I remember a number of years ago; I was sitting in my office as the VP of Operations with a multi-channel retailer, and I happened to check our online sales for the day; we just achieved our all-time highest one-day sales level!

So I walked around the head office to see who else was as excited as I was. After wandering throughout the office, it was clear; no other department had an idea of what just happened. In fact, the only group that had some sense of the volume was my team an hour away in the Distribution Center; as they had to fulfill the all orders spitting out of the printers.

This was definitely a problem as our online sales were rapidly catching up to our catalog and store sales. Thing is, if you want a feel of what is going on in the catalog channel and stores all you need to do is hang out for a few minutes in the call center or store, have a brief talk with staff, to feel the energy level.

But how can you really get the vibe of what is going on in this new e-commerce channel?

After weeks of consideration the answer was to install large screens around the office.  These screens displayed information from; the top ten selling products, worst ten items, and out of stock items by current day, last week and year-to-date and the results were outstanding!

By bringing the e-commerce sales alive, we were able to create awareness and conversation, resulting in a better understanding of what was going on with our online sales and also allowing for pro-activeness.

This board was later extended to provide information about the other channels that then led to interesting insights on why certain products were selling in one channel and not the other. Also it was a great tool for the call center in answering customers’ questions about popular items and how quickly they were being sold out.

Today, spice™ has developed ‘spice™ Live Board’; a modern and enhanced version of this initial idea. Contact us today for more Information

About the Author:
Ian Rogers is an accomplished business leader with 20+ years in Retail / Supply Chain Management, Portfolio, Program, and Project Management. Ian’s expertise comes from working in multiple countries (Canada, UK, US, China) and in multiple sectors including manufacturing and multi- channel retail (office products, mass merchandising, lifestyle brands). Over the years Ian has worked with companies as both a senior line leader and as a management consultant in Supply Chain and IT. This broad based experience provides him with the ability to take a holistic view, thereby understanding the potential impact changes in one area of the business will have on other areas.