Canadian Retailer - The Supply Chain & Logistics Issue - 26

PARTNER MESSAGE PRINCESS AUTO

is approval"-that is, if they see something in
their schedule that looks odd, they contact
their respective analyst and figure out a plan
before resources and orders are committed-
otherwise, they are expected to supply.
Finally, the process has also allowed senior
management to gain unprecedented control
of the business. The unit projections in flowcasting are converted into capacity and financial projections, enabling retail sales and
operations planning-giving the executive
team the forward-looking ability to compare
projected actuals to plan and make any future
course corrections as necessary.
Omnichannel planning and
fulfilment model

Flowcasting has also allowed Princess Auto
to pilot a new model for omnichannel fulfilment. Rather than supply online demand from
a central warehouse, they are leveraging their
new capabilities of consumer demand planning at store level and are fulfilling online
customer purchases from the store.
Initially, the pilot is a few strategically located stores. However, the vision is to utilize
most, and perhaps all, stores to fulfill online
demand. The following outlines the new
consumer-driven, integrated, omnichannel
planning model:
Some of the sales in the store will be
through the cash register, some by
customer pick-up and still others by shipping from store to home. Regardless of
the customer acquisition method, it's still
a sale and contributes to the supplying
store's sales history. The process is agile
and flexible, and recalibrates the entire
supply chain daily, based on what is and
isn't selling, in addition to new strategies
and tactics agreed upon by management.
The result has allowed them to consistently achieve in-stocks approaching 98 per
cent, even during promotional periods-a
marked improvement over the industry
average of 86-92 per cent.
This new model combines the best of integrated planning and store level fulfilment to
move as close as possible to the customer, thereby significantly reducing customer order cycle
times and last mile fulfilment costs. And, most
importantly, it allows them to be in stock-whenever and wherever required by their customers.

26 |

CANADIAN RETAILER

| THE SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS ISSUE

About the Authors

Mike Doherty is a retail supply chain educator and consultant, co-author of Flowcasting the Retail Supply Chain,
and Co-Founder of Demand Clarity Inc. Demand Clarity
helps retailers change their planning processes to become consumer-driven and integrated, based on the principles of flowcasting. Their client, Princess Auto Ltd, was
an early adopter of the flowcasting process. Visit them
at www.demandclarity.com.
Ken Larson is Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
at Princess Auto Ltd. (PAL) and is responsible for delivering
and improving the Guest Experience. Mr. Larson was the
Executive Sponsor of the flowcasting implementation and
helped instill the thinking and a new mental model for planning within the organization.
To learn more, please contact Mike Doherty at
mdoherty@demandclarity.com to receive a free
electronic copy of the book.

A profitable omni-channel
model that also obliterates
out-of-stocks?
Being in-stock in the consumer connected, anychannel world you compete in, requires two things:
1. A consumer driven, integrated planning process
2. A robust, agile, competitive end-to-end
operating model
Together, Demand Clarity and Supply Chain Alliance
are the proven catalysts to help you profitably stay
in stock: whenever, wherever.
Want to learn more?

www.demandclarity.com

www.supplychainalliance.ca

http://www.demandclarity.com http://www.demandclarity.com http://www.demandclarity.com http://www.supplychainalliance.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - The Supply Chain & Logistics Issue