Kohl’s and Office Depot execs share supply chain challenges

We all know that 2009 and 2010 have been challenging times for retailers and their supply chain partners.  While there have been many lessons learned over the past year through the recession and recovery, retailers are still facing challenges with the movement of their goods through the supply chain.

The biggest challenge is and remains the ability to get products to the store shelves in a quick, consistent and reliable manner.  Numerous retailers and others have run into significant issues with lack of capacity and increased rates with ocean carriers in the past year.  This resulted in some shipments being “rolled” or bumped to another vessel, meaning increased costs for the retailer.  While some of these capacity issues seem to be resolved in the ocean environment with more vessels being added back to the network, retailers are now seeing capacity issues with other modes of transportation.

The other critical challenge is keeping supply chain costs down.  From the 2009 recession, retailers worked to make their supply chains more efficient by removing additional costs.  As the recovery continues, it is critical for retailers to be able to keep these costs from returning.  While there is always the possibility of the unexpected, retailers need to make sure they continue to work with their supply chain partners to minimize these potential problems.

As part of the Inside the Supply Chain series, NRF’s Strategic Supply Chain Council Chairman Ken Bonning, Executive Vice President of Logistics at Kohl’s Department Stores, and Vice Chairman Dennis Cohen, Senior Director Private Brand Operations at Office Depot, share their thoughts on the biggest supply chain challenges in retail. These, and other supply chain issues of the same magnitude, will also be discussed in detail at NRF’s Global Supply Chain Summit in 2011.