Experience Vs. Vision: Finding Retail's Sweet Spot

By Louis DeJianne, Director of Apparel, Consumer Goods and Retail, UPS

A retailer’s three-step process to better managing fulfillment.

The term “legacy company” may call to mind an institution with a proud tradition, grounded, and established with experience burnished over time. Or, it could conjure the image of a stodgy, slow-moving enterprise, too steeped in its old practices to meet new and rapidly changing consumer demands. That’s not a company primed to compete with nimble, young, entrepreneurial start-ups.

New companies, while unimpeded by legacy systems, have a different set of daunting challenges. Unbridled enthusiasm and heady ideas are bound by time and financial resources. And they are learning as they go.

Of course, the reality is more complex than big vs. small or experienced vs. visionary. And e-commerce has leveled the playing field for retailers of all stripes. The shifting landscape creates both opportunities and challenges for companies large and small. Some legacy companies adapt, unraveling decades of once-state-of-the-art systems and processes to execute new technologies — and new thinking — to stay competitive and thrive. Others struggle to free themselves from their old ways.