3 Effective Retail Rollout Management Practices

Developing and executing effective retail rollouts and distributions require detailed planning to create a solid foundation for success. It is critical that all parties are strategically aligned for a rollout to be successful and the logistics plan to be effective. There are several strategies that can better streamline rollouts and distributions when ensuring a timely and superior program.

Strategies

There are three primary strategies that should be followed to guarantee successful retail rollouts and distributions. These strategies include risk management, scheduling and project optimization.

Risk Management                                                               

As with all business practices, retail rollouts and distributions require a variety of decisions throughout the entire process. Every decision contributes to the success or failure of the project. Therefore, to ensure that correct decisions are made, all potential scenarios must be anticipated, communicated and assessed with regards to risks and benefits. These decisions effect cost, timeline and quality of the retail rollout.

To successfully implement the risk management strategy, it is critical to evaluate all risks and compare them with the benefits. This process comprises taking risk information and organizing it into a useable format thus allowing team members to be ahead of any issues that may arise. Then, take the implications and evaluate them to determine a risk-to-benefit situation for rollouts and distributions.

Scheduling

Another critical strategy is implementing correct scheduling to ensure milestones are met for the rollout and distributions timeline. It takes a specific amount of time to properly complete each task. Timelines for launches, revenue deadlines, marketing campaigns, lease payments and a number of other factors can affect timing, presenting a challenging situation in which those involved are expected to complete the work under tight deadlines. This increases risk in that the quality of the work may be substandard and can lead to errors or missing timeline milestones.

To mitigate this issue with a proper scheduling strategy, it is important to have confirmation from all parties on the amount of time for each to complete their required task. This allows them to be held accountable for completing the work on-time and with the highest possible quality. This strategy is fundamental in managing expectations and delivering the best opportunity for success with rollouts and distributions.

Project Optimization

Searching for project optimization methods during the retail prototyping phase relies on a variety of factors. First, they are required to develop the identity of the brand. This includes materials, colors, environment and feel; all of which help to build or maintain product identity. As a result of time restraints, the designer cannot analyze every option and not all processes can be optimized from the beginning. In some instances, the products may not be available at the time of the prototyping due to long lead-times or could only be available through select suppliers.

Therefore, a project optimization strategy must rely on value engineering, an organized process for cost reduction while minimizing performance impact. This piece is commonly integrated with the entire design process and should be a factor that the designers are constantly considering. Processes must be streamlined and the result is efficiencies that equate to cost savings and overall improved rollouts and distributions.

Risk management, scheduling and project optimization are three vital strategies that can be implemented to maximize rollout and distribution success. These three approaches anticipate issues, streamline the process while improving accountability and save on costs. These are typically three areas that fail during rollouts and distributions if not properly planned at the beginning of the project.

STC Logistics specializes in solutions to streamline the logistics process for rollouts and distributions. To learn more about our retail specialties, give us a call at 1-800-547-4324 or click below.