Hidden Afflictions: How Much Are Clunky Old Processes Costing You?
Hidden Afflictions: How Much Are Clunky Old Processes Costing You? Plenty of industry leaders and experts talk about technical debt with old systems and tools, yet very few speak of ‘process debt’ with the same level of importance. A recent article by Christopher Mims [...]
Core Merchandising vs. PIM: Which Solution is Right for Your Item Data?
Core Merchandising vs. PIM: Which Solution is Right for Your Item Data? In a retail or consumer packaged goods environment (CPG), the most critical piece of information is item or product data. With omnichannel retail models as the standard and increasing consumer appetite for more details [...]
Boost Your Bottom Line with Smarter Price Optimization
Boost Your Bottom Line with Smarter Price Optimization Last week we shared exciting news about our recent price optimization partnership with Party City. As we embark on this strategic collaboration, I’d like to highlight how several of our retail clients have already achieved strong results because [...]
NRF 2024 Exposes AI’s Customer-Facing Role in Retail Transformation
NRF 2024 Exposes AI's Customer-Facing Role in Retail Transformation National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2024 Big Show underpinned how the integration of cutting-edge technologies is shaping retail transformation. As expected, artificial intelligence (AI) stands at the forefront of this revolution as a powerful force driving transformation across [...]
Empower Your People with Meaningful Business Transformation
Empower Your People with Meaningful Retail Business Transformation The phrase ‘business transformation’ has been around for decades, and typically addresses the three pillars of people, process, and technology. However, often a greater focus is placed on the technology, with improved business processes and the impact [...]
Ask the Experts: The New Role of Retail’s Chief Supply Chain Officer
Ask the Experts: The New Role of Retail's Chief Supply Chain Officer In a recent episode of Parker Avery's Talk Retail to Me podcast, Parker Avery’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kaufman shares his insights about the changing role of the retail chief supply chain officer during an [...]
Gratitude Delivered: Three Reasons to Be Grateful
Gratitude Delivered: Three Reasons to Be Grateful As we approach Thanksgiving in the United States and the 2023 winter holiday season around the world, we often hear the words "thankful," "grateful," and "gratitude." In contemplating our November message (coupled with my insatiable quest for knowledge and [...]
Ask the Experts: In-Store Fulfillment of Omnichannel Orders
Ask the Experts: In-Store Fulfillment of Omnichannel Orders In a recent episode of Parker Avery's Talk Retail To Me podcast, Senior Director and omnichannel expert, Rob Oglesby shares his insights into how big box retailers are handling in-store fulfillment of omnichannel orders. Answering questions from an [...]
5 Must Reads for NRF’s Big Show
If you are headed to the Big Apple in early January for NRF's 2024 Big Show, make sure you are prepared to navigate the myriad of technologies you will see and make strategic investment decisions after the event. Take a look at five Parker Avery [...]
Exclusive Merchandise Planning Event Reveals Six Focus Areas for Retail
Exclusive Merchandise Planning Event Reveals Six Focus Areas for Retail Last week, we attended PI Apparel’s first Merchandise Planning conference, held in Brooklyn from October 23-24. PI Apparel has a strong history of industry events, typically focusing on product development and product lifecycle management (PLM). We were excited [...]
Five Key Elements for a More Intelligent Retail Enterprise
Five Key Elements for a More Intelligent Retail Enterprise Last month, we discussed what quick wins are achievable for retailers in the final quarter of 2023. We still believe there is time for retailers to find some areas for improvement and make quick, impactful changes [...]
Purposeful Planning: Retail Quick Wins for a Successful Q4
Purposeful Planning: Retail Quick Wins for a Successful Q4 Two critical junctures that send ripples across the retail landscape are the back-to-school and holiday seasons. These moments not only shape consumer behavior but also require retailers to fine-tune their strategies to seize opportunities and address challenges. While [...]
Rethinking Allocation and Replenishment to Drive Better Inventory Outcomes
Rethinking Allocation and Replenishment to Drive Better Inventory Outcomes Many of Parker Avery's clients are laser-focused on shoring up their inventory management capabilities while investigating and implementing advanced forecasting and demand-planning technologies to drive more collaborative, effective supply chains. Allocation for seasonal and fashion items [...]
What’s Now? Inventory, Foundation, Learning, and AI
What’s Now? Inventory, Foundation, Learning, and AI Our theme during the 2023 NRF Big Show was “What’s Next?” and earlier this year, we highlighted some initiatives our clients launched shortly after the January event. This month, we look at “What’s Now,” taking a deeper dive into [...]
The Value of Enterprise Intelligence
The Value of Enterprise Intelligence Note: Formerly called Enterprise Demand Intelligence, in 2023 The Parker Avery Group rebranded our analytics offerings to Enterprise Intelligence to reflect expanded scope of functional areas the solution encompasses, such as retail price optimization and markdown optimization. As the retail [...]
More on Combating Inflation and Uncertainty: Decisive Actions for Retailers
More on Combating Inflation and Uncertainty: Decisive Actions for Retailers Just as retailers were feeling like they had returned to (a new) normal, inflation has brought another wave of uncertainty and instability. Particularly for retailers who cater to customers’ discretionary spending, this latest economic hurdle feels [...]
How to Overcome the AI Hype and Drive Retail Collaboration
How to Overcome the AI Hype and Drive Retail Collaboration Lately, we have all been inundated by artificial intelligence (AI), from the most obvious ChatGPT to content, music, and art generators and even wilder applications. As an industry typically slow to adopt new technology, retailers have [...]
Combating a Volatile Macroeconomic Climate with Retail Price Optimization
Combating a Volatile Macroeconomic Climate with Retail Price Optimization How should retailers and consumer brands make heads or tails of the current economic landscape? It used to be relatively straightforward. There was a concept of “reliable macroeconomic indicators” such as the inversion of the yield curve, unemployment, [...]
Advanced Pricing Implementation Success Story
Advanced Pricing Implementation Success: $8 Million Margin on Eight Items in Eight Weeks In this post, we take a deep dive into the astounding success of a Parker Avery client’s advanced pricing implementation. Parker Avery’s case study for this advanced pricing implementation was published shortly after the [...]
What Happened at Shoptalk: Four Areas in the Retail Spotlight
What Happened at Shoptalk: Four Areas in the Retail Spotlight Held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Shoptalk is known for balancing relevant content on the latest trends in retail with an abundance of tech vendors, formalized networking "meetups," and plenty of time to reconnect with [...]
What’s Next? Clients, Analytics, and Shoptalk
What’s Next? Clients, Analytics, and Shoptalk While NRF’s Big Show 2023 is now an almost-distant memory, Parker Avery’s theme of “What’s Next?” continues full throttle through the first quarter of 2023 with our clients and firm initiatives. Here's a snapshot from our latest newsletter. [...]
Price Optimization: Margin Rate vs. Margin Dollars
Price Optimization: Margin Rate vs. Margin Dollars With blurring lines between channels and geographies, price optimization solutions are an area of increasing interest to the retail community. Price optimization solutions can bring immense value if properly assimilated and leveraged in a company’s business environment. One area [...]
5 Key Takeaways from NRF’s Big Show
The year’s largest retail industry event, the 2023 NRF Big Show, certainly did not disappoint. The Parker Avery Group was joined by thousands of retailers, CPG companies, brands, technology providers, and other industry professionals from across the globe, all eager to experience the event in person [...]
Achieving Results with Resilience and Focus
Back in January, if someone had been able to accurately predict how the year 2022 would unfold, I would have discretely dismissed it as folly. Yet here we are, roaring into the holidays with our radar set on NRF’s Big Show and our clients’ 2023 initiatives [...]
Ask the Experts: Change Management
Arguably one of the most critical components for any business transformation or system implementation project – regardless of the size or scope – is a solid change management program. When properly supported and managed, change management can not only enhance organizational engagement and mitigate both disruption [...]