Retail Peer Forum

Improving Store Operations Through Task Management and Labor Scheduling

Thursday, May 13, 2010 Bookmark to my calendar
Teleconference

The use of task management has traditionally varied from sector to sector, with grocery/FMCG basing much of its effort on adopting labor standards across many store-based functions, and non-grocers unsure of how to use standards in the store. How are Retail Peer Forum members across all sectors tying task management to customer-focused selling, and to store operation improvements like associate self-service scheduling?

This is a member only event. If you have questions, please contact Kerin McGonagle.

Incorporating Lifecycle Pricing to the Overall Merchandising Strategy

Thursday, June 24, 2010 Bookmark to my calendar
Teleconference

Retailers want—and need—more than the traditional linear, silo-based approach to merchandising. How does lifecycle pricing fit in to a holistic merchandising strategy? Who sets base price promotions and markdowns in your organization? What systems and processes are you using to set these prices?

This is a member only event. If you have questions, please contact Kerin McGonagle.

Ace Hardware

 

7-Eleven

 

Ahold USA

 

Borders

 

Burlington Coat Factory

 

JC Penney

 

Levi Strauss & Co.

 

Meijer

 

Price Chopper

 

Rite Aid Corporation

 

“The introductions and discussion of priorities/initiatives, and creative responses to current macro-economic state and its impact on consumer spending.”
- Susan Harwood, Former CIO, Borders

“Very good insights and technology needs for analytics.”
- Naini Mandala, Senior Manager, Dell

“The AMR Research Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum provides me with the ability to quickly and directly connect with other retailer leaders to discuss how they have approached various business/IT challenges.  This is a valuable resource.”
- Chris Miller, IT Senior Director, Retail, Hallmark Cards, Inc.

“(This was an ) Opportunity to make connections with retailers that have faced similar challenges.”
- Cory Priggs, Enterprise Architect, Retail Strategy, Levi Strauss & Company

“Subject was well presented and thought provoking.”
- Lee Robertson, Director of Retail IT, Levi Strauss & Company

“Great presentation on Mike's part. Valuable insight into the world of marketing.”
- Cory Priggs, Enterprise Architect, Retail Strategy, Levi Strauss & Company

“It was intense and stimulating with good exchanges.”
- Irwin Gafen, Director, Wholesale Systems, Follett Higher Education Group

“Participating in the AMR Research Retail Peer Forum gives us the ability to network with other leaders and hear their challenges. I encourage members of my team to take part in monthly teleconference events, and I look forward to attending the bi-annual face-to-face summits.”
- Sharon Stufflebeme, Senior Vice President and CIO, 7-Eleven, Inc.

Retailer-Supplier Relationships: Joint Value Creation

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Please join AMR Research Analysts, Steve Steutermann and Mike Griswold, for this cross-forum teleconference with Retail and Supply Chain members, as we discuss Retailer-Supplier Relationships: Joint Value Creation.

More retailers are sharing data with vendor suppliers, but are they satisfied with the results? Suppliers provide examples of quick wins like reducing out-of-stocks, but are they invested in longer term collaboration? How does a retailer gain executive support for relationships that may be equitable, but not always equal in terms of bottom line results?

Delivering Customer Friendly Pickup-at-Store Programs

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

While many retailers understand the need to offer pickup-at-store programs, most still do not. What are the challenges for implementing a pickup-at-store program? Who is doing it well? What best practices have you experienced as a consumer?

Field Study Results Discussion: Who owns the practice of Risk, Quality and Compliance in Retail?

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Risk, Quality, and Compliance Practices in Retail

Which parts of your organization have responsibility for managing risk and compliance activities? How are these departments integrated? What is the role of the chief security position? What role does the legal team, loss prevention, and risk management departments play in the overall strategy? What is the role of security in IT governance?

Customer Service at the Store

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The model for successful acquisition and retention of bricks and mortar customers has completely changed Customer Service Management is no longer about traffic counting and market basket analysis.  How can retailers create a differentiated and memorable customer experience in the store.

Retail Peer Forum Fall Executive Summit

September 30, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Summit Session: The Digital Consumer

Retail Peer Forum Fall Executive Summit, Co-located with Popular Industry Event
The AMR Research Retail Peer Forum Executive Summit is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30th, and will be co-located with RIS News Cross-Channel Executive Conference. The Summit is an opportunity for you to meet face-to-face with your peers to network and to participate in two workshop sessions on key retail themes. 

Join your peers on September 30, 2009 for the Fall Executive Summit which will be co-located with the RIS News Cross-Channel Executive Conference in Charleston, SC.

Retail Peer Forum Summit Sessions will include:

Session I: Lifecycle Pricing & Promotion
AMR Analyst:  Kevin Sterneckert
Retailers should look to lifecycle pricing and promotions as a key to influencing customer demand, but most organizations tend to rely on institutional pricing rules versus pricing analysis to determine markdown strategy.  Discussion of the key components of a Lifecycle Pricing and Promotion strategy with focus on promotions and ad planning, markdown optimization, price execution and promo and ad execution.

Session II:  The Digital Consumer 
AMR Analysts:  Allan Johnson, Jan Sherlock
How do organizations use social media channels to sense and shape demand? Discussions include trends in digital media, and using mobility as a consumer touchpoint.

Attribute-Based Forecasting

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Attribute-Based Forecasting

Attributes are explicit, structured descriptors of a product’s composition and selling characteristics, including style,color, size, geography, customer, selling price, promotional activity, or age. Discuss the vendor landscape (SAS, JDA Churchhill, Logile, SAF, etc.) to support “attribute-based forecasting” and best practices for tying attribute-based forecasting with inventory.

Workforce Management Labor Project and Work Planning

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Workforce Management Labor Project and Work Planning

A Peer Forum member will share background on multi-phase Workforce Management initiatives. This organization has partnered with software vendor Logile to co-develop a system that will integrate labor standards management with labor project and work planning. The retailer has also focused on implementing labor standards in order to identify the theoretical cost of a store task.

Being a Next Generation Multi-Channel Retailer

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Being a Next-Generation Multi-Channel Retailer

It’s 2009 and multi-channel is the foundation of retailing.  Consumers expect to interact with the retailer across a number of channels and have the same positive experiences.  What are the basic and advanced ‘next-generation’ capabilities? Which major supply systems require integration to support ‘next generation’ retailing?

Supply Chain Optimization

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Supply Chain Optimization

The globalization of today’s supply chains, the need to react to changes in consumer demand, and rising costs require retailers to increase the frequency of planning for product flow optimization. How often should strategic planning exercises be undertaken? What is an optimal fulfillment network? What are the benefits and drawbacks to offshore sourcing? Nearshore sourcing? What are considerations for transportation mode selection?

 

Store of the Future

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Store (and Consumer) of the Future

For most retail organizations, the bricks/mortar channel remains the most significant sales driver and the largest cost center in the organization. Retailers continually look to this channel for opportunities to amplify the customer experience, and to connect with shoppers of tomorrow. How can retailers use technology to enhance the shopping experience? Expand points of sale? Connect with Gen X and Gen Y consumers?

Retail Peer Forum Spring Executive Summit

May 27, 2009

Retail Peer Forum Spring Executive Summit Update

A number of members wanted to participate in the summit session topics, but have travel restrictions and/or hard system implementation deadlines that prevented them from attending in person.  As a customer focused organization, we have made the decision to not have this in-person session with reduced attendance, but instead to provide teleconferences so more members can actively participate.  With the current economic challenges, we believe this is the right decision and are confident we can still provide you with the value you expect. 

Currently, we have scheduled 2 teleconference sessions in place of the summit.  The Network Optimization Session is scheduled in June and the Multi-channel session is scheduled in July. 

Write-ups from the Summit sessions to be published soon...please stay tuned.

Accelerating Customer Loyalty through the Organization

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Understanding Customer Intimacy Throughout the Organization

AMR Research Analysts: Kevin Sterneckert, Janet Sherlock

Whether your program is 10 years mature, or whether there is no formal program, customer loyalty is now a fundamental business driver in retail. What are retailers doing to accelerate loyalty? Where are retailers missing opportunity? What are the latest on-line capabilities for building loyalty? How do retailers build shopper loyalty through service differentiation?

Networking Call: Using Collaboration Technologies to Improve Internal Knowledge Management

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Networking calls are suggestions put forth by a subset of Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum members that will be conducted as 45-minute conversations instead of full web conference events. There are no formal presentations. An AMR Research Analyst will moderate the conversation, and all participating members are asked to contribute. Conversation notes will be circulated to participating members. There will be no other write-up of this call.

Global Retailing Operations

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Global Retailing Operations

The growth in global retailing has put increased pressure on organizations to define a strategy to support operations for bricks and mortar and e-commerce channels. What organizational models are members implementing? What specific business capabilities should be managed at the global level versus the local level? What are the ramifications for moving data between countries? What payments systems support globally owned, franchised, or other partnerships?

Localizing Assortments: What’s Right for the Customer and Right for the Organization

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Localizing Assortments: What’s Right for the Customer and Right for the Organization?

Assortment planning technology has come of age, but how much localization is right for the retail organization? What are the consumer triggers and signals for localizing assortments? What is the best organizational infrastructure to support localization? When does localization not work?

Networking Call: Space Management at the Item Level

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Networking calls are suggestions put forth by a subset of Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum members that will be conducted as 45-minute conversations instead of full web conference events. There are no formal presentations. An AMR Research Analyst will moderate the conversation, and all participating members are asked to contribute. Conversation notes will be circulated to participating members. There will be no other write-up of this call.

Back to Basics on the Store Operations Frontline

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Teleconference: Back to Basics on the Store Operations Frontline, Part 1: Key Performance Indicators

Setting priorities and measuring performance for the store associate has grown more complicated as retailers merchandise and market in increasingly sophisticated ways. What are retailers doing to measure store tasks? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure productivity? When do store specific methodologies become inefficiencies? What can the organization do to improve communication between corporate departments and store? What role does knowledge management play in driving efficiencies?

Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum Fall Executive Summit

November 9 - 10, 2008

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail Peer Forum Summit Session: Marketing Intelligence
• Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum Summit Session: Running Retail IT as a Business: People, Process, Technology

 

Data Security Management Teleconference

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum Teleconference: Data Security Management

Regulations like payment card industry programs are focused on securing specific data points, and retailers take a bigger picture point of view, building data management and security controls in overall IT processes. In this teleconference, retailers will discuss topics like data security in the organization, including the newest technologies and strategies for customer data encryption and storage, and lowering the cost of annual auditing.

Advanced Selling: Enabling the In-store & Multi-channel Experience Teleconference

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Peer Forum Insights

• Retail IT Leaders Peer Forum Teleconference: Advanced Selling—Enabling the In-Store and Multi-Channel Experience

Advanced selling means delivering speed, service, and consistency while differentiating service through store and online channels. During this teleconference, members will discuss how IT enables the in-store and multichannel experience. Discussion will open with an AMR Research overview of applications and technology landscape for internal and external customers, and will continue with member case studies and discussions on topics like using technology to drive to new customers and their immediate networks and reinforcing the brand through sales channels.