Wal-Mart tries a unique but costly strategy to compete with Amazon
Wal-Mart plans to grow its firm using a different strategy than that of Amazon´s Prime program, which offers free shipping on the majority of items for a $99 annual fee. Wal-Mart´s pilot program aims to offer free shipping within 3 days at $50, undercutting Amazon. Wal-Mart will use its vast network of 4,500 stores as distribution points to further streamline its operations.
Wal-Mart´s online revenues grew by 17% in the first quarter which ended April 30th. It seems that the world’s largest retailer is now looking to invest between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion on e-commerce, perhaps in fear of being out done by Amazon´s continual investment in the latest technological advancements. The latest online push by Wal-Mart means that 4 fulfillment centers will be added to their 11 already existing centers.
To read more on Wal-Mart’s latest e-commerce push, click here.
Amazon number one in the Gartner 2015 Top 25 Supply Chain ranking
Amazon has come out on top of the Gartner 2015 list, which is based on many supply chain performance factors such as return on assets, peer opinion, revenue growth and inventory turns. The 11th year of Gartner’s ranking program saw three companies from last year return to the top 5: Amazon, McDonalds and Unilever. Intel was also a reemerging leader, and Inditex (the Spanish clothing multinational known for the Zara and Massimo Dutti brands) was the only newcomer to the top 5 group.
But how could a top 5 list not include Apple and Procter & Gamble? Actually, they are not even among the top 25. Stan Aronow, the vice president of Gartner, has indicated that a new “masters” category was created for them due to their achievements in supply chain management. Aronow further elaborated that these firms “have consistently had top five composite scores for at least seven out of the last 10 years”.
To read more on Gartner’s top 25 supply chain list, click here.
Detecting Supply chain fraud is still not up to standard
According to a recent Deloitte Financial Advisory services poll, 28.9 percent of professionals said that their organization experienced supply chain fraud, abuse or waste within the last 12 months. However, approximately 26.8 percent currently have no program in place to detect and prevent those risks.
Larry Kivett, a partner at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, blames the “compliance resource constraints”. Early warning signs for supply chain fraud include: a lack of clarity in third-party invoice details, infrequent “right-to-audit” as well as minimal oversight of agreements with third parties.
To read the article, click here.
Have a nice weekend!
