From Warehouse to Consumer - How can we cost effectively get pet products into the consumer’s hands?Written by John Stanley
The most cost effective part of a product’s journey is from shelf to checkout, we rely on consumer to carry out this handling process. The most expensive exercise is getting product to shelf.Whatever branch of retailing you are in, area that is absorbing most energy is in supply chain management. The supermarkets, who are also in pet products, lead way. In Australia, Woolworths have saved $2 billion Australian dollars by reducing their distribution centres from 31 to 11 and have also ensured their inventory turnaround has gone from 16 days to 12 days. Tesco in UK have reduced their inventory at store level to 5 days. These are real savings to retail industry. Push it or pull it Traditionally industry has pushed products through industry. Suppliers have sold products to retailers, retailers have put them on shelf with hope that consumers would buy them. The industry will change to a pull supply chain management system. This is where chain initiation starts with consumer who buys a products, this triggers a process where retailer orders product from supplier based on a “just in time” process.
| | Pet Retailing - The Unique Retail ExperienceWritten by John Stanley
The pet retailer is becoming retail destination. It used to be that garden centres considered putting a pet shop adjacent to a garden centre as an extra means of attraction. I recently worked with a company in South Africa where draw card is pets; added attraction is garden centre.So what makes pet retail sector so unique? Well, in generational marketing terms, it’s one of few retail sectors that appeals to each generation. Spoodles (0 – 4 yrs old), Juveniles (the Pester Power group, 5 – 14 yrs old), Generation Y (15 – 24 years old), Generation X (25 – 34 years old) , The Jones’ Generation (35 – 44 years old) , Baby Boomers (45 – 59 years old) and Greying Tigers (60 years and older) are all fascinated by pets. That causes a retail challenge as pet retailer has to design their store in easily managed categories but also to appeal to each generation.
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