A perfect storm of factors—such as changes in consumer behavior, the emergence of large and powerful rivals, excess retail-selling-space capacity, consolidated and strong suppliers, and complex sourcing—are shaping a new competitive landscape in retailing. In such an environment, leaders in the industry face a number of key questions:

• How do we become the destination for heavy spenders in our category?
• How do we use transactional point-of-sale and loyalty-card data to better understand consumers and better serve them?
• How do we ensure the seamless experience across channels and formats that consumers are now demanding?
• How do we determine the right portfolio of products, services, formats, and locations for future growth?
• How do we take advantage of scale while still maintaining local market relevance?
• How can we be as lean as possible in operations—and make the right tradeoffs between cost and revenue in areas like store labor and inventory?
• How can we work with suppliers to reduce purchasing costs, especially in the current climate? ]]> wamahesp@gmail.com (Administrator) Retail Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:47:09 +0000