Disruptive Technologies Reduce Retailers’ Friction During the Holidays
Executive Summary
IoT, 3D printing and wearables will reduce the retail friction during the holiday season and beyond
Post Thanksgiving in the United States (after all the turkey has been consumed and the football games watched), consumers focus in on Christmas, Hanukkah and other end-of- year holidays. While some may argue holidays have become too commercialized, the result is an ingrained gift-centric culture.
Regardless of one’s view of the holidays, they place a tremendous strain on retail and manufacturers’ supply chains. Why? The process of identifying demand, manufacturing products and then delivering them efficiently poses a high degree of complexity under normal conditions. Holiday season restrictions amplify this complexity with shipments facing a finite deadline (e.g., Christmas day for most). The limited time period, coupled with the amount of attention that is placed on the holidays, creates added pressure for retailers; any error or mistake within the supply chain becomes magnified.
Learn how new disruptive technologies such as IoT, mobile and 3D printing, to name a few, can reduce the retail friction during the holidays, as well as throughout the retail supply chain.