Research & Trends: Sourcing The Customer Solution

By Matthew Deeter

The introduction of new social media-enabled applications has forever changed the way successful retailers and their trading partners interact with customers. Once these new customer interactions are fully integrated into the category development process, assortment planning discussions will evolve from the product mix to the consumer solutions mix. While this may sound like a small change in direction for those of us who have delivered integrated solutions throughout our career, I believe it will have a huge impact on retailers and manufacturers as traditional sourcing practices will have to evolve to meet the increased expectations of the socially engaged customer.

Used with permission from Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine.