The restructuring of retail supply chains should focus on automation and digitalisation during the stages of getting products ‘retail-ready’ for sale, explains Stuart Greenfield from Advanced Supply Chain (ASC).
There’s a growing trend of retailers planning to transform supply chains in a bid to manage cost pressures and operational complexities. According to Deloitte’s Retail Industry Outlook for 2026, two-thirds (66%) of retailers plan to restructure their supply chains if input costs continue to rise.
Retailers are focusing on ways to optimise supply chain efficiencies, speed and responsiveness, meaning they will look at options such as onshoring and nearshoring. These solutions can improve inventory management, cut lead times and create opportunities to respond quicker – and better – to market demand. However, they are also measures that can require significant time and capital expenditure to deliver transformational change and ROI.
A quicker, more cost-effective opportunity for accelerating speed to market and generating cost savings can often be found during pre-retail logistics. For example, we’ve worked with a major fashion retailer to halve processing lead times from six days to three, reduce vehicle dwell times by 48 hours and improve overall speed to market by up to one week. Performance was improved by automating and digitalising the process of preparing products for sale.
Replacing manual processes
Given how crucial the pre-retail stage of a supply chain is for getting products ‘retail-ready’, you’d expect it to be a hot spot for embracing automation and digital tools. Our experience during procurement tenders shows this isn’t always the case, with manual processes still commonplace.
Many pre-retail operations use paper stock logs and handwritten labels. This is often because warehouse and fulfilment centre operatives are regularly on the move. These manual processes can slow everything down, increase the risk of errors and break the flow of accurate data.
Manual processes can be quickly replaced and enhanced by mobile, touchscreen kiosks and label printers, which enable automation and digitalisation throughout pre-retail logistics. This eradicates the need for manually filling in forms, avoiding mistakes caused by illegible handwriting and the problems this can lead to.
Hard-to-read labels are often a cause of orders being rejected and processed incorrectly, risking products moving needlessly backwards and forwards throughout supply chains as errors are corrected. Labels can be templated, so that they are bespoke to a retailer’s specifications. All the required information can be included and displayed on-pack, strengthening compliance with a retailer’s systems and supplier standards.
Data-rich visibility
Connecting kiosks to a web-based supply chain management solution enriches the flow and accuracy of stock inventory data. This creates stronger visibility and insight, which, combined with the right IT capabilities and transport management systems, can improve cube optimisation of fleet vehicles and enhance route planning.
A reliable flow of accurate data can enable better planning of both inbound and outbound logistics. Part-loaded vehicles can be avoided, and fleet movements can be better scheduled to cut dwell times at warehouses and fulfilment centres. In turn, mileage in supply chains and the number of vehicles in transit can be reduced to save carbon emissions and fuel costs. Just-in-time inventory management can also be better planned, minimising stockpiling and the associated energy consumption and costs of warehousing excessive inventory.
Transport management systems and online booking portals can also eliminate issues of HGVs clogging up loading bays, creating an opportunity to ‘green lane’ priority vehicles. For example, if there’s a need to quickly move inventory to replenish low stock levels, vehicle licence plates can be programmed to be given priority status. Dedicated loading bays can be assigned and prepared to ensure these vehicles are processed quickly and efficiently.
Strengthening quality control
Automating and digitalising labelling supports higher quality standards. Accurate data can be used to create quality control dashboards, helping streamline product checks and significantly reducing the issue of imperfect, non-compliant goods moving beyond the pre-retail stages.
Eliminating errors and improving performance and efficiencies during pre-retail logistics doesn’t require lengthy implementation plans and significant investment. It requires something as straightforward as the automation and digitalisation of labelling, which can positively ripple effect though a supply chain to save time, costs, resources and carbon emissions.
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