Pivotal to a truly intelligent supply chain

Improve availability on the shelf. Respond to consumer demand faster. Transform the
way you forecast, manage inventory and distribution, and market to consumers in-store
with a fast, responsive and flexible supply chain. Cut costs while gaining competitive
advantage by delivering value to the end consumer.

The advantage
The IBM advantage

IBM is executing an end-to-end RFID Solution Strategy from business case to pilots,
implementation and rollout. Our comprehensive solution framework is designed to
deliver rapid ROI while providing a roadmap for the future.

For over a decade we have been a leader in RFID technology innovation.

• We have provided business case development, as well as pilot implementation

services to many pioneering RFID technology adopters in the consumer products
and retail industries.
• Our experience has enabled us to develop an implementation roadmap for
transforming the way manufacturers and retailers collaborate.
• The RFID solution is part of a comprehensive strategy which allows in-store data
to be used for multiple business processes including merchandising, pricing,
promotion, inventory management and replenishment.

The benefits
Support consumer-driven supply strategies

Go beyond niche RFID applications with streamlined logistics, shipping, receiving and
procurement operations, as well as tighter inventory controls.

For consumer products manufacturers and retailers, our solution offers the ability to keep
on top of inventory management and maintain appropriate stock levels for standing order
requests. Coupled with process change, RFID can help:

• Reduce labor by eliminating pallet scanning and physical inventory counts.

• Improve returns management with instant access to purchase data.
• Optimize production plans by promoting real-time collaboration between
manufacturers and retailers.
• Automate inventory information exchange between retailers and suppliers for
more efficient workflow processes.
In addition, by tagging products at the item level, retailers can accelerate checkout,
returns and warranty authentication procedures, while facilitating promotional incentives
and merchandising.

The ROI
Direct impact to the bottom line

When coupled with process change, our solution can automate your critical inventory
management processes to help you:

• Lower store and distribution center labor costs with tools that streamline
operations.
• Improve revenue potential with enhanced point-of-decision capabilities and cross-
channel selling opportunities.
• Reduce shrinkage, return and reconciliation costs through improved planning,
rotation and allocation capabilities.

Pivotal to a truly intelligent supply chain

A fast, responsive and flexible supply chain—with a laser focus on delivering value to
the end consumer—is the key to streamlining workflow processes. RFID can improve
your manufacturing and retail operations, from forecasting demand to planning,
managing inventory and distribution, and improving the in-store customer experience.

The advantage
The IBM advantage

The RFID solution for supply chain management from IBM is built around our:

• Long and deep experience in RFID and leadership in Supply Chain Management
• Ability to design and deploy a complete enterprise-wide RFID solution and
connect it to multiple business applications
• Focused practice of more than 4,000 consultants dedicated to the distribution
industry plus more than 2,000 dedicated wireless services professionals
• Partnerships with leaders in the RFID component industry and experience with
their products.

The benefits
Support consumer-driven supply strategies

Streamline logistics, shipping, receiving and procurement operations, and promote tighter
inventory controls.
Item level RFID inventory tagging and electronic labeling can enable efficient inventory
and shelf-level management, and streamline stocking processes.

• Optimize pricing with on demand price-setting, based on inventory, shelf life,

stock levels and customer preferences.
• Automate stock and shelf replenishment by automatically monitoring product
quantity, placement and activity, and sending alerts to restock, rearrange or
reorder as necessary.

RFID tags can allow you to track products from the back door to the selling floor and
beyond to help you reduce shrink.

• Product authentication tracks the item along the entire product sales cycle, from
manufacturing to post-sale return.
• Article monitoring allows you to automate supplier receiving and billing
procedures to reduce manual entry errors, and helps eliminate fraudulent returns.
• RFID tags at the item-level allow you to monitor product leaving the store
without being purchased.

The approach
Transforming a traditional supply chain

IBM helped German-based METRO Group, the world's fifth-largest retailer, develop an
integrated RFID solution for its prototype Extra Future Store. Now METRO plans to
become the first retailer to begin using RFID technology throughout its entire process
chain.

The project is scheduled to begin in November 2004, and initially, 100 suppliers will tag
all their pallets and transport crates for delivery to 10 of Metro's central warehouses and
250 stores. As the RFID system integrator, IBM will lead the strategy, consulting,
implementation and rollout for the project—even establishing a lab to test each supplier's
interoperability with RFID technologies. METRO will be able to track goods along the
entire process chain to optimize order and inventory management, avoid out-of-stock
situations and help reduce costs.

The financial advantage

Direct benefits to your line of business

IBM research on RFID indicates:

• Data collection productivity for inventory and shipping can be increased by 10-
20%, while maintaining virtually 100% accuracy.
 • Retail store productivity can be increased by approximately 5% at the case level
and 7% at the item level. In many cases, this labor can be reallocated to customer
facing activities.
• About one-third of store execution issues can be resolved.
• Shrink can be reduced by two-thirds for manufacturers and nearly one-half for
retailers

The issues
Advanced, automated inventory adds serious value

Radio frequency identification (RFID) utilizes smart tags to share inventory data across
the supply chain and with multiple trading partners. Through our flexible, scalable
solution framework, IBM reduces the complexities associated with implementing a
comprehensive RFID solution, leading your business through the entire process from start
to finish.

The benchmark
Leverage our expertise in wireless technologies

A leader in RFID solutions for more than ten years, IBM developed many of the patents
that still drive the industry today. We remain in the forefront of helping the industry
establish standards—from data synchronization and common programming languages to
decoding and database standards.

• We have more than 2,000 professionals dedicated to wireless and pervasive

services.
• IBM has proven capability in scalable and complex systems integration.
• We have the technology, skills and solutions to help you access data on a variety
of platforms.

We also have strategic alliances with key hardware and software developers in the RFID
industry to ensure our solutions integrate with leading tags and readers, middleware and
backend supply chain management applications.

The components
The platform for evolving needs

The IBM RFID solution framework takes data from RFID readers, filters and aggregates
it, and ultimately feeds it into business processes and enterprise applications. Depending
on the technology, software and operating platforms you use, IBM can develop a scalable
middleware strategy. The IBM framework is based on:
 • IBM WebSphere® Application Server—a comprehensive Java™ 2 Platform,
Enterprise Edition (J2EE™) application server that extends back-end business
data and applications to authorized supply chain partner via the Web.
• IBM WebSphere Portal software—gives suppliers and distributors visibility into
your product tracking and inventory data, so you can improve collaboration and
productivity across the extended supply chain.
• IBM WebSphere Business Integrator software—integrates data, applications,
processes and people across and beyond your company, so you can leverage
existing IT investments and adapt quickly to changing business conditions.
• IBM DB2® Information Integrator software—helps you access, integrate and
manipulate your distributed RFID data through a single server as if it were a
single data source.
• IBM Tivoli® Access Manager software—offers policy-based access and single
sign-on capabilities so you can give supply chain partners security-rich access to
business-critical supply chain management applications and data.

The implementation
Transforming a traditional supply chain

IBM helped German-based METRO Group, the world's fifth-largest retailer, develop an
integrated RFID solution for its prototype Extra Future Store. Now METRO plans to
become the first retailer to begin using RFID technology throughout its entire process
chain.

The project is scheduled to begin in November 2004, and initially, 100 suppliers will tag
all their pallets and transport crates for delivery to 10 of Metro's central warehouses and
250 stores. As the RFID system integrator, IBM will lead the strategy, consulting,
implementation and rollout for the project—even establishing a lab to test each supplier's
interoperability with RFID technologies. METRO will be able to track goods along the
entire process chain to optimize order and inventory management, avoid out-of-stock
situations and reduce costs.

The cost of ownership

Keep the total cost of ownership low

The RFID solution for supply chain management and in-store operations from IBM can
help you lower your total cost of ownership.

• Committed to RFID technology, IBM provides investment protection by

delivering scalable, standards-based solutions.
• Partnering with world-class technology companies, we are able to provide end-to-
end solutions using innovative RFID devices and readers.
 • Providing 24x7 support and remote management where appropriate, IBM helps
decrease downtime and risk of security breaches.

Retail Store Operations and More

This Blog
Linked From Here
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Monday, June 21, 2010

Scope...
Scope
· Retail is clearly the sector that is poised to show the highest growth
in the next five years.
· The present size of the organized retailing sector is approximately
3% and is expected to grow to 25-30% by the year 2012.
· There are about 300 new malls, 1500 supermarkets and 325
departmental stores currently under construction.
· Entry of global retail giants such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Germany's
Metro AG in Indian retail markets.

Leading Indian Retailers

Future Group: Big Bazaar, Pantaloon, Central, Food Bazaar, Home
Town
Raheja’s Group: Shopper’s Stop, Hypercity, Globus,
Reliance Group: Reliance Fresh, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Mart,
Reliance Digital
Tata Group: Westside, Star Bazaar, Croma

A glimpse of the International Retail

One of the world's largest industries
47 global fortune companies & 25 of Asia's top 200 companies are
retailers
Dominated by developed countries
US, EU & Japan constitute 80% of world retail sales.
Biggest player in India is Kishore Biyani’s Future Group.

Key Trends
The existing players like Big Bazaar, Shoppers' Stop, Piramyd are
expanding to smaller towns and cities. Many other business houses are
planning to enter the retail sector either on their own or through
partnerships. New entrants like Reliance Retail Ltd and Wal-Mart are
also expanding their business. Even rural areas will provide a huge
opportunity to be explored.
Easy entry
· Education and Training: 12th pass with basic knowledge in retail
preferred
· Salary Median—INR 4000 to 5000 per month

Newspaper want ads and career sites on the Internet often list
openings for retail sales executives. Employers prefer 12th pass
students for entry level positions. For jobs in specialty stores
employers may prefer to hire executives with some experience or
trained students. Given the high turnover rate in the retail industry,
sales employees can sometimes be promoted to supervisor within a
year.

Employment Outlook
· Retail store entry-level sales executives serve customers, sell
products, are into cashiering, stock movements, and other entry-level
store activities in retail establishments.
· Sales executives are employed by general and discount department
stores and by specialty stores such as furniture, book, and music
stores.
· In smaller establishments sales executives may cover the entire sales
floor during their shift.
· In large department stores the sales executives generally cover a
single department such as men’s department or ladies department.
· Sales executives typically report to store supervisors. They also
handle customer queries. Sometimes they are entrusted with stock
keeping responsibilities.
· In big department stores they may be responsible for organizing the
merchandise on store shelves, and to make sure everything is in stock,
and achieves the sales goals for their departments.
· Sales executives in specialty stores may need specialized knowledge.
For instance, an executive employed in an electronics supply store
should know a good deal about electronic goods.

Advancement Possibilities
· Some retail store executives become store supervisors.
· Those who work for chain stores may be promoted to administrative
jobs in the company's headquarters.
· As retail operations expand, companies will hire more employees at
entry level.
· Most openings will occur as experienced workers transfer to other
occupations or leave their jobs.
Earnings and Benefits
· Earnings for retail store sales executives are reasonable to begin with
and vary widely with location, individual experience, and the
responsibilities of the job.
· They are also provided with various incentive schemes, and perks on
achieving monthly as well as yearly target.
The most important of all this is the store operations which is the heart
and soul of this industry. In store operations they say “Retail is detail”.
Retail operations offer exciting and challenging career opportunities. It
offers profit and loss handling activities and the experience of
managing people early in your career. Entry-level retail jobs for college
graduates offer both of these opportunities. Most college graduates
can begin their career in retailing as department managers if they
have undergone proper retail management training. As a Department
Manager one will be responsible for the profitability of a category of
merchandise or a department of the store and will be managing people
who will work for you. You will get opportunity to provide lot of
innovative thoughts which will be initiated immediately to increase
sales and will be rewarded in a huge way through incentives and
perks.
Career opportunities:
Tremendous opportunity exists in this industry and one can achieve a
good career launch through this sector. Retail as most assume is not
just about shops and salesmen. Apart from sales one can consider
various functions from the choices listed below.

Segments within the industry:

Apparels
General Merchandise
Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Consumer Durables

Various inter department roles and functions:

Organization structure and Human Resource Management
Information Systems and Supply Chain Management
Merchandise Management
Communication Mix
Store Operations
Store Layout, Design and Visual Merchandising
Financial Strategy
Customer Service
Loss Prevention Cell

Various other roles one can fit into are:

Marketing
Logistics
Facility Management
Real estate/Properties
Category Management
Design/Creativity
Project Management

There is tremendous growth for an employee in store operations from

any section, whether frontline or back end team, be it vertical growth
or horizontal growth which again is an advantage. Reason is because
the growth of an employee here is directly related to the number of
store openings which opens the gate to various different openings in
various levels. One also has an advantage of getting exposed to other
departments and develops their knowledge.

Because this industry is witnessing a huge growth, one can also look
for tremendous growth options within the industry. One can easily
climb the ladder from a supervisor level to a store manager level in a
span of four to five years time. Apart from this one also has a
tremendous opportunity to grow horizontally in this industry as scope
for learning is wide

Let us limit to operations and understand Store Operations in depth.

An operation is a transformation process of inputs into outputs. Store
operations are linked to all processes related to a store. A store
operation is a task by itself and requires trained people to manage this
process efficiently for more productivity and profitability.

A store operation is the heart and soul of this industry. In store

operations they say “Retail is detail” as it deals with every activity in
the minute detail. Retail operations offer exciting and challenging
career opportunities. It offers profit and loss handling activities and the
experience of managing people early in your career. Entry-level retail
jobs for college graduates offer both of these opportunities. Most
college graduates can begin their career in retailing as a sales
executive or sales advisor, but can also join in as a management
trainee, and after completion of the training period get designated as a
floor or department manager at floor level if they have undergone
proper retail management training. As a department manager one will
be responsible for the profitability of a category of merchandise or a
department of the store and will be managing people who will work for
you. You will get opportunity to provide lot of innovative thoughts
which may be initiated to increase sales and will be rewarded in a huge
way through incentives and perks.

The Operations: Front end career path for front end store operations
begins with:

Team Member

Team Leader

Asst. Department Manager

Department Manager

Floor Manager

Asst. Store Manager

Store Manager

As depicted above the front line career on the shop floor normally
begins with a candidate being appointed as a Team Member. Across
corporate in this industry the designation varies as follows:(Team
member/ Customer sales associate/ Sales Executive/ Sales Advisor).
As a fresher you land up getting salaries in the range of Rs. 3500 –
4500, however if you have an experience of 1-2 years in the industry,
then the candidate will be absorbed as a senior team member with a
salary of around Rs.5000+ . The team member looks after the front
line sales within a store. The team leader is in charge of the members.
The hierarchy follows as explained above. A Team leader draws around
Rs. 6000 – 7500, who reports to an Assistant Department Manager-
ADM. In some cases the team leader may also report to a Department
Manager-DM depending on the size and business generated from the
department. The ADM in turn reports to the DM who takes care of a
specific department e.g. Men’s wear which would in turn comprise
casuals, formals, accessories etc. In certain cases an ADM may directly
report to the store manager if the department is smaller in business
and size.
Depending on the size of the store the hierarchy may further grow up
to the floor manager, an assistant store manager and finally the Store
manager who is responsible fFor the entire operations and the
business of the store. E.g. Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Pantaloons, More,
Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle etc. An ADM /DM normally gets a package in
the range of 1.5 – 3.5 lakhs per annum. Further up the remuneration
normally depends on industry experience and expertise.