Sales margins under pressure. Retail shopping power is now said to lay with the consumer using their mobile phone. However, it is the retailer and on-line merchant that dictate the channels available and the price per channel. Will the full cost of Internet shopping be charged to consumers? Studies have estimated the total cost of the ‘consumer click and retailer … Read More
Improve inventory decisions: analyse your Supply Chains
What decisions are made. Senior people in government and business can make edicts and statements about financial matters without any factual basis. It is others that have to work within the meaningless constraints or recover from the unintended consequences. This week, the head of Australian Treasury made a statement that expenditure by the federal government should not exceed 25 percent … Read More
Your customers will pay their accounts on time, maybe
Collecting the money. After all the work has been done to fulfil the order, comes the wait until the customer pays the account. But what if the customer does not pay? This is the situation for suppliers to a large metals processor in Australia – it has gone into voluntary administration with debts of $A70m. The challenge is that the … Read More
Supply Chain risks you do not know about, but should
A recent event and risk. Its not the risks that you know about that are a challenge, but those you do not know. This situation came to the fore recently with regard to Australia’s smallest State, the island of Tasmania. With a small population and little industry, the State is reliant on imports from the mainland to stock the shops. … Read More
Consumer-centric networks – the next supply chains
A new ‘buzz’. Over the last eighteen months, the term ‘consumer-centric network’ has been used by some commentators and consultancies. So, what is new, because whenever there is competition for sales of an item or service, the customers’ needs should be taken into account. The explanation is that in current value and supply chains, the consumer is positioned at the … Read More