Inventory Management

There are seasonal businesses and then there's Halloween Express. The retailer has an eight-week sales cycle (September through October), with 50 percent of its annual business occurring in the last 10 days leading up to Halloween. Therefore, it's critical that Halloween Express is nimble and can make decisions in real time, particularly when it comes to purchasing inventory.

Our experts walk you through opportunities to not only cut shipping costs, but also improve shipping service to your customers.

As part of its strategic shift toward seamless inventory, Patagonia, an outdoor apparel retailer, will deploy 7thonline to support merchandise and assortment planning for direct-to-consumer channels, including brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce. This deployment marks the expansion of a pre-existing relationship between Patagonia and

By 2017, 50 percent of all U.S. retail sales will be omnichannel. Enabling agile commerce is table stakes for your business. But who will drive these initiatives? Research shows that retailers expect the CFO to spearhead e-commerce. So, how will you demonstrate the return on investment of omnichannel fulfillment to your CFO? Sign up for this informative webinar and learn how to gain your CFO's endorsement on implementing industry-leading omnichannel initiatives that blend the best of online technology with offline fulfillment. You'll learn how to:

• leverage intelligent order routing logic;
• optimize your return policies and procedures; and
• prioritize financial sales attribution.

For Wisteria, an omnichannel retailer of distinctive home furnishings and accessories, sales growth has come easier than for a lot of other brands. The company has consistently grown revenue since its founding in 2000. Last year, for example, saw revenue increase 25 percent. What was missing — at least to Wisteria's standards — was profitability. To help in that area, Wisteria has partnered with NetSuite to deploy the software provider's SuiteCommerce and POS solutions in an effort to become a more efficient (and profitable) organization. 

Hear answers to the most-asked Amazon questions; best practices for retailers selling on Amazon; and what NOT to do on Amazon.

Coldwater Creek, a women's clothing retailer that hasn't been profitable since 2007, is planning to liquidate its assets after a bankruptcy filing that may come as soon as today, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The company received a so-called stalking horse, a minimum bid from parties that would sell off the retailer's assets to repay creditors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn't public. The filing would come five months after Coldwater Creek said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale. 

IT investments continue to provide opportunities for sales growth at Bon-Ton Stores. This spring the retailer will introduce its Let Us Find It software in stores, linking the point-of-sale ordering system with real-time inventories to drive sales growth. This is the second largest opportunity for Bon-Ton behind e-commerce. The retailer will also use RFID technology in-store, beginning with the shoe department to confirm that all shoe styles are on display. The technology was tested last fall with dramatic results and there are plans for it to be expanded to other merchandise areas as well.

We were privileged to hear from two outstanding keynote speakers at Direct Tech's annual user conference last week in sunny, warm Orlando. (Please forgive my sigh; I'm back home in Wisconsin, where the current temperature is -10°.) One of them, Elaine Beaubien, an award-winning educator, entrepreneur, and business management and training coach, shared her observations on "innovating to survive" in a rapidly changing environment.

Amazon.com says it's hiring more than 2,500 full-time workers at its order fulfillment centers around the U.S. Amazon plans to announce Wednesday that the jobs are available in Chester, Va., and Petersburg, Va.; Coffeyville, Kan.; Columbia, S.C.; Dupont, Wash.; and Murfreesboro, Tenn. The world's largest online retailer says last year it hired more than 20,000 people at its fulfillment centers, with more than half starting out as seasonal workers. Amazon says the median income for people working at its order fulfillment facilities is higher than at traditional retailers.