leaders ran a story on the impact of Wal-Mart’s efforts to reduce excess packaging in the toys they carry. In addition to the reduced consumption of paper and plastic in the actual packaging, the article reports that the changes saved Wal-Mart 727 shipping containers and 1,300 barrels of oil in comparison to the [...]

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To paraphrase (or butcher) Mark Twain’s famous line, news of the recession’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. US retail same-store sales reports for August came in almost uniformly negative. While the results may have beaten some Wall Street analyst’s dismal projections, that’s somewhat like being happy that the woeful Washington Nationals finished their [...]

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Over the last several decades, supply chains in retail have become increasingly complicated with more players and more “links in the chain.” Retailers around the world are increasingly dependent on outside parties for some of their most critical supply chain functions like fulfillment and distribution. And while this has allowed retailers to focus on [...]

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