Resources

A New Model for Retailer-Supplier Collaboration by Mike Doherty – Supply Chain Management Review, March/April 2024

Leveraging profound truth and the power of silence to improve collaboration and supply chain performance.

Managing a Retail Business to a Single Set of Numbers by Mike Doherty – Retail Insider

How a model of the business improves performance.

A Better Way to Match Demand and Supply in the Retail Supply Chain by Mike Doherty and George Stalk, Jr. – Harvard Business Review, December 2022

Every organization across the supply chain should rely on retailers’ forecasts of end-customer demand.

Decimating Out-of-Stocks and the Bullwhip Effect by Mike Doherty

How leveraging a 50-year-old profound truth finally resolves two chronic
supply chain issues.

The Customer is the Channel by Mike Doherty and Ken Larson

Learn how Princess Auto uses a consumer-driven, store centric fulfillment model to plan and satisfy all customer demand.

Catalyze Change and Transform Your Inventory Planning by Mike Doherty and Kimberley Kirton

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Learn how Princess Auto was able to change their thinking while transforming the inventory flow planning process to Flowcasting – connecting and driving the entire, integrated supply chain from consumer to supplier.

A Digitally Connected, Consumer-Driven Supply Chain by Mike Doherty and Sylvain Landry

Man using mobile payments for online shopping and icon customer network connection on speed motion blur background

Learn how a digitally connected, consumer-driven supply chain provides retailers with a future-dated digital twin of their entire supply chain for an extended planning horizon and how this enables profitably planning for and delivering to the anywhere shelf.

Flowcasting: Digitally Connecting the Retail Supply Chain by Mike Doherty

Digitally Connecting BTG

The retail supply chain is under siege. A number of recent trends have placed significant onus and pressure on retail supply chain performance. These trends include the always-connected consumer, a shift in store formats and missions, the rise of multi-channel commerce, localized assortments and planning, value chain transparency, and the rise of cloud-based computing, to name some key ones.

A consumer-driven, digitally connected and integrated, end-to-end supply chain planning process can help retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers relieve some of these pressures. In this eBook, we’ll review leading practices for improving supply chain agility—and outline how to digitally connect the retail supply chain to maximize revenue and margins while removing costs and simplifying planning activities across the entire value chain.

Flowcasting: In Stock – Whenever, Wherever by Mike Doherty and Ken Larson Originally published in Canadian Retailer – Fall 2017 Supply Chain issue.

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Learn how Princess Auto Ltd. is using the Flowcasting planning process to significantly improve in-stocks and profits while unleashing a new omnichannel fulfilment model.

Firefighting to Flowcasting – The Six Step Program by Mike Doherty and Jeff Harrop

Much of the day to day activity within most retail “planning” groups involves firefighting and ordering like maniacs.

Nod if you relate, shake if you don’t (and remember, you’re alone… be honest!).

Ending Retail Out-of-Stocks Once and For All by Mike Doherty and Jeff Harrop

Can you imagine trying to improve something for over a decade and achieving no progress? You’d want to shoot yourself or at the very least, admit defeat…

Why Retail Replenishment Stinks by Mike Doherty and Jeff Harrop

Why does the most mission critical business process for a retailer almost always stink?

Out-of-stocks have plagued retailers for decades and excessive inventories, their counterweight, erode margins and increase operating costs. Like a seesaw, it never seems to come into balance.

Real Time is Too Late by Jeff Harrop. Originally published in Supply Chain and Logistics Journal – Fall/Winter 2006 issue.

Real Time

The trend toward sharing information “in real time” has been developing in retail supply chain management for well over a decade now. Today, many retailers share vast amounts of data with their suppliers on a daily basis – store level point-of-sale data, inventory balances in stores and warehouses, open orders throughout the supply chain, and so on… Yet, despite this gravitation to sharing more information more quickly, retail out-of-stocks have stubbornly remained at 8% since they started measuring it.

Flowcasting the Retail Supply Chain by André Martin, Mike Doherty and Jeff Harrop

Book Cover

The retail store has been disconnected from planning the supply chain, even though the majority of planning problems can only be addressed at store level. For example, retail out-of-stocks are a major problem for retailers and their trading partners, yet no substantial progress has been made on this front in the last 20 years.

Planning the retail supply chain must start at store level.

By starting at the store and producing forecasts of consumer demand, all other demands in the supply chain can be calculated. The result is order-of-magnitude improvements in reducing out of stocks and improving inventory performance and profitability for all members of the extended retail supply chain.

Retailers and their trading partners can increase profitability by 1-6% of top line sales by using Flowcasting to plan the retail supply chain…