Tail spend has often been a topic best left ignored by manufacturers and retailers alike. These are expenses that have a relatively low proportion under each category, but large number of vendors. But potentially if well managed they can lead to a reduction of up to 15%. Thus, companies are looking at better ways to deal with this. First of all, to solve this, the right data warehousing has to be done on each product, and the amount that goes up in tail spends. A proper distributor and supplied strategy needs to be honed for this. The qualification requirements for the vendors too needs to be standardized as this will reduce the clutter. It can eventually lead to improved automation at work. The digital technologies now available need to be used up by companies to proactively manage such tail spends.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/long-tail-big-savings-digital-unlocks-hidden-value-in-procurement

Uploaded Date:03 December 2018

There are some common marketing mistakes that have been spotted. Weeding them out could save companies millions each year. One such mistake is to focus only on the macro-influencers. This includes the likes of the Kardashians who are considered brand influencers, but they cannot influence the ground level. Their costs being so high leads to a poor return on investment. A lot of companies struggle because they cannot cope up with the constant churn of technology in the ongoing digital age. Digital marketing often gives less than optimal returns when not much optimization gets done for the mobile phone. In fact, a study by Pew Research Center states that the number of smartphone owners has more than doubled over the last 7 years, so this needs to be a major thrust area. The content needs to be visually appealing to cater to the smartphone audience. There must also be an attempt to make sure this content is not just trendy but also at least some part maybe evergreen, to be valuable in the future as well. Some brands struggle in tracking business intelligence due to the lack of reliable players in this field. Firms would do well to look beyond merely customer acquisition. Retention and service delivery need to be focused on at equal pace.

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2018/11/13/7-marketing-mistakes-that-can-cost-companies-millions/#53ba94ea9b55

Uploaded Date:03 December 2018

Retail marketing has been transformed substantially thanks to digitization. It is now extremely important to understand the needs and tastes of customers, before bombarding them with any marketing content. Big data has made it possible to track customer preferences. According to a report submitted by IDC, there has been a 43% rise in marketing spend on technology, with the total to exceed US$ 1.7 trillion by end of next year. This data is then processed using business analytics to gauge authentic customer insights. Augmented Reality (AR) is another area of rise with 61% of customers confirming their preference in shopping from a store with the requisite AR facilities. Ikea is one such brand that has successfully made use of AR. The AR industry will be worth 122 billion by 2022. Research firm Gartner has also confirmed how supply chains will be affected post digitization. Amazon, Alibaba and eBay have been able to maximize benefits arising. Voice-activated technologies are the next big thing with the likes of Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home already in the fray. The Deloitte access economics report too states the importance of tech alignment with retail strategies.

Source:https://www.retaildive.com/news/retail-marketing-the-digital-transformation/542804/

Uploaded Date:26 November 2018

In the ongoing Industry 4.0, digital tools are also needed for maintenance of equipment. But the existing ecosystem often does not allow for this. The CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) infra do not always align well with digital operational tools. The user interface may often be complex so better work-management alignment is needed. To understand this better business consulting giant McKinsey has come up with a poll among the practitioners. This will enable the company to gauge reliable insights which can then be used to devise solutions. The poll is an online two-minute survey.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/operations-blog/how-well-are-digital-tools-serving-your-maintenance-organization

Uploaded Date:15 November 2018