Product Sourcing

COVID-19 has created significant market and supply chain disruptions due to unprecedented shifts in both supply and demand. With retailers and brands cutting inventory, resulting in limited product availability, it's more important than ever that retailers and brands make fast, accurate product design, selection, and pricing decisions to lock in their share of scarce supply.…

As we consider the most significant trends impacting purchasing today, consumer demand for private brands continues to remain a focus, as well as the need for convenient and digitally enhanced shopping solutions. Among the ongoing effects of the pandemic, COVID has forever shifted customer behavior with respect to how consumers shop and what they purchase.…

Retail recovery audits are a proven mechanism for recouping cash lost due to overpayments. A large retailer can recover millions in lost profit and create process improvements that stop leakage from happening in the first place. With today’s renewed focus on accelerating working capital and improving cash flow, getting the audit process right is more…

Following a record year, imports at the largest U.S. retail container ports are expected to set new monthly records from now into the summer as the nation’s economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, a maritime strategy and…

Kohl’s, seeking to sustain momentum in its burgeoning active and casualwear categories, announced that it will start carrying outwear and outdoor apparel from Eddie Bauer in 500 stores and online beginning this fall. Kohl’s said it will offer a wide array of women’s, men’s and kid's apparel from Eddie Bauer, the 100-year-old brand known for its outdoor-active orientation. Eddie Bauer…

In recent months, e-commerce, particularly the third-party marketplace, has become the driving force for retailers as footfall in-store rapidly declines — with digital sales expected to rise a staggering 18 percent in 2020. Todays "virtual malls" have all delivered soaring revenue growth during the third quarter, fueled by the transformation of consumer shopping habits. E-commerce giants…

On-demand manufacturing, also called cloud manufacturing, emerged over the past decade and is beginning to revolutionize the supply chain industry. Driven by the explosive growth of e-commerce and shifting consumer preferences, the global cloud manufacturing market is expected to reach about $112 billion by 2024, growing at an astounding 19.8 percent annually, according to MarketWatch.…

In episode 281 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Stacey Helbig, vice president of solution strategy, and Brian Coupland, senior vice president of merchandising at Staples. Listen in as Helbig and Coupland discuss the Staples Connect Breakthrough Project, the inspiration behind the initiative, and the criteria being used to evaluate new product ideas during the…

Plenty of companies spent the first months of the pandemic scrambling to pivot operations, make working from home effortless for their people, and maintaining strong customer relationships. My company certainly did. However, we also focused our energies on a rather challenging project: bringing a new product to market. During normal times, taking a product from…

For the past few years, the on-demand nature of the modern customer has been pushing retailers into a new era of data-driven, iterative decision making. As with nearly every other facet of digital transformation, COVID-19 has accelerated the need for decision making at every level of retail — product development, factory, key account coordination, inventory…