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Process Innovation for Materials

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Dramatically Accelerate Your Speed to Market

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Benefit 1

Free Up Time and Reduce Stress of Your Teams

Benefit 2

Reduce Operating Expenses and Overdevelopment

Benefit 3

Prevent Margin-Eroding Excess Inventory

How it works:

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Process Innovation Drives Profitability

We will show you how to reap the benefits.

Materials make up every product we sell. In fact, the term “materials” accounts for patterns, zippers, ties, trims and more. Yet, most materials are an afterthought in the product creation process.

First, we design and then consider what materials to use, whether or not they are actually available! Materials teams do not sit alongside design and are often located overseas to be close to mills and factories. Further, materials teams often report into sourcing and are isolated from other functions.

This model has been working for years but it allows for inefficiencies to creep in.

There is another layer of complexity to consider. The concept to market (a.k.a. go to market) calendar outlines the time needed to design, assort, produce and ship products to a distribution center or store. The calendar marks crucial decision-making moments. It is common for brands to have overlapping calendars. Meaning, teams are working on more than one season at a time.

As a result, it is very common to find materials teams scrambling to meet short-term deadlines. In fact, many of these deadlines are pushed out leading to products being late to market.

This costs a retailer or brand valuable profits and gross margin. Further, long-term innovation goals are also sacrificed.

Save Time

Gain Peace of Mind

Drive Results

Outdated mindsets related to the use of technology also hinders progress. Decisions on materials and product assortment cannot be made without a physical sample. This happens even at the highest levels of the world’s largest brands. The reliance on physical samples is called “Touch Crutch” or “No Sample, No Sale.”

Contrast this with advances in technology allowing us to do remote surgery and control spacecraft on earth. As such, retail executives should use digital tools to approve materials and products. Further, there are useful tools available to bank materials into a digital library, saving valuable hours of work.

Retailers and brands are constantly seeking out ways to be faster to market. Process innovation is where the gains are made. There are many areas within product creation that are ripe for improvement. Materials and all things related to them is a rich area of opportunity which is rarely explored.

We can help you improve processes and get faster to market. In doing so, there will be a direct and positive impact to the bottom line.

To learn more about how process innovation can work for you, contact Retail Strategy Group today. We have over 20 years of relevant experience and work with market-leading brands, helping them drive exceptional results.

Reach out to us at hello@retailstrategygroup.com or click here to use our contact form.

TESTIMONIALS

It has been such a pleasure to work with Retail Strategy Group. Liza is not your typical consultant, she does the hard work with the team, engages all key stakeholders and utilizes one on one time to help with individual contributor development. Additionally, she shares best practices, offers networking opportunities and genuinely is there to help not only rebuild a process, but guide you thru the implementation. The post implementation advisory phase has been extremely valuable to us.

Angie Rieger
Chief Transformation Officer, Lands’ End