Start 2020 by Preparing for Digital Retail Transformation

This is a guest blog post by Jeff Ashcroft of Supply Chain Network.

A new decade is dawning and the pace of change continues to accelerate as we race head on into 2020.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the retail business, where decades-old leaders are finding new ways to survive, and digital native upstarts continue to gain momentum, with many now even opening stores.

Keeping track of and up to speed on the myriad potential technological innovations emerging as the relationships with consumers, and the supply chains we use to support them, now digitize, is definitely no easy feat.

So where can retail leaders start in their search for real world innovation and applied uses of emerging technology and automation in retail?

When it comes to retail supply chain innovation, there’s no better event than the RILA LINK 2020: The Retail Supply Chain Conference to learn about and network with retail supply chain leaders already starting to implement these future state solutions.

• AI-Powered Forecasting to Drive Cross-Functional Processes
• How DICK’S Sporting Goods Wins with Omni-Channel Automation
• Value in the Supply Chain with an End to End Approach
• Startup Innovation Award Pitches
• Building a Culture of Innovation and Abercrombie & Fitch
• Walmart’s Moonshot to the Autonomous Supply Chain
• Opening Keynote: Levi's Chief Executive Officer Chip Bergh
• Leveraging Emerging Technology to Drive Efficiency and Improved Service Level
• Navigating the Big Shift: Tech, Society & Supply Chain

• Distributed Logistics
  • Although by itself Distributed Logistics is not a digital technology, this concept is key, and it can only be successfully executed when supported by the utilization of a combination of an advanced Distributed Order Management (DOM) system and Distributed Inventory Flow Forecasting (DIFF) capability.
• Robotic Automation
  • There’s a revolution brewing in logistics automation with lower cost AND flexible robotics solutions emerging that can now be deployed cost effectively on a smaller, local scale, radically changing the dynamics of traditional network modeling. No less than 6 exhibitors of robotics solutions will be part of this year’s RILA LINK Expo Experience.
• Matrix Retail
  • ​Back in 2012 the term Matrix Commerce aka Matrix Retail was coined by myself describing a digital interface to manage all of the complexity around connecting for commerce with consumers in a digital world. Fast forward 8 years and only now are platforms emerging that can address and help retailers manage profitably real time in the digital commerce world of New Retail.

Tags

• Retail Supply Chain Conference