U.S. holiday retail sales in 2016 were up more than 4% over sales during the same period in 2015. Unfortunately several major chains announced or carried out layoffs and store closings in 2016. Several factors are driving this industrywide chaos:

• Online shopping
• Changing consumer preferences
• Explosive growth in the number of e-commerce competitors
• Cost and operational challenges of omni-channel operations

Retailers are focusing a couple key areas for 2017 such as:

1. Controlling supply chain costs
2. Supporting revenue growth
3. Balancing cost and service

Click to read DC Velocity’s article on how retailers are managing their supply chains in an increasingly omni-channel world.