Retail & e-commerce Archives

Explosive Growth Digital Transformation

Mike Sarantopoulos, SVP, Insurance Practice, NTT DATA, Inc

A successful digitalization strategy is critical to insurance firms’ survival. This white paper examines effective strategies for overcoming internal obstacles to digital transformation and the crucial role data plays in any insurance carrier’s business. Additionally, it clarifies the foundational capabilities that are key to a successful digital transformation initiative. They include: Driving business transformation with …

Top 9 Innovation Trends in Outsourcing for 2015

Outsourcing Center, Staff Writer

Robotics, Analytics or Multi-channel enagagement? This report explores the innovative practices businesses are implementing in their outsourcing agreements. It is based on 100 in-depth interviews with senior outsourcing buyers. More than four fifths (83%) of buyers say they have experienced innovation in their outsourcing relationships Nine in ten (92%) say their outsourcing partners want to …

Why ConAgra Foods Decided to Outsource HR Analytics After Doing It In house

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

This is the second article in a series on how companies are using Big Data to gain critical business insights. ConAgra Foods, a food maker based in Omaha, Nebraska, started its journey to using predictive analysis in an incremental way. The company, whose brands include Healthy Choice, Banquet, Orville Redenbacher’s, Marie Callender’s and Chef Boyardee, …

Big Data Trends: New Uses, New Challenges, New Solutions

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

It’s hard to find a business enabler that’s evolving as quickly as big data analytics. Big data trends are on the minds of business owners everywhere. This undisputed darling of the loyalty program and retail world has now infiltrated nearly every industry, from transportation and healthcare to insurance and supply chain management. It’s the catalyst …

Transforming Supply Chain Management with RFID

Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer

Some years ago, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) was going to bring supply chain management to the next level. Retailers like Target, Metro Cash & Carry and Walmart adopted it, only to discover that there were several challenges. Integration with SCM was one—tracking everything down to the last part/unit using RFID was turning out to not …

Mobility Shifting the Wave from Brand-centric to Customer-centric Retailing

Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer

Two things are of key importance in the retail industry today: margins and customer loyalty. While better sourcing, operational efficiencies and market penetration can check margins, the answers to improving loyalty or even maintaining them are complex. Retailers are increasingly being forced towards tactical solutions, rewarding customers with “money-off” deals. Much of the concept of …

“Let’s Go Shopping:” New Mobility Strategies Entice Consumers Back Into Physical Stores

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

Why go to a store when you can purchase online? Thanks to innovative mobility strategies, consumers will soon have plenty of reasons. Instead of focusing efforts on lackluster mCommerce, retailers are now looking at mobility solutions as a means to enhance their customers’ in-store experiences, drive loyalty and increase per basket sales. “We’re seeing the …

The Evolving Product Sourcing Value Chain in China – Part 2

Thomas Keenan and Geofrey L. Master, Mayer Brown LLP

The entire sourcing value chain for consumer products sourced or manufactured in Asia has become increasingly interconnected and mutually reliant—ownership of physical manufacturing assets and intellectual property rights has become more ambiguous and contentious. With ambiguity over ownership and rights to manufacturing assets, customers lose the key leverage of mobility. While brand companies were able …

The Retail Revolution: Big Changes in Store

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

The past few years have not been kind to the retail industry. Sluggish economies, shrinking margins and a more cost-conscious consumer have taken their proverbial toll. “We’ve seen retail sales increase by 5 percent to 6 percent, yet profits declined from 3.5 percent to 2 percent. So, even though stores are selling more, they’re making …

The Evolving Product Sourcing Value Chain in China — Part 1

Thomas Keenan and Geofrey L. Master, Mayer Brown LLP

The product supply chain from China is not what it used to be. Over the past 20 years, Chinese consumer-product manufacturers have become increasingly sophisticated and capable of taking on more “value-adding” tasks or segments of the product creation supply chain and have moved from mere manufacturers to multi-functional suppliers. In doing so, they have …

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