What are the factors covered under a retail supply chain?

On-time delivery and availability of products are the major tenets that influence an online consumer’s decision- based on these factors; the consumers will decide whether they want to purchase your product or not down the line. 

A retail supply chain considers the following aspects:

• Cost of raw materials involved in manufacturing goods
• Inventory control 
• Quality of products
• Timing
• Types of services
• Consumer services
• Shipping or delivering products 

The management of the retail supply chain is carried out through four parties, namely distributors and wholesalers, manufacturers, customers, and retailers.
 

What are the different procedures involved in retail supply chain management?

In retail businesses, supply chain management involves several steps. 

• Designing: It includes a group of experts who are responsible for developing the concept of a new product and creating it.
• Strategic procurement or sourcing: Businesses will be required to source the raw material needed to manufacture a product. Here, multiple vendors are considered to source raw materials. The process aims to avoid any delays and disruptions.
• Manufacturer: manufacturers are required to create a product blueprint and get started with the manufacturing process on a large scale.
• Packaging: next, the finished product will be transferred to packaging facilities. Here, the products are boxed, labeled, and packed for final distribution.
• Transportation: Next, the prepared products are transported directly to a wholesaler or retailer.
• Distributor or wholesaler: retailers are responsible for storing the products within a warehousing or storage facility. The goods are stored until the online consumers decide to place orders online or buy products in-store. 
• Order fulfillment: the distributor and wholesaler are responsible for shipping or delivering the ordered item to the end consumer. 

Supply chain logistics management deals with transportation, inventory, and warehousing networks. A logistics expert is familiar with the ideal transportation modes, ways to establish and design warehousing facilities, and ways to manage and control assets and inventory.