Meeting the challenges of delivery efficiency relies upon operational excellence, but is no easy task since the rapid growth of online retail has had a big impact on traditional infrastructure.
The second day of this year’s eDelivery Expo therefore, held on 5-6 April at Birmingham’s NEC, will look at the new approaches for achieving efficiency, responsiveness and agility and look at how retailers have restructured to cope.
The free-to-attend Operational Excellence conference will feature a number of key speakers who will explain how they have built new models to cope with the changes. The keynote address, at 9.30am, features Dino Ricos, member of the board and operations director at John Lewis. He will deliver a Festive Post-Mortem, lessons to learn and moving forward for 2017 and beyond. His speech will look at how to alighn supply and distribution to deal with possible fluctuations in buying behaviour and the lessons learnt from peak will be hugely valuable.
Ricos is followed by Jonathan Gorst, senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, whose The Devil is in the detail presentation at 10.30am looks at why retailers need to work harder than ever on their returns and how improved back office management can improve things significantly.
There is much talk of collaboration and an opening up of services by retailers and carriers alike currently, especially around the PUDO market, and at 2pm we will hear more from Asda on what they are doing in this field with a session on Asda to You – Third party pick up and drop off to maximise convenience and flexibility
The likes of Amazon have set the tone on fast and free but customers also rely on two intangible qualities to inform their decisions. In a panel discussion hosted by conference sponsor Narvar at 3pm then the issue of EC2 – Effortless commerce +emotional connection, will be discussed and will examine what the brands that win against the likes of Amazon need to do.
And finally, the conference closes with a keynote address from James Matthews, managing director of general merchandise for Ocado. His presentation, at 3.35pm, will look at Strategies for growth in 2017 and beyond – aligning operations with better customer experiences.
To learn more about the InternetRetailing and eDelivery Expo and to register for free, visit www.edeliveryexpo.com.
Attendees can also get a 25% discount on their train fare to the NEC when they book through the IRX or EDX Visitor Info website.
Image credit: InternetRetailing
