Answers to Retail’s Toughest Challenges

The fast-paced omnichannel world has compressed the time retailers have to create, design and produce fashion, apparel, footwear and consumer products. If you’re like many fashion brands, you’re trying to reduce cycle time. But it’s not easy when the market is demanding more frequent collections, and your supply chain is global and complex. 

Did you know? Lengthy development cycle times are the No. 1 area for improvement for many retail and apparel companies? 1

Best Practices for Overcoming Retail Challenges

IDC, WhichPLM, adidas, Brooks Brothers, Cabela’s, Tommy Bahama Group, Brooks Sports, C&A, Clas Ohlson and Staples Europe. What do these and other retail thought leaders have in common? Quoted in a new e-book, “Solving Retail’s Toughest Challenges: The Business Case for PLM,” they agree retail PLM helps improve speed to market and further innovation. How? Here are four PLM-enabled best practices.

Best practice #1: Transition to a single version of product information shared by all stakeholders.
Best practice #2: Replace foam core trend boards with digital storyboards.
Best practice #3: Digitize the concept-to-spec approval process.
Best practice #4: Gain real-time visibility into planned vs. actual costs throughout the product lifecycle.

“The time it takes for a trend to disseminate into mass market products has dramatically reduced in the past several years. With this pressure comes an immense need to reduce cycle time and deliver innovative products to maintain competitiveness,” says Mark Harrop, founder and CEO of WhichPLM. “By leveraging the power of next-gen PLM platforms, retailers and brand owners can go from trend to store faster than ever before.”

In fact, 52% of retailers are looking to expand PLM into new product commercialization and launch activities. 2

Steps to Success

Chances are, your team has heard a lot about how PLM can help with retail challenges. But what does success really look like? Here are three examples of steps in the right direction.

1. Accelerate time to market through quicker design turns and improved supply chain agility.
2. Nurture creativity and originality by reducing data entry and other tasks that take away from the creative process.
3. Eliminate silos by supporting a culture of sharing.

Does your team face tough retail challenges? Are you ready for straightforward answers to achieve speed to market? Download this free e-book “Solving Retail’s Toughest Challenges: The Business Case for PLM.” Step by step, start your retail transformation journey.

Sources:
1. PTC LiveWorx Poll, 2017
2. KPMG Retail Outlook Study, 2017