Inventory management and visibility lead multi-channel tech plans, AMR says
In a recent survey by AMR Research Inc. of retailers’ plans for upgrading their multi-channel platforms, the largest group, 22%, cited web-enabled inventory management and visibility as among the most important projects over the next 12 months.
The survey indicates that retailers are beginning to move more aggressively toward web-enabled systems that support multi-channel retailing and the ability to transmit and view data across shopping channels. Even though many retailers already claim to have automated processes for inventory and order management, most of it is not yet driven by web-based systems fully integrated across the retail enterprise, providing the kind of support necessary for true cross-channel services, AMR retail analyst Rob Garf says, figuring that only 10-16% of retailers have data in a consolidated and web-enabled data repository to support real-time visibility and access to data across multiple channels.
“The lack of data consolidation for inventory and order management further illustrates retailers’ immature inventory and order management processes,” AMR said in the survey report, “Technology Trends in Inventory and Order Management for Retailers and CP Manufacturers.”
Other technology plans cited in the survey, including the percentage of retailers placing them among their five most important plans for the next 12 months:
Customer loyalty and intelligence, 12%
Data warehouse, 10%
POS systems, 10%
Multi-channel customer order fulfillment, 10%
Front-end e-commerce, 4%.
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