Joseph Pekala

An interesting read on the impacts of the new government on retail. A mixed bag: Tax cuts or continuation of tax cuts that are due to expire in 2025, increased tariffs( = increase in expenses), a warmer approach to mergers, etc. #retail

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A brutal mix of factors over the last few years led to retailers absorbing excess inventory shocks. But with the cost of capital increasing, it’s more important than ever to ensure inventory levels do not rise to unsustainable levels while also avoiding out-of-stocks. Our latest insight by Amit Mahajan, Young Hu and Aabha Rathee reveals how leveraging AI and ML can transform inventory management, leading to a 10-20% reduction in working capital, a 50-60% reduction in stock shortage in stores, a 2-4% uplift in sales, and a 1-3% margin benefit. Discover how these technologies can help retailers optimize supply chains, reduce markdowns, and enhance customer satisfaction. Read the full article here:

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Pricing leadership is key to distributor profitability Investing in pricing leadership is crucial for distributors as the position is responsible for aligning people, processes and technology to drive positive change, writes Scott Sinning, former vice president of pricing strategy at Graybar. However, many in these roles are new to pricing or the industry and often lacking formal training. Providing the necessary support and training can help transition them from tactical to strategic roles, ultimately enhancing profit margins. #Distributor #retail #price #technology #leadership #strategy #profit #margin

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Retail Resilience : Navigating Modern Cybersecurity Challenges The title of my presentation today at the 2024 Cyber Protect Leaders Conference. Great questions and interactive session. Thank you for having me.

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It's unsurprising that some consultants for retail are still completely missing the boat with new technology -- to argue that retailers need a "war room" for inventory management because retailers have siloed data is ridiculous. Umm, maybe replace the disconnected systems with a modern unified platform instead of adding more labor, inefficiency, and complexity to the retail chain. A unified system like FieldStack running a retail chain will easily, provably outperform a "war room" of people looking at siloed data sets -- the "war room" will invariably induce personal bias, be slower, and much harder to scale... there is a much better way --- fix the problem! #retail #retailstrategy #inventorymanagement

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It was great to chat with CFO Brew about the latest US retail sales numbers. As I note in the article, the March numbers were solid; but they fall short of being spectacular. That’s still a win for retail, but there are some underlying signs of a modest slowdown: 📉 Over the past year, retail sales have grown by an average of 2.8% a month. In March they grew by 2.4%. That doesn’t sound too bad, but as March was boosted by an early Easter growth should have been a lot higher to keep track with the trend. Indeed, once the impact of Easter is stripped out, sales grew by 1.3%. And that’s the number that should really be compared to the 2.4% average growth. 💄 Beauty and personal care stores saw sales decline by 0.3% which is unusual for a sector that has traditionally been one of the best performing in retail. From our consumer data, we see there was a pullback on beauty spending in March as consumers tried to budget more effectively and to balance their spending on apparel and dining out with cuts elsewhere. 🏠 Unsurprisingly, home related categories continue to fare badly. Sales at furniture and home furnishings stores fell by 8.0%, while home improvement retailer revenue slipped by 7.3%. Even electronics stores, which usually get a boost during tax refund season, saw sales decline by 1.5%. The sluggish housing market is still sapping demand, as is weaker confidence in making big-ticket purchases. We are still early in the year, so we need to see how these things trend over the next quarter. It’s also worth noting that none of this spells disaster; indeed, with everything going on, the consumer has been remarkably resilient. However, we are moving to an environment where doing more budgeting and making more choices about what they spend their money on. More in this article... https://lnkd.in/eBi65sZi? #retail #retailnews #retailsales #economy #consumers

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It's interesting how retailers are slowly landing on the same three options for Self Checkout refinement to solve shrink. 1. Adding employee assisted checkout, 2. Adding barriers to leaving the store without confirmation of purchase (mechanical or human) or as a last resort, 3. Completely eliminating the option. From the consumer perspective its slowly becoming a negative experience... Curious what other options might exist..

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In this episode of "The Savvy Supplier" Podcast, Boyd Evert & Al Frank discuss special buys in retail, including their purposes, challenges, and importance. They highlight pricing discrepancies, communication, and return management. Find out what Savvy Suppliers need to KNOW & DO with some solid actionable advice. https://lnkd.in/gnmg4a92

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Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Wednesday, November 27: 🏈 Dick's raised its full-year guidance on Tuesday after what CEO Lauren Hobart called an excellent back-to-school shopping season and better-than-expected comparable sales for its third quarter. 👕 Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reported its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit gains, positioning the retailer for a healthy holiday season ahead. Net sales rose 14 percent to $1.2 billion from $1.06 billion in the year-ago quarter. 📺 Best Buy has cut its full-year sales forecast and missed Wall Street’s quarterly revenue expectations, as early holiday shopping and a fresh batch of iPhones and AI-enabled laptops weren’t enough to drive higher sales. 🏬 Kohl's shares fell sharply on Tuesday after the company's earnings missed Wall Street estimates and following its announcement that CEO Tom Kingsbury will step down in January. 🧥 Burlington Stores, Inc. posted higher sales in the latest quarter and said the holiday selling season has started strong, as the off-price retailer’s offerings resonate with consumers looking for deals. 🛍️ Nordstrom on Tuesday offered up a slightly more optimistic full-year sales forecast, but said there was a noticeable decline in sales trends at the end of last month. 👚 Urban Outfitters has said it doesn’t have to discount as aggressively, amid holiday-season optimism. In the latest quarter, revenue rose 6.3% to $1.36 billion, while same-store sales rose 1.5%. 📈 Economists are concerned that President-elect Trump's proposed blanket tariffs on imports would drive up food prices. Tariffs would not only impact food imports but would also push up costs for fertilizer and farm equipment. 👖 Guess trimmed its guidance for the year after swinging to a loss in its fiscal third quarter, citing slowed traffic at its stores in Asia and North America. Shares fell 10%, to $15.52, in after-hours trading. 🥦 Workers at a Whole Foods Market store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have filed to hold a union election, the first union filing at the supermarket chain since Amazon acquired it in 2017. 🍊 Orange juice prices have surged close to record highs after Florida was hit by hurricanes. A future contract for a pound of frozen orange juice concentrate currently trades for $5.13, compared to $1.20 in 2021. 📦 More than one-in-10 Americans reported experiencing package theft in the past year. Among these victims, 28% encountered theft during Black Friday shopping and 11% on Cyber Monday. 👍🏼 Americans continue to feel more upbeat about the outlook for the economy. The latest reading from the Conference Board was 111.7 in November, above the 109.6 seen in October and the highest level in more than a year. 🥖 Subway announced Tuesday that its CEO, John Chidsey, will retire at the end of 2024. Executive Carrie Walsh will replace him as interim CEO. #retail #retailnews #economy #DailyRetailNews

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Today, we published the third installment of what has become an annual report on loss prevention technology. Takeaways from the report include: * North American consumers are increasingly accepting of facial recognition, and some major US retailers are currently collecting biometric information from store visitors. * Shrink at self-checkout kiosks is getting a bit of a bad rap, since the devices contain a wealth of advanced computer vision and AI technology to detect theft (and customer errors) to provide retailers with options on how to respond. * We present Coresight Research consumer survey data on how consumers are responding to goods locked up in the store. There are technologies that enable customers to unlock cabinets with their smartphone, and new physical restraints to prevent thieves from leaving the store. Here is a link to the free report: https://lnkd.in/gRGc8r3t Thanks to Diebold Nixdorf for sponsoring it. #lossprevention #computervision #RFID #facialrecognition

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Retail’s Bench Strength Is Dwindling, Here’s How To Build It Back https://hubs.ly/Q02tPVL60

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Steve Banker, VP SCM, @Arc Advisory Group calls @Manhattan Associates product release "a significant step forward for the industry" adding "it will shake up the supply chain planning market." See why it's not hype on @Forbes: https://ow.ly/ywNm30sCNQH #supplychainplanning #businessplanning #supplychain #logistics #manhattanassociates #manhattanscp #supplychainmanagement

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Serial returners, beware at Best Buy, TJ Maxx & HomeGoods, Macy's, Staples, Walmart & The Home Depot! In 2023, 81% of U.S. retailers implemented pay-to-return policies in some capacity. 👉 Of $5 trillion worth of retail sales in the U.S. last year, about 14.5% of those sales were returned...or $743B 👉 Most of the returns that come back cost up to 40% of the original retail price to put that item back on the shelf 👉 U.S. retailers are now using third-party loss-prevention services to track risky return behavior I have a high school friend who would buy a table for a party, tape the receipt to the bottom, and when the party was done, he'd return the item....shameless! This also happens to very large screen TV's at Best Buy before, and then after big events like the Super Bowl...and it needs to stop. This is one place where adding a little friction in the retail process will keep these bad actors from returning. Walter Holbrook Mike H. Greg Buzek Ananda Chakravarty Read Hayes, PhD Jerry Sheldon Paula Payton, PhD Paula Rosenblum Brandon Rael DeAnn Campbell Isaac Krakovsky Rajul Agarwal RETHINK Retail https://lnkd.in/evEEYsB5

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Distribution is a fragmented industry, and that presents an opportunity for penetration by big retailers, says Ian Heller of Distribution Strategy Group. Home Depot's recently announced $18.25 billion deal to acquire SRS Distribution is an example of the steady push by big retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's Companies, Inc. in addition to The Home Depot to capture a growing share of the $8 trillion in revenue from US wholesale and distribution. Heller explains that these retailers are largely blocked from major acquisitions in retail by antitrust concerns. But distribution is wide open to them, at least for now. Distributors will have to up their game to meet these deep-pocketed and technologically savvy competitors. https://bit.ly/3QyAXnS

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Private Label Credit Cards (PLCC) can be a powerful customer engagement tool. > It "extends the wallet" for the credit needy customer. > Gives the retailer a "captive incremental spend" since the card only works in that retail group (Co-branded works differently; underwriting FICO also works differently). > Enriches data capture, coupled with step-down loyalty programs, and can be powerful for the retailer's personalization efforts. > Adds to retailers EBIT via 'Other Income', often through significant rev-share royalty arrangements. > Gives banks access to swaths new customer segments, at potentially lower risk profiles because credit lines are capped initially. > It allows customers to build up / improve credit scores if they are disciplined with payments. So all that sounds great! But, this article highlights a darker side that consumers need to be aware before getting seduced with new sign up offers. https://lnkd.in/efFJwSQs 4C Advisory, if you want to discuss more....

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Walmart is introducing electronic self edge labels across its stores. The roll out will be complete by 2026. Of course, rumors are now flying that Walmart will introduce some kind of dynamic or surge pricing. Personally, I don't buy it. Walmart has spent years and years building up trust with the consumer on pricing. Indeed, low prices are one of Walmart's key points of differentiation. Why on earth would it put all that at risk? No, this is about one thing: reducing the amount of time and money spent on changing tickets manually. Across all of its stores, Walmart can save a heck of a lot by making this switch. I chatted with CBS News about the move... https://lnkd.in/eFmwmjGp #retail #retailnews #pricing #digital #Walmart #grocery

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An independent investigation uncovered that a Macy's employee intentionally hid $132M-$154M in delivery expenses over several years, delaying the release of Macy’s quarterly results and shaking investor confidence. 🔎 Key Takeaways: • Accountability Matters: Even a single individual’s misconduct can have significant ramifications, from financial inaccuracies to reputational damage. • Controls Are Crucial: Robust internal controls and regular audits can detect and prevent unethical practices before they escalate. • Transparency Is Key: Macy’s swift action to investigate and disclose the issue reflects the importance of transparency in rebuilding trust. 💡 The Lesson for All of Us: Strong accounting systems and ethical practices are not just back-office functions—they’re the backbone of a business’s credibility and operational success. Whether you’re managing a Fortune 500 company or a small business, investing in oversight, ongoing training, and a culture of integrity is non-negotiable. This story is a good reminder of the significance of diligence in our accounting processes. Ethical practices don’t just protect your bottom line—they uphold the trust of stakeholders, customers, and employees alike. Oh - and you should have an ERP system that helps you maintain your internal processes, not hinder them. It might just save you $154 million dollars. https://lnkd.in/gmGf4c9W #Accounting #CorporateEthics #BusinessIntegrity #Finance

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