CARGOCONNECT-MAY23 - Flipbook - Page 34
COVERSTORY
APPAREL SUPPLY CHAIN
VIJAY WADHWANI
AVP– SCM AND LOGISTICS
RELAXO
SUPPLY CHAIN
STRATEGY MUST BE
STRONG ENOUGH
TO WITHSTAND
VOLATILITY IN DEMAND
E
ffective
and
smooth inventory
management is
something that
can help and
serve as a strong boost to
this industry
The apparel and footwear industry is wide and grown up with
a large number of categories
ranging from basic to luxury. The
market is unpredictable and in
the hands of unorganised sectors
in majority. Today, the market
is not in the control of offline
retailers. As online shopping
becomes popular, a number of
smaller, specialty online retailers have entered in the market.
The only way to thrive in such
a competitive environment is
to differentiate. A brand has to
offer customers something the
latter cannot find elsewhere, be
it the product, price or experience. Everyone in this industry,
whether big names like Reliance
Retail, Relaxo or any e-commerce
platform must find creative ways
to make first-time customers
return customers.
As the industry is fast-paced
and ever-changing, the quicker
you can bring products to the
market, the more competitive
your company is likely to be.
So, it is essential to maintain an
agile supply chain. To conclude,
effective and smooth inventory
34 | CARGOCONNECT MAY 2023
management is something that
can help and serve as a strong
boost to this industry. Learning
how to use various technologies for the advancement and
developing a powerful strategy
can reduce the potential for errors
and delays, hence playing a key
role in the overall growth of the
business from both customer and
profile point of view.
Where there is volatility in
demand, it leads to business
losses, no matter how great
a company’s production is
Apparel and footwear businesses
are consistently competing to
meet customer demand with
an adequate supply of trendy
fashion. And to do the same, they
need a fast-moving supply chain
and logistics network which
they can rely on. No matter how
favourable the circumstances
are, one of the main issues
emerging from unpredictability
is the likely cost losses. Where
there is volatility in demand,
it leads to business losses, no
matter how great a company’s
production is. In the kind of
market that we live in today,
one piece of clothing could be
trendiest today and just not
the other day. If, as a business,
you ordered stocks of the most
popular fashion apparel, and it
goes out of trend soon enough
without you making the sales
for the same, you will be left
paying for stock that you will
unavoidably need to sell at a
scaled-down cost. Your supply
chain strategy must be strong
enough to withstand volatility
in demand.
Similarly, production volatility is another serious problem for
various apparel businesses, which
can also create volatility in the
market. Some of the difficulties
that can occur with production
are stock shortages, defective
production, etc. These are serious problems that can lead to
customers being unhappy, and to
you losing business, eventually,
if you do not take production
volatility seriously.
Simply put, there are several
key challenges facing apparel
supply chain management
and often, many of these are
relevant only to fashion retailers. It’s critical to say exactly
what the future holds for the
apparel supply chain. Hence,
fashion retailers need to figure
out new strategies for inventory
and supply chain management.
Analytics are the key to
help understand how to
optimise inventory levels,
improve customer service
and ultimately drive sales
and profits
Whether you produce a fashion garment or a sports shoe,
effective product information
lifecycle management connected
to manufacturing is essential to
remaining competitive. Whether
it's managing change, executing
work processes, improving quality, or connecting with external
suppliers and/or manufacturing
facilities, it all starts with the
quality and accessibility of upto-date technical information
across the lifecycle of a product.
The solution needs to create value