Omnichannel Supply Chain

An omnichannel supply chain uses a central stock pool to control a number of factors such as pricing, fulfilment, sales, stock management and ordering. These orders are fulfilled from numerous retail channels such as concessions, franchises, catalogue, web, stores and mobile. The central stock pool is the heart of all these operations.^[1] The supply chain is now on the front line thanks to omnichannel. Consumers are increasingly demanding in this day and age, expecting to be able to browse, buy and return goods through various channels and not just the traditional in-store way. This requires real-time, channel-agnostic visibility of inventory across the supply chain and a single view of the consumer as they hop from one channel to another.^[2]

Omnichannel Retailing

Similar to multichannel retailing, whether the channel is the web, the store, or on mobile, the supply chain is the key to delivering a customer experience. With an omnichannel supply chain, it means the product or service can be ensured in the right place, at the right time. The supply chain has now grown as a platform for many methods of omnichannel retailing. Omnichannel shopping/retailing is not just one method, but multiple channels including the web, store, catalogue etc.^[3]

Successful omnichannel retailing is giving the customer a choice as to how they shop, when they shop and where they shop. Omnichannel retailing provides a seamless experience to the customer. But as this is no longer a linear process, retailers need to organize their supply chains to manage multiple channels and a complicated path to purchase.^[4] The central stock pool is there to fulfil orders from all retail channels.^[5]

Omnichannel Supply Chain Solutions

Many retailers require a third party supplier to provide omnichannel supply chain solutions to fulfill the seamless coming together of shopping channels with one single view of stock. Retailers can then ensure their customers are shopping the full brand and not just one single channel (eg: website). Karen Millen for example uses the omnichannel supply chain solution Merret.

Omnichannel Communication

The omnichannel retailing principles are also applied to external and internal organizational communication due the similarities in their nature.^[6]Similar to omnichannel retailing, consumers and employees do not want to be constrained to a single communication channel. They want to switch seamlessly between different communication channels, without restarting the conversation. ^[7]

References