Dive Brief:
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While half of retail CEOs believe their supply chains are strategically important to their companies’ success, 83% say their supply chains are “not optimal” compared to customer expectations.
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Top priorities for the more than 400 retail CEOs surveyed found that they are concentrating on other areas of growth, including entering new markets, opening stores, and mergers and acquisitions. More than two thirds of CEOs aren’t considering distribution and supply chain as key to driving growth.
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The report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, "CEO Viewpoint: The Strategic Role of Supply Chain in an All-Channel World,” was conducted by supply chain and e-commerce consulting firm JDA Software.
Dive Insight:
Despite acknowledging the importance of supply chain issues in growth strategies, many retailers are shying away from addressing those issues in favor of bigger priorities. Yet customer expectations seamlessly cross all shopping channels, and those retailers that are optimizing supply chains have lowered their costs 15% on average, are halving their inventories, and have cash-to-cash cycles three times shorter than those who don’t, according to this report.