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QLogitek Underwrites New Aberdeen Research Study: Building a 21st Century Retail Supply Chain

Toronto (October 27, 2009) -  Between August and September 2009, Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE:HHS), surveyed 153 retailers to reveal that 76% of retailers pursue multi-tier and multi-enterprise supply chain operations, thus the extent of process management complexity in their supply chains is high.

The process of balancing the demand-supply network of retailers is one of the foremost process-related capabilities for 69% of leading retailers. This capability is also the most cumbersome and time-consuming for Average and Laggard retailers. “For Average and Laggard retailers the lack of process integration capabilities has created a gap between supply chain planning, distribution and logistics, and merchandising stakeholders. The need for enhanced process integration capabilities and executive-level cohesiveness is acting as a barrier impacting current demand-supply network integration, visibility, and collaboration objectives in retail,” says Sahir Anand, Research Director, Retail, Hospitality, and CPG Research.

“Applying a new, systematic way of thinking to manage today's retail supply chains can help retailers to build highly competitive and synchronized demand-supply networks for future success”, says Anand. Aberdeen analysis signifies that retailers must focus on the three key imperatives for optimizing the retail supply chain:

• Consumer demand response. The critical components of understanding holistic consumer demand require intensive mapping of the internal demand planning organization with the integrated view of sales channel demand-related data from sources including POS transaction data, shipping data, syndicated secondary consumer data, EDI or trading partner data.
• Collaborative supply chain. A demand-driven supply chain management strategy takes into consideration the rising importance of this process for succeeding in the multi-enterprise supply chain, especially in difficult economic times. Integrating varied data resources is by no means trivial.
• Integrated planning and execution of retail supply chain logistics. Visibility and responsiveness have become the necessary ingredients for success in today's multi-tiered supply-demand networks in retail. Leading retailers are able to achieve the level of responsiveness needed to manage supply chain disruptions and risks such, as the recent credit squeeze that impacted 75% of retailers.

The top strategic action identified by leading retailers to address the increased supplier lead time complexity is “increasing collaboration initiatives with suppliers”. According to Nari Viswanathan, Vice-President and Principal Analyst, Supply Chain: “Leading retailers are moving towards more balanced demand-supply processes. Other companies also need to increase the extent of collaboration on both the demand and supply sides of their business networks”.

Hachette Distribution Services Retail North America (HDS RNA), a QLogitek client, is featured in this research report as a real-world case study. HDS RNA has adopted a multi-tiered Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS) supply chain solution, which automates process integration between HDS and its Suppliers. The solution has helped to simplify key business processes while improving customer service levels and reducing supply chain costs.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available by QLogitek. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=6189.

 

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results.  Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis.  As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to AberdeenTM for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company.  Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the “customer optimization” process of Harte-Hanks (Information – Opportunity – Insight – Engagement – Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market.  For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

About QLogitek
QLogitek is a leading Integration Solutions Provider to the Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods industries.  Customers find that its solutions deliver clean data throughout the extended enterprise, resulting in impressive reduction of costs and increase in customer service levels. QLogitek solutions are delivered in a “Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)” model as well as in a traditional “on-premise” model.  The company has won an enviable reputation for delivering technology-driven business results to an impressive line-up of blue chip clients including the Hudson's Bay Company, Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), Rogers Communication Inc., The Bargain! Shop, Videotron, Virgin Mobile, Sears Canada, Harlequin Enterprises, HMV and many other such organizations.