BUS606: Operations and Supply Chain Management

Retail operation occupy the top of the chain which consists of sales related activities like buying merchandise, operating stores and operating warehouses although often those tasks are carried out by an individual responsible person or department. Retailers maintain relationship with the suppliers in various ways through direct interaction, retailer's regional office, manufacturer's regional office, independent retail agent, trading company as classified by MacCarthy and Jayarathne. As Lee and Kincade explain, retailers select vendors, primarily on a cost basis, the advantage emerges as manufacturers compete for retail business. On top of this,few more criteria like product fashion level, product quality level, operational performances, financial stability, ethical and ecological requirements etc. influence the selection and cooperation with suppliers. The extent of interference by retailers directs the DSC. For example, some retailers decide about the fabric, accessories, packaging or even logistics.

Apparel items that are produced by garment manufacturers are sent to distributing channel from brand owners to retailers. Selling and distribution can be carried out by a single company or within a distribution system (wholesalers, retailers) of varying depth and the mode of this operation is linked to product design. Sen provides the process description where assembled garments are labelled, packaged and usually shipped to an intermediate warehouse before shipping to the retailers' warehouse. These distribution centres are also handling many important activities at times. Especially, when the distribution centres are dealing with many different countries, they have to deal with country-specific labelling, regulations etc. Sen also mention that in order to compress the time from placement of the retailer's order to the consumer's purchase, responsibilities are often shared with the manufacturer where they are labelling products with retailer's price tags, preparing them on hangers and in some case shipping them directly to stores.