By Carl Moore, Managing Director of eFulfilment at Wincanton

Plenty of UK retailers are positive about their growth prospects in the coming years, but face challenges to scale up operations to meet these ambitions, according to a new industry survey. Businesses, however, see the opportunity to solve some of these supply chain issues through collaboration and innovation. With peak season a not-so-distant memory for many retailers, its time for reflection. While some will have knocked it out of the park, others will be feeling post-peak weary following a period of difficulties for the sector in general. There will be many retailers that are having to rethink their growth forecasts and are trying to find solutions to ensure better customer satisfaction, as well as new ways to reduce their cost to serve. Taking a good, hard look at how their supply chain operations weathered recent peak periods will help aid retailers future growth, to help get them in great shape ready for the next one. By surveying 500+ retail leaders with responsibility for their brands supply chain, Wincanton has discovered that the large majority (83%) of retailers surveyed are still planning for growth over the next three years, despite all the many challenges across the sector.

Reducing cost to serve

Not only have retailers had to deal with an impact on profit due to the rise in the rate of corporation tax, but theyve also had to face higher inflation and increased import costs. These cost rises, combined with a fall in sales in general, has presented a different landscape to the time when retail was a healthy growing sector. To have any hope of hitting ambitious growth trajectories, retailers are looking for ways to reduce cost to serve while also remaining agile and flexible in the face of unpredictability.

Customer experience

Published in February, the survey results show that retailers recognise they have a long way to go to get fit for growth. Despite their ambitions, 89% admitted that an increase in orders would negatively impact their ability to fulfil them successfully. Equally, if products are selling like hotcakes, unless the supply chain infrastructure is in place to provide a great experience, customers will be left disappointed. Clearly, this identifies a risk of failing to meet customer expectations. When customer fulfilment operations are under pressure, the research shows they undermine the customer experience through factors such as delivery issues, quality of order accuracy, and the ability to manage returns effectively.

The storage conundrum