CUSTOMER NEEDS DRIVE THE SUPPLY CHAIN TOWARDS EXCELLENCE
It is all about customer needs …
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A supply chain has only one purpose: To deliver
the products to the customer (or consumer).
Everything else in the chain is only a means to
make the one objective happen.
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Customers have one big problem: They often
do not know themselves what they want. This
relates to products, volumes, timings. These
often change - thus the concept of
responsiveness has become vital in todays
world.
•
This is also the point to distinguish between the
different roles along the market chain: Who is
the customer, who is the consumer, and who is
the final user of the product? What are the
requirements along this chain, to which extend
are they similar, and where do they differ? And
who as which decision authority in the chain?
•
Another key area to understand, address, and
follow the dynamics of customers is a clever
segmentation. But - it is important to
understand that a marketing driven, and a
supply chain driven customer segmentation
can differ significantly! There are some
common elements, but in the end the supply
chain has to ensure the required availability of
the product, whereas marketing addresses the
desire of the customer for the product.
Common element is that the type of service
offered to the customer / consumer can have
an impact on the product decision (especially
when it is a short term need).
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In our market research, we have identified that
companies using a high number of
segmentation techniques are usually more
successful in their supply chain operations, and
also in their business results.
•
These are all vital questions, and considerations
which need to be addressed and answered
before starting to do a big data analysis, with
or without “BIG DATA” methods.