Tim, Author at VM Unleashed

Made.com: fabricating a new approach to furniture

Made.com: fabricating a new approach to furniture Made.com was founded in 2010, as an online retail enterprise. As a product of recent times, it exhibits the same entrepreneurial culture, a desire to innovate, and an appetite to disrupt the traditional way of doing things in its own sector, as other digital-first businesses. Imagine a furniture concept that throws out the baggage of the traditional ways and re-invents the whole process-

What are the 6 ‘Astute Strategies‘ for 2022?

Creating a balanced organisation, flexible process flows, and a culture for change will benefit you little, unless you channel these attributes correctly into the brightest opportunities. Every retailer will have different opportunities that will depend on the product and service sectors that they inhabit, the markets in which they operate, their level of ambition and current delivery, and their business strategy. Some opportunities will be common to all. The first-

Building the Retail Organisation of 2022: The Retail Business Funnel

A Complex ‘House of Cards’ ‘The journey to being a modern retail organisation’ will take us on a path through brand propositions, organisational structures, process flows, functional teams, support teams, innovations teams, and external collaborators, all bound together within a dynamic business model which is digital-first. We need to bring together the stability of the organisation, with the dynamics of retail markets and customer behaviour patterns. It is always important-

“Saving Planet Retail” Encouraging Lifecycles with the Customer

Lifecycles with the customer The retail industry’s awareness and considerations about the product lifecycle must now be extended forwards to the customer purchase, their relationship with the product, and its disposal. The retail lifecycle must evolve into the product lifecycle. Changes in retailer mentality The solution is to make more use, and more uses, of what the customer buys. To turn away from the throwaway, to embrace and enjoy possessions.-

“Saving Planet Retail” From ‘Economies of Scale’ to ‘Scale of Economies!’

From ‘Economies of Scale’ to ‘Scale of Economies!’ The principle behind making money from ‘economies of scale’ is to produce high volumes of products, which reduces the individual unit cost. The more you make and the more you sell the greater the margin and the greater the profit. ‘Economies of scale’ profit is made in the buying process. The principle behind making money from ‘scale of economies’ is to generate-

Zara: moving stylishly from linear to lateral processes

Zara: moving stylishly from linear to lateral processes Linear processes push product through the system and into shops. They make money from buying & supply efficiency. Lateral processes consider at every stage the qualitative attributes of the product. They enhance and add-value to the assortment. They make money from selling. From selling more, and selling better. Zara at its inception, disrupted the balance of linear and lateral processes in its-

Apple: a business designed on simplicity

Apple: a business designed on simplicity The best advice I ever received in Design College? Keep things as simple as possible. The temptation always when seeking beauty through design is to add more ‘beautiful’ elements to it. In fact, the way to design beauty is to be brave enough to remove as much as you dare to reveal the absolute beauty of simplicity. I’m sure that Apple needs no more-

Online retailing is becoming ‘expert in ‘selling’ but forgetting ‘how to give’

Online retailing is becoming ‘expert in ‘selling’ but forgetting ‘how to give’ I am sure I am not the only one to have been disappointed and disgusted at the condition of some products that arrive on my doorstep, from online retailers. My latest experience was the receipt of some ladies coats from one of the largest online fashion specialists. A business whose strategy I have up until now admired. The-

The Evolution of Inventory

The Evolution of Inventory Agile retail businesses are shifting the supply chain to support a major strategic and operational focus on new inventories. The traditional approach of producing an inventory which is then sold, as much as is possible, is being transformed into an approach where a partly, or fully, virtual inventory is showcased as much as possible, and then produced to order. The enablers of the new processes are-