Sainsbury's is to redesign its supply chain to create better availability of goods, the supermarket has revealed.
One of Britain's largest retailers, Sainsbury's is to work alongside an external company to provide a new and more efficient supply chain with the aim of improving stock availability.
Sainsbury's is to introduce an electronic trading network, and will coordinate its attempts with its 4,000 suppliers.
The decision to use an external supply chain management company is one which can also be taken by small or medium enterprises (SMEs).
SMEs could benefit from contracting an external management company, as doing so could mean fewer management hours are spent tasking existing staff with such responsibilities.
Tim Goalen, of Sainsbury's, explained: "To support our continued growth, we were looking to enhance our collaboration with suppliers without a significant increase in cost, while continuing to introduce greater intelligence into our supply chain."
Larger Sainsbury's stores stock around 30,000 products, although supply chains are becoming increasingly recognised as areas in which many costs can be cut regardless of the size of the company.
Inventory Management:
Inventory management isn't everyone's cup of tea – but we can help you.
