Big Lots is a $4 billion company and the largest broad-line closeout retailer in the US, with 1,350 stores across 47 states. Big Lots stocks both "replenishment" products, as well as closeout merchandise from a variety of sources, including production overruns, discontinued products and returns."We have very close relationships with our vendors as well as our customers. Our customers come to our stores not with a list or something in mind, but 80% of them come for the excitement of the treasure hunt and finding an excellent value, and so we try to cater to those core customers by providing excellent closeout values every day", says Katy Keane, Big Lots" VP Transportation Services.
One of its many critical business processes is to efficiently deliver goods from all vendors to the sales floor, improving inventory turns and meeting customer demand. Big Lots manages approximately 3000 loads inbound and outbound per week, so enhancing their process to partner with their vendors to make sure that goods move quickly and efficiently through the supply chain and get on the shelves as fast as possible is a top priority.
It is hard enough to manage a replenishment supply chain in a demand-driven economy and Big Lots has the added challenge of managing the supply chain for their closeout merchandise. Big Lots has "never outs""you"ll always find toilet paper, you"ll always find bleach, paper towels"in their stores. However, the bulk of what they manage is closeout deals.They could have a vendor call and say, "I have one hundred truckloads of furniture that need to move from five warehouses across the country into your 1350 stores." Big Lots has to figure out how to get one hundred truckloads in and out of their distribution centers in a week oftentimes. They often don"t know where the buy is coming from or when the closeout is coming.They have to be poised and ready to manage that merchandise throughout the supply chain and get it onto the shelves of their stores as quickly and efficiently as possible.
In the past two years, Big Lots has made huge strides in improving their supply chain environment and increasing inventory turns ' the amount of time a product sits in their hands."We"ve taken our inventory turns from a 2.9 to a 3.5 in just a two-year time frame. We"ve really learned to understand our business more than we ever have before, and what we"re leveraging today is just really efficiencies in our overall supply chain," noted Steve Conley, Big Lots" Director of IT.They have made it a top goal to speed up their inventory turns even faster.
One of its many critical business processes is to efficiently deliver goods from all vendors to the sales floor, improving inventory turns and meeting customer demand. Big Lots manages approximately 3000 loads inbound and outbound per week, so enhancing their process to partner with their vendors to make sure that goods move quickly and efficiently through the supply chain and get on the shelves as fast as possible is a top priority.
It is hard enough to manage a replenishment supply chain in a demand-driven economy and Big Lots has the added challenge of managing the supply chain for their closeout merchandise. Big Lots has "never outs""you"ll always find toilet paper, you"ll always find bleach, paper towels"in their stores. However, the bulk of what they manage is closeout deals.They could have a vendor call and say, "I have one hundred truckloads of furniture that need to move from five warehouses across the country into your 1350 stores." Big Lots has to figure out how to get one hundred truckloads in and out of their distribution centers in a week oftentimes. They often don"t know where the buy is coming from or when the closeout is coming.They have to be poised and ready to manage that merchandise throughout the supply chain and get it onto the shelves of their stores as quickly and efficiently as possible.
In the past two years, Big Lots has made huge strides in improving their supply chain environment and increasing inventory turns ' the amount of time a product sits in their hands."We"ve taken our inventory turns from a 2.9 to a 3.5 in just a two-year time frame. We"ve really learned to understand our business more than we ever have before, and what we"re leveraging today is just really efficiencies in our overall supply chain," noted Steve Conley, Big Lots" Director of IT.They have made it a top goal to speed up their inventory turns even faster.
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