Narrator [00:00:04]:

Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today's critical issues, the challenges, and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.

Scott W. Luton [00:00:32]:

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be. Scott Luton and Kim Reuter with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today's episode. Hey, Kim, how you doing today?

Kim Reuter [00:00:43]:

I'm doing great. How are you?

Scott W. Luton [00:00:45]:

Outstanding. Outstanding. We got a conversation with a retail dynamo where they're going to be sharing proven, best innovative practices that your supply chain, anyone can certainly benefit from. So, Kim, we gotta be. We gotta keep it real though, gotta be clear. No corporate secrets will be revealed here today, but we're gonna be offering valuable perspective on topics such as how to effectively implant seasonal strategies because any supply chain can learn from those that have to operate successfully in a compressed timeframe. We're gonna talk a lot more about omnichannel retail optimization. Hey, supply chain technology.

Scott W. Luton [00:01:23]:

What tools are available out there to streamline shipping? And a whole bunch more. We're also going to take a look at put your shades on the future of retail fulfillment and what that might bring for consumers and supply chain practitioners everywhere. All that and a whole bunch more. So, folks, stay tuned for an outstanding conversation filled with what, actionable takeaways. Because if they're just regular, ordinary takeaways, are they really that valuable? Kim, should be a great one here today, huh?

Kim Reuter [00:01:49]:

It's going to be fantastic.

Scott W. Luton [00:01:52]:

Fantastic. Five stars from Kim Reuter. And if it's good for Kim, it should be good for all of us. Folks, two quick reminders before we get started. First off, hey, let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from you. And secondly, if you enjoyed today's show, be sure to share it with a friend or your network. They'll be glad you did.

Scott W. Luton [00:02:10]:

Okay, Kim, we're going to dive in. We got a outstanding three way panel this afternoon. I want to introduce, starting with Venky Avunoori, Vice President of eCom and Customer Technologies at Spencer's & Spirit. His colleague, Jim Ray, Divisional Vice President for Supply Chain Technology at Spencer's & Spirit, and backed by popular demand, our friend Justin Cramer, doing big things out there, Co-founder with ProShip. Hey. Hey, Venky. How are you doing today?

Venky Avunoori [00:02:41]:

I'm good, Scott.

Scott W. Luton [00:02:42]:

How are you doing? Wonderful. Great to have you with us. And Jim, welcome in. How you doing?

Jim Ray [00:02:48]:

I'm doing great, Scott, thank you very much.

Scott W. Luton [00:02:50]:

Outstanding. And, Justin, how you doing today?

Justin Cramer [00:02:53]:

Great day for a great conversation.

Scott W. Luton [00:02:55]:

That is right. We want to start with a fun warmup question. We've got an outstanding panel, big discussion teed up. But, you know, we like to get to know our guests a little bit more on a personal level to start with. And Venky, I want to start with you. You are a fierce competitor, we hear, when it comes to half marathons. So Venky, tell me more about that.

Venky Avunoori [00:03:14]:

Yeah, I wouldn't call it as a competition, but I started getting myself into running eight, ten years ago, and. Okay, you know, I started jogging and then running for maybe 30 minutes a day. And then before I realized, I got myself into half marathons. I enjoy running half marathons. I did a full marathon once. Just.

Scott W. Luton [00:03:41]:

Okay.

Venky Avunoori [00:03:41]:

Just to see how it feels, and it was great.

Scott W. Luton [00:03:46]:

All right, so you're gonna have to give us all some tips there. I need to. I need to compete in my first half marathon and work my way up to a full marathon. Kim, you ever run a full marathon or a half marathon?

Kim Reuter [00:03:57]:

No, I ran eight miles once by accident because I got lost and I had to get back. But no, that's as much as I've done.

Scott W. Luton [00:04:04]:

That was a great story there. We have to get to it in a future show. But Venky, great to have you here and looking forward to your perspective. And of course, your colleague, Jim Ray. So, Jim, we hear you're very passionate about the game of hockey and you still play it almost every week. Tell us more, Jim.

Jim Ray [00:04:23]:

Yeah, hockey. I've done several sports in my day. Definitely enjoy playing as versus watching. So picked up hockey about 20 years ago, and it's, you know, in my opinion, probably the best sport to play and to watch if you go live. But, yeah, it's a lot of fun. You know, it's definitely something where, you know, you get heart beating and you gotta have your head on a swivel. So it's a good night. It's a good time.

Scott W. Luton [00:04:48]:

All right, so clearly the Spirit Spencer's & Spirit Team are in shape over there. Power and organization forward. And by the way, I understand, Jim, there's no checking in the league that you play in regularly. Is that right?

Jim Ray [00:05:03]:

That is true. It's an adult league. None of us are getting paid to play hockey. We have day jobs, so it's more for fun. But it is hockey. So there's collisions that happen and, you know, on. On defense, you know, you gotta. You're still pushing and moving and doing things, so it can.

Jim Ray [00:05:18]:

I've broken my ribs. I've you know, gosh, hit the neck with a stick and can talk for a week. So it's, it can get, it can get tough.

Scott W. Luton [00:05:25]:

Well, we hear your nickname as the enforcer out there in the, in the hockey league, so we might get, get to more of that soon. But Jim, great to have you. And Justin, I'll tell you, I think this is your 13th time with us. We've talked about your love for grilling, We've talked about your love for reading. Unlike me, you've read all the books behind you. And competitive ballroom dancing. Tell us more about that.

Justin Cramer [00:05:49]:

Well, much like hockey, it is a sport of communication, but unlike hockey, there should be no contact. Really. It is, it is great because it is something not only gets your heart rate up, gets you moving, expresses a couple's ability to communicate with one another in order to execute a plan. So I see it a lot like, well, business.

Scott W. Luton [00:06:12]:

So I love it. I love that perspective. Sometimes we're just wired a certain way where we look at everything in the framework of supply chain, right. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. So, Kim, you get the wild card between ballroom dancing, half marathons and hockey. What's closest to where you spend some of your free time?

Kim Reuter [00:06:32]:

The running would be probably the closest where I spend my free time though I do enjoy a good hockey game. We have a team in here in Virginia called the Admirals and so I have been doing a few hockey games, but running has always been close to my heart. It was my big stress reliever for many, many years. Was running out the day.

Scott W. Luton [00:06:50]:

Okay, I like that and little tidbits you should pre show is for that minor minor league hockey team, y'all, blowing conch shells to intimidate the opposing team, right?

Kim Reuter [00:07:02]:

Yes.

Scott W. Luton [00:07:02]:

Okay.

Kim Reuter [00:07:02]:

That was our battle call. Was blowing the conchs.

Scott W. Luton [00:07:06]:

Love that, Love that. Well, folks, really appreciate you all taking time to share some of the things you'll do outside of doing big things in global supply chain. It's always important that work, life balance. Folks, we got a lot, lot of stuff to get into here today. I want to start with bringing context to the table. It's so important in this ever fast moving world we live in. And Jim, I'll start with you if you would tell us briefly, I mean, everybody's heard of Spencer's & Spirit, but for the three or four people out there that haven't tell us briefly about the organization and what you do there.

Jim Ray [00:07:35]:

Yeah. So, you know, again, Spencer's in spirit. I think everybody hopefully has heard of Those brands before, they're, we like to think they're fairly iconic. You know, Spencer's is a predominantly mall based, normal, traditional 12 month retail business. We were founded in 1947, so we've been around a couple of years. You know, we get the normal retail challenges that any other retailer would get within that business. And then you have Spirit Halloween. That is a unique retail experience.

Jim Ray [00:08:04]:

It's, we've, you know, it's been around. It was founded in 1983, so not quite as long. It's really taken off significantly over the last three or four or five years. So we've had some rapid growth in that space. But it is a unique business model in that we're only open for a small period of time. And then this year, I don't know how many people are aware, but we also started up a Spirit Christmas business. So kind of piggybacking off our Spirit Halloween. So some similarities there obviously in the holiday or, excuse me, the Christmas business line.

Jim Ray [00:08:36]:

And we have eight stores this year.

Scott W. Luton [00:08:40]:

Oh, I love it. And then definitely Spencer's is iconic in my history with malls and Kim, you and I talked about this a bit in a separate conversation and of course, spirit Halloween. How do we navigate Halloween without spirit Halloween these days? Kim, your quick comment.

Kim Reuter [00:08:57]:

Spencer's was a keystone to my childhood. It was the only. We went to the mall. Spencer's was like store number one. You go to Spencer's. Loved everything about Spencer's and so I'm glad to see that it's still around. I have so many things that I could go and I'm holding back because they're not all appropriate, but. Yeah, but so I love that it's still here.

Kim Reuter [00:09:20]:

I know that they have more of an online presence, which is great. And I'm super excited to hear about how they manage the Spirit Halloween because this was a pretty big feat, right? Like every year we make like a whole new retail experience happen.

Scott W. Luton [00:09:33]:

That's right. And I can't wait to learn more about Spirit Christmas. Jen, that is big news. Big news. All right, Venky, if you would. Now that we've level set everyone with Spencer's & Spirit, tell us more about your role at the organization.

Venky Avunoori [00:09:49]:

Yes, I'm the Vice President of eCom and Customer Technologies. My responsibilities include e-commerce, store technologies and all aspects of retail merchandising, planning, allocation and buying. And also we have our own internal private label product development. So I'm responsible for that area as well.

Scott W. Luton [00:10:17]:

Okay. Which is tougher. All that you do there are full marathons. Venky you both. They're both equally challenging. Well, I love how again, all the success y'all have had the iconic parts of everyone's upbringing as Kim was talking about, I've got some of the coolest shirts and posters amongst other things from my days. And then to continue to expand and serve the markets in new ways such as, you know, Spirit Christmas. We no one sits on their laurels and clearly y'alls team does not either.

Scott W. Luton [00:10:54]:

Speaking of sitting or not sitting on laurels, I should say Justin, folks have gotten to know your story a good bit and ProShip story in your earlier appearances with us. If you would tell us briefly to remind some of our newer folks what ProShip does in a nutshell.

Justin Cramer [00:11:09]:

Well, ProShip is a shipment execution platform for small parcel and ltl. What this means is that we're part of the larger team of software that helps a company like Spencer's Spirit in order to move around their inventory best utilize the inventory where it exists closest to the customer. Provide the greatest customer experience for that final mile to the customer.

Scott W. Luton [00:11:34]:

Delighting and dazzling the customer. Big name of the game. Kim, we talked about that last time. Justin's with us and I bet Jim and Venky do that a lot in their roles. Clearly, Ken, that's the name of the game, right? Delight and find new ways of delighting the customers wherever they are, huh?

Kim Reuter [00:11:52]:

Supply chain and customer experience, they're hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. If you don't have it, you can't sell it. That's the end of the story.

Scott W. Luton [00:12:00]:

That's right. That is right. All right, so folks, today, big theme here today, unmasking the omnichannel secrets of a retail giant. Conversation with Spencer's & Spirit. Folks, we're not giving away any corporate secrets, right? We don't want an army of attorneys chasing after us. But you learn some actionable key takeaways, key aspects of finkeys and gems and your team success that you can apply in your own supply chain, whether you focus on a certain particular season or not. And I want to start with this Venky. I want to start with you.

Scott W. Luton [00:12:32]:

So how does Spencer's & Spirit effectively plan and execute on that? Challenging those challenging seasonal strategies, particularly for Halloween, to make sure that product delivers on time and we maintain those optimal inventory levels. What can you share there?

Venky Avunoori [00:12:48]:

Yeah, sure. As Jim was just sharing, right. You know, we have Spencer's, which is a traditional retail business, and here Spirit Halloween, which is seasonal, right. And the unique aspect of our business is that while for guests, our customers say two to three months, the sales cycle and costumes available. But there is a year round activity to make that happen. So it all starts with real estate strategy and finding the key locations and at the same time we start our product design.

Venky Avunoori [00:13:36]:

So the concept to all the way to, you know, manufacturing aspect of it and then get all those products across the sea and to this side of the world and then keeping that product in our distribution centers, right. So now that we just finished our Halloween season, we're already busy trying to get this cycle started for the next season, right. So from November through May all these activities happen. And by May we make sure that all the inventory is positioned in our distribution centers and store openings start happening from July. Just you know, think of opening up 1500-1600 stores in a matter of few weeks. From July into August all these stores are up. They are called pop-up stores. But when you walk in they are like any typical retail store.

Venky Avunoori [00:14:41]:

Everything to give the guests the best experience they can. Kids walking and having an in store experience of the Halloween theme, right. So just looking at all this to make that type of experience happen for our guests, year round activities and lot of different things that need to go in. What is really critical here is managing the inventory efficiently and effectively from the manufacturing all the way to the end point into the stores to move the product effectively. As you can see, it's a very complicated supply chain process and that's our backbone for our business. It's really exciting to do this year over year and trying to look for opportunities for improvement, innovation aspects so that we get the best possible experience for our guests.

Scott W. Luton [00:15:46]:

I bet each year brings common challenges that you know, don't leave and also to bring a bunch of unique new challenges. And what I one of the things I heard there and Kim, I'll get your comment here. Location, location, location, that's critical, but also inventory, inventory, inventory, as Venky was saying. Kim, your quick comment before I shift over to Jim.

Kim Reuter [00:16:07]:

So setting up 1500 stores in a few weeks is an amazing feat. And and you know also the other thing I heard that was very interesting is that we're getting Halloween inventory in position, not just starting to ship it in position in country in May and that is way in advance of when you're gonna need it. But when we look at this whole piece, this isn't just an e-commerce play. This is about repositioning all of that inventory then into all of these brand new stores.

Scott W. Luton [00:16:35]:

Right. Man, November to May, things are challenging year or busy year round, but that November to May timeframe. Jim, what would you add to, you know, again, focus on that timely product delivery and keeping maintaining those optimal inventory levels. How do y'all do it?

Jim Ray [00:16:53]:

Yeah, it's, it's a dance, right? You know it is and it's a dance for, you know, two to three months worth of selling time. You know, when you think of a supply chain perspective, it is very challenging. We not only have to distribute to 1500 locations year over year, not all of them are same year over year. We move around per se, but we also have a heck of a network behind that from a distribution perspective. We have a large number of distribution centers that we also pop-up 15 other stores. We have some distribution centers that we keep year round to support Spencer's obviously and then also to support the inbound traffic before we understand where our stores are going to be. We don't know where our stores are until that May April timeline. So we have to stage and position the inventory that Venky spoke to that we spend months prior getting ready and shipped in.

Jim Ray [00:17:52]:

We have to stage that for when we start getting keys to 1500 stores. So it's quite the challenge from a physical perspective in a supply chain environment to keep track of all that and then, and then position that out and ready to go at a moment's notice. And as the stores open up, obviously we don't open up 15 at one time. It's, it's a rolling, you know, effort and exercise.

Scott W. Luton [00:18:17]:

Jim, you know, I think a couple of things are heard there and Justin, I will get your take the scalability of the network, right? Not just the stores themselves, but the network that supports and fulfills and protects that inventory and delivers inventory. And then also something I think Venky said earlier, you walk into one of these stores, it may be called a pop-up store, you can't tell, you cannot tell at all. And it protects that experience which also adds such a another element of the complexity. Jim and Venky. Now, now I'm definitely going to pick up on what Jim said. It's a dance. And Justin, we're going to bring in the world class ballroom dancer. You know, maybe not so much about Spencer's & Spirit, but as you kind of what you heard there and what you've seen there, project that out to what we're seeing in the marketplace and how other retailers are able to do the dance as well.

Justin Cramer [00:19:08]:

Well, I think one of the things you want to think about is Origins is one of the forgotten things about when you're using a logistics product is when do you know, where your origins are going to be, whether those are kiosks for those are temporary stores, or whether you're building new brick and mortar. Keep in mind that you have to work with your carriers to get the origin set up. There's a lot of other logistics, things behind the scenes that need to happen, and your software stack should make that easier. So understanding and communicating with your vendors that we are going to increase our number of origins, maybe by a small amount, maybe by a massive amount. Like here. It does, right?

Scott W. Luton [00:19:46]:

Right.

Justin Cramer [00:19:47]:

Not communication, you know, that to make sure that we can pivot appropriately and make it look elegant in the process. That's really important because that not only affects how your customers perceive your growth, but it also affects how your employees perceive your growth.

Scott W. Luton [00:20:05]:

Well said, Justin. And I love your emphasis on the carrier relationship. That's come up the last couple of conversations we had with you. And you know, Kim, it is an elegant dance, but it's a demanding dance as well. Kim, as we keep that visual and that analogy going. What'd you hear there from Justin? Kim?

Kim Reuter [00:20:23]:

Couple of things, you know, one, we're talking about just setting up the stores and about the inventory and managing the inventory. But there's POS that we have to set up. To Justin's point, there's whole entire carrier networks that don't exist that need to be set up for a few weeks. And it's an intense few weeks. It's not just a little bit here and a little bit there. So, you know, the ranging, deliveries, pickups, how many packages, how many trucks, how much are we talking about? So there's a whole lot of work that's really going on behind the scenes that is supply chain related that we're not even touching on in these conversations.

Scott W. Luton [00:20:55]:

That's right. And I know, I know what I wanted to add before I shifted over to you, Kim, is Justin mentioned ensuring that technology makes it easier. And gosh, in this day and age, in 2024, the golden age of powerful supply chain tech, I mean, that is the name of the game, making it easier on the team to find more success. All right, so shifting gears here, I think back to you. Would you discuss a little bit more about your company's approach to omnichannel retail and how it leverages various channels to provide that seamless customer experience that clearly are so well known for?

Venky Avunoori [00:21:31]:

Yes, Scott, as you can see, you know, we. We put heavy emphasis on our, you know, guest experience. Whether they shop online or whether they go to stores. It's very important for us to make sure that we have omnichannel strategy across the digital and the physical channels, right. So one of the key aspects where we focus is buy online, pickup in store as well as buy online, ship from store, right. Those are the key two components of our strategy where we put, you know, a lot of emphasis on effectively allocating our inventory across the nodes in the network.

Venky Avunoori [00:22:19]:

Right. So for guests, when they place online orders, we want to make sure that whether they're picking up from the store or whether we are shipping from the store, we have the timely delivery of the product. And as you can see, Halloween costume after the Halloween, if it is delayed by a day or two, is of no use, right. So the timely delivery is going to be that much more important. And as we get closer to the Halloween express, overnight shipping and same day deliveries, they start to pick up, right. So, yeah, I mean, the omnichannel strategies, as well as making sure that we have the inventory positioned effectively, those are the two key areas where we put a lot of efforts in.

Scott W. Luton [00:23:14]:

Appreciate that, Venky. And I tell you, BOPIS became one of my favorite acronyms in the last few years, right. But you also mentioned not just to buy online, pick up in store, but buy online and ship from store, and we've seen a lot of organizations leverage that as well. Jim, what would you add to, again, how you are accomplishing this incredible customer experience and managing that challenge of what Omnichannel brings to the table? Your thoughts are, Jim?

Jim Ray [00:23:41]:

Yeah, I mean, you know, having the inventory in the right place at the right time is a big challenge. Especially you don't necessarily know where we're going to need to have that inventory until it's, you know, 12th hour. So as we plan out our distribution network, you know, we have to keep in mind year over year, where we've been and where we could be. And then we have to be flexible. You know, our model from a supply chain perspective is being able to pivot at any given moment because we had a store unexpectedly that didn't come to fruition, or they popped up an additional one somewhere else. So inventory, you know, optimization, and we keep ensuring that it's available for all channels is definitely a challenge. And technology helps us do that. But it is being agile and being able to pivot, whether that's e-comm through one of the channels that we have on the store or just from the E.

Jim Ray [00:24:30]:

Comm itself in the distribution network to back that up.

Scott W. Luton [00:24:34]:

You know, Justin, bringing you in here, you know, a lot of folks out there in supply chain land. Talk about flexibility and lead time and pivoting and being nimble and agile and they mean one thing. This takes it based on some of these unique complexities to a whole new level. Justin, speak, what did you hear there between Venky and Jim?

Justin Cramer [00:24:56]:

Well, one of the things is talking about best practices because let's face it, ship from store, omnichannel, shipping, shipping from all your inventory sources, is it new. But it is something we are slowly getting better at as an industry. Some of those lessons that have been learned are especially for your store associates. Don't give them multiple applications. If you're going to do ship from store, it should happen in the same place that your BOPIS orders are being picked from. It should be no different for those operators, for those store associates. Sorry. Because if we make it more difficult for them, you're going to introduce that option for mistakes.

Justin Cramer [00:25:33]:

The only difference between a BOPIS order and a ship from store order should be one goes into a bag and the other goes into a box with a label. But the pick process should be the same. Every other interaction for that store associate should be the same to make things streamlined for them.

Scott W. Luton [00:25:51]:

Well, who? Yeah, Justin. I love that, Kim. I love how as much as we talk about the customer experience, Justin brings up the employee experience which is so equally as critical. But Kim, what you hear there between Venky Jim and Justin and you know, delivering on omnichannel demand and requirements.

Kim Reuter [00:26:11]:

So I worked at Nordstrom in supply chain and Nordstrom, Urban Legend is one of the first companies to actually do BOPIS. And the story as told by the Nordstrom brothers is that they turned it on and they came into work the next day and they had a 20 foot long piece of receipt for lipstick that had just launched that everybody was trying to get a hold of. We're not really getting into the details of omnichannel today, but Omnichannel is incredibly difficult to manage. So if you are in supply chain, you're working in e-commerce, you're working in fulfillment and you're working in warehouses. The stuff is where it's supposed to be. It's in row shelf bin, right. Retail especially.

Kim Reuter [00:26:53]:

I can only imagine what happens in a Halloween store. We have no idea. It's supposed to be in this rack. Could be in a room, could be in it, could be in somebody's cart, could have been hung up somewhere.

Scott W. Luton [00:27:04]:

Wrong.

Kim Reuter [00:27:04]:

We got to go, we got to go find it. So we're working under less than ideal conditions for picking, right. We're still under time crunches because the customer's probably on the way to pick it up. Or we got hit a shipping cutoff and if we're doing a BOPIS or pickup from store, we probably don't have that inventory in a warehouse because we would have indexed on that first. And so we wanted to fill it out on a warehouse. So we have a time crunch. We have a sensitive situation when we're looking at fulfilling from these stores.

Kim Reuter [00:27:32]:

So Omnichannel is incredibly complex, but it is incredibly rewarding for the customer because before this you just couldn't get it right. You had to drive around, you had to go find it. But now places like Nordstrom, places like Spencer's are able to fulfill the customer's need even though they don't have it right there.

Scott W. Luton [00:27:53]:

That's right. Spencer's & Spirit are really showing how it's done on some different levels. And a big part of how it's done, Jim, is technology, right. It's amazing. Gosh, imagine that the folks in supply chain 20 years ago had one tenth of what was available these days. So I want to ask you about that, Jim. So what role does technology play in streamlining specifically Spirit Halloween supply chain processes.

Scott W. Luton [00:28:20]:

Right. And then also any specific tools or solutions come to mind that have been instrumental in driving these efficiencies and not just protecting, but improving customer satisfaction. Jim, tell us more.

Jim Ray [00:28:32]:

Yeah, so you know, Spirit obviously is super challenging when it comes to everything, whether it's technology or not. You know, Spencer's again, real quick. It's a traditional distribution model, so a bit easier, you know, big box distribution centers. When it comes to Spirit, you know, we need to have really. It needs to be simple in nature, right. It's got to be very mobile. From a technology stack, these DCs and distribution centers are pop-up, they're not open very long.

Jim Ray [00:29:00]:

So I can't bring in a lot of automation. But you know, I have to have mobile technology and simple technology to get things in and out of the door. We don't need them to sit there long. I also have to be prepared for a distribution center that is supposed to be there, then suddenly is not there because of the nature of how we equip fire them. So there's a lot of challenges. The infrastructure is not necessarily what you would have in a traditional distribution center because we're in there for a small period of time. So you have communication issues, whether wi-fi, cellular, you're docking. So your technology has to be dynamic and flexible and again, very simple in nature from what you're expecting a temporary DC to be able to do and stand up and fast environment.

Jim Ray [00:29:47]:

You're bringing in, you know, a significant amount of merchandise to send out to you know, what would be 300 stores per pop-up DC for example. It's definitely different than what we do in Spencer's and it's again, you know, agile and nimble. Those are all keywords that you have to be prepared for already. And then you know it's. You gotta have a lot of low touch mobile type applications in the distribution center. Yep.

Scott W. Luton [00:30:14]:

Before I switch over to Venky, any specific tools, solutions that you want to point to? I know you've described, I love the, you know, simple, dynamic, flexible, low touch mobile. A lot of those are characteristics, anything that you want to add to any specific solutions you've used there, you know.

Jim Ray [00:30:32]:

So you know, when we, when I think about our big box distribution, those are your normal, you know, big players from a software perspective.

Scott W. Luton [00:30:40]:

Right.

Jim Ray [00:30:40]:

When we get down into our pop-up distribution centers those are a little bit more leveraging some of the functionality app but we've written a lot of custom applications to support that.

Scott W. Luton [00:30:52]:

Okay.

Jim Ray [00:30:52]:

Supposed to go with something that's that I would, I would classify as a sledgehammer to kill a gnat, right. But we're not keeping these facilities around very long. They're a three, four month just like our stores. They're different year over year. Some are the same. Depends on where the planning department decides to put our stores. So it's again very agile, it's very nimble.

Jim Ray [00:31:18]:

A lot of mobile devices that we own that we ship out and technology that we've written that runs on those devices still has to communicate back up to erps in our main warehousing.

Scott W. Luton [00:31:30]:

Jim, I love that analogy you mentioned and I'm going to completely steal it from you about using a sledgehammer to kill a gnat because there's a lot of that out there and equally as much, there's a lot of using a needle to hunt down an elephant. Perhaps as I was struggling to find the reciprocal analogy there. Venky, what would you add to that in terms of how you're leveraging technology to deliver in eye popping ways for your customers? Especially given the unique complexities that you're, your business model has, you know, as.

Venky Avunoori [00:32:02]:

Justin called out, technology makes things easier, right. So we constantly looking into innovative ways and utilizing, you know, some of the new technologies to help power our operations. I would say it's not just the technology, you know, it's the processes around it and the Right. Set of people allocated to it, right. So you know what, the way I look at this is, as we just talked about, it's not a traditional retailing environment and you won't be able to use traditional demand forecasting or demand planning type of tools, you know, that you typically use in the traditional world. So it becomes challenging in terms of, you know, getting that unique aspect of our business and what type of technologies can really help us there.

Venky Avunoori [00:33:00]:

We spend a lot of time in exploring some of our AI and gen AI type of technologies which can make a big difference, especially how we open the stores and we run the stores and we close the stores. And there's so much that happens on the field from an operations perspective and having these newer technologies which can have the rapid communication, feedback loops as well as giving the best experience we can for our associates in the store as well as to the guests, right. So there's a lot that can benefit from these newer technologies that are out there. So.

Scott W. Luton [00:33:47]:

Yep. So, Justin, I'll bring you in here. Whether it is some of the unique demands that we're seeing here that Jim and Venky elite laying out for Spencer's & Spirit and what you're seeing in equally demanding other environments out there for organizations that again, want to nail the customer experience, right. And that particularly in this case, you know, we've got some unique constraints on what I'll call the front end upstream with, as Vin Keith talked about there with demand planning, you know, given the nature of the business, that that means even more. We got to nail the final mile. We got to nail the shipping, we got to nail the execution. Justin, your comments there before I shift over to Ken.

Justin Cramer [00:34:29]:

Well, what I will say is that nailing that doesn't mean spending the largest amount of money. It does mean understanding the customer's expectation and then finding the lowest cost solution that will meet.

Scott W. Luton [00:34:42]:

Right.

Justin Cramer [00:34:43]:

Exceed that expectation. And so that's part of the processes that Venky was talking about. Good processes lead to good execution by good software, and that can help save money and raise that customer experience.

Scott W. Luton [00:34:58]:

Yep. And empowering our associates that Venky and Jim were both talking about putting them in the best possible position to make timely, confident, quick and fast decisions so they can act, whether you're on what I'll call a traditional supply chain environment or a very compressed one, like the incredible things they're doing at Spirit Halloween. Kim, what'd you hear here between Justin, Venky, and Jim?

Kim Reuter [00:35:26]:

So customer experience. And when we look at something a service like Spirit provides, it's very Time limited. We have one day that we're gonna use it by two days if you get lucky, maybe over a weekend. If Halloween's on a Saturday, you might get a couple uses out of what you purchased. So it's very time sensitive. And even I would say that it's more time sensitive than holiday shopping. Because with holiday shopping, Christmas, May, around New Year's, you got a couple days. People accept a gift any time of year, but you cannot show up as Batman in the office in April.

Kim Reuter [00:36:02]:

So it's very time constrained. All right, Justin has comments on that. Perhaps Justin feels like he could show up as Batman in April. But so when we look at that, all of this technology, all these business processes, all of this is all driven down to one day. And that is a lot of work and a lot of promises that we made the customer.

Scott W. Luton [00:36:23]:

That is right. And gosh, we got a. I'm spiking the football again. Maybe we got to lean into customized technology that we heard from Jim. That's not terr. That doesn't have to be terribly expensive. That we heard from Justin. But not discounting sound process and incredible associates, as Venky mentioned, that deliver success as.

Scott W. Luton [00:36:45]:

Which is as important as any technology out there. All right, I want to talk about the future. Everybody got their shades handy because we know experience Spencer's & Spirit is on the move. Got a bright future, but I would argue the future of retail fulfillment, right. It's amazing just to be a student of what's been going on in this modern era. It really is in light of increasing demand for fast and efficient shipping across the board. So I want to ask Venkyll, start with you.

Scott W. Luton [00:37:19]:

How do you envision the future of retail fulfillment and what trends or technologies do you think are going to really shape industry for the coming years?

Venky Avunoori [00:37:28]:

Yeah, I mean, you know, looking into the retail aspects of the business, right. I mean, everything comes down to me as a customer. You know, I would expect the best experience possible and also the convenience and the speed at which I can get marks the product delivered to me, right. So those are the key aspects on where I see all the retailers are trending towards fulfillment is going from away from the traditional big warehouses and DCs to more of a, you know, mini fulfillment centers. Getting the product, moving the product closer to the customer. But how you get there, that's a challenge. I mean, it involves network optimization.

Venky Avunoori [00:38:20]:

It involves, you know, inventory allocation and a lot of other things, you know, that come into place. But that's where I see a lot of retailers putting focus towards and you know, as you can see, recently q-Commerce has become a big deal. You know, we are not only same day delivery now we're talking about on demand delivery, right. I mean the expectations from the customers has risen to the level of a 30 minute delivery. How do you make that happen? Right. So when you look back, how we can get the product closer to the customer is going to be key. And that's where I see a lot of retailers spending a lot of time towards the AI and gen AI solutions to have these processes come together.

Scott W. Luton [00:39:11]:

Yep. Before I shift over to Jim, two things I heard there being Keen, tell me if I'm wrong, you didn't use this phrase but I heard you kind of describing, right, sizing no matter the business model, no matter the customer expectation, right. Sizing the apparatus, the network, the supply chain organization behind it. And that's. That seems like that's exactly what you are doing at Spirit Halloween. It's amazing.

Scott W. Luton [00:39:35]:

And then secondly, Kim mentioned Batman. Folks, if the customer is expecting a awesome Batman costume in one day, you don't want to send them Robin in seven days. Okay. We got on time in full and not got to protect their Halloween experience. Jim, what would you add? We're talking kind of the future, right? The future of retail fulfillment. What do you think is going to shape it? What do you see lying ahead?

Jim Ray [00:40:01]:

Yeah, I mean Venky touched on a lot of it, right

Jim Ray [00:40:04]:

So it is about regional distribution as opposed to the big box distribution. So we over the last year and a half have converted over to more of a regional aspect from our big box distribution. And then you know, it's the small pop-up DCs that we have. So it is about placing distribution in the right places so we can deliver that value for the customer as fast as we can. And then there is automation that we can do. When you think of spencers, whether it's ASRs or some other form of automation within that additional four walls that we're looking for and then AI capabilities. When I think about the agileness that we have to have within our distribution channel and the software that we have to provide so they can fulfill at a rapid pace. We've gotten into some AI capabilities around our software development.

Jim Ray [00:40:50]:

So it's a little bit about what he said and then you know, just some additional automation. But basically it's that regional distribution network and the flexibility that that the pop-ups provide us that gives us kind of that little special sauce with some AI capabilities that we're now leveraging.

Scott W. Luton [00:41:10]:

It's fascinating. It is Absolutely fascinating. And then we're just scratching the tip of the iceberg here. Justin, when we think about the really I would argue the now of retail fulfillment is mesmerizing, quite frankly, especially the Spencer's & Spirit story. But when you think about that or you think about the future of retail fulfillment, what do you see what's going to shape that in the path forward?

Justin Cramer [00:41:38]:

So I'm going to say volatility, but that can be controlled, right? We mentioned that customers want faster, freer, we mentioned some customers even want 30 minute delivery. Oddly in what we see now is these same day carriers now offering next day solutions. And so what I'll put out there is that I think customers want to know when they can get an item and they're more likely to purchase, especially if you keep or exceed that expectation in order to do that. Really where the area of volatility that comes in for a company like Spencer's is the changes that are being made in the carriers, the changes in the number of carriers that are available. In the last year we've probably seen a dozen new carriers enter the market with half a dozen leaving the market. And who knows what that that mix is going to look like in 2025. So volatility is here to stay. I think we're never going to go back to the three carrier world we had, you know, in the early 2000s.

Justin Cramer [00:42:42]:

It really is how we can come together and understand what the expectation is being set for the customer, how we can pick the carriers or rationalize those carriers necessary in order to meet those expectations.

Scott W. Luton [00:42:56]:

Well said, Justin. Kim, it is indeed a dance. Whether it's a flock, the foxtrot, the flamenco, the Charleston chu. I think choo choo. I think all those are dances I'm not gonna show, I'm not gonna try them for y'all. I don't wanna pain our audience but this, this is really a beautiful story. You know, so many of our audience members have shopped and experienced dispensers stores or Spirit Halloween. And that to hear kind of some of the supply chain and technology and e-commerce leadership perspective behind it I think is fascinating.

Scott W. Luton [00:43:28]:

And they're still writing a chapter. We're going to touch on what's next for all the organizations here in just a second. But Kim, pretty interesting story. I wish we had about, I don't know, 12 more hours to this conversation, huh?

Kim Reuter [00:43:40]:

Yeah, I want to just take us back just a little bit. This was started in 1946, right? So since Spencer started, I think I got the date right midnight from 40s, in case I got it wrong. And so here's a company that has been around since 1946 and is continuing to evolve, is continuing to meet their customer needs, continuing to offer modern innovations in supply chain. And I can look at a lot of companies that are much younger than this company that are struggling with that. It's pretty miraculous to look at this. And as we look to the future and we look at what the customers are going to ask for, things like companies like Spirit and Spencer's, the customers now know what supply chain is. They're no longer confused about how their stuff shows up. And so they're demanding more and more.

Kim Reuter [00:44:25]:

They want it faster, they want a direct manufacturer, they want it cheaper. They just want their experience to be unique to them. Kind of like it was when they went to a store.

Scott W. Luton [00:44:36]:

Hmm. That is right. That is right. Well said, Kim. I like the history lesson too, because you're right, there are much younger companies that haven't pieced it together and haven't been nearly as sustaining and enduring and innovative as Spencer's & Spirit. And we're just getting a part of the story here today. All right, well, we were just at talking about the future and I'm going to ask each of y'all what's next because all three of our panelists, their organizations, they don't sit on laurels for a second. And Jim, you've already kind of let part of the cat out of the bag in terms of what's next for Spencer's & Spirit with Spirit Christmas.

Scott W. Luton [00:45:18]:

I can't wait to learn more about that. But anything else you want to add to what's next for your organization?

Jim Ray [00:45:24]:

Yeah. Outside of reading and reacting to Christmas, data is a big driver for us now, right. So that we can better understand our customers so that we can support them and get the product and the right place at the right time. So we're, we're going through a lot of data initiatives right now so we can again, better understand the customer. And it's about, you know, continuing to modernize our technology through AI so that we can, you know, delivery or the execution, the operational execution within our pop-ups and in our four wall historic distribution centers. So as long as we can continue down that, that path of, of getting our technology in a place that's, that's not the sledgehammer, but it's very flexible and able to enhance what we do operationally and then leverage data to ensure that where we put those pop-ups, they're available for the right amount of Inventory to be there and that we can get it in and out and not sort for a long period of time.

Scott W. Luton [00:46:19]:

Jim, quick follow up before I switch over to Venky. Your organization strikes me as they are passionate and just consume with learning the customer almost day by day. Is that a, is that a fair assessment? Is that one of your superpowers that rolls up into your ability to deliver at the level you'll deliver?

Jim Ray [00:46:39]:

It is. I mean we do know our customer. I think, you know, I don't know that you ever know it 100% the way you want to know it. You know, it's always. It's an evolving thing as you go through. The more you learn, the more you don't know. So it's an evolving thing that we constantly go after. But I think our biggest strength is operationally how we have learned how to do this.

Jim Ray [00:46:58]:

Right. You know that that was there long before the sophistication of it. If you go back into the 40s and into even the 80s, right, right when Spirit started. So as technology has evolved we've been able to leverage that for, you know, our operational efficiencies because we do know how to do it, whether it's on paper or in the system. So we're, you know, from a, from an IT perspective, you know, we're trying to stay up and keep our business automated as best we can to alleviate and let them go and spend their time and energy on how to improve.

Scott W. Luton [00:47:30]:

Love it. And Jim, we had a lot of cool things in the 80s. Parachute pants, break dancing setups, Coke Clear or New Coke that wasn't quite as cool, I don't think. But supply chain tech, it wasn't quite the golden age and it is amazing where we are here. Vin, what would you add? Anything else you can add to what's next for Spencer's & Spirit?

Venky Avunoori [00:47:51]:

Yeah, I think Jim covered most of it. You know, one additional thing, what I would like to add here is when you talk about Christmas season getting launched, right. So now you're talking about two seasonal businesses one after the other. So rolling over from Halloween season as it winds down into the Christmas season and then getting the inventory and getting those stores set up with the right inventory in that short period of time, matter of days and then going through that season, that's going to be, you know, one of the big focus for us. And just you can imagine, you know, the entire technology play for the, all the aspects of supply chain is going to be pretty critical. So I would just say that experience and convenience and how do you make those two happen with the speed, what is expected by the customer, that's going to be our focus.

Scott W. Luton [00:48:51]:

I love it. The experience and convenience. What a simple. You know, simple is not simple. Attaining simplicity in any organization certainly isn't simple. But I think all any audience member here today could follow along with what y'all have shared as y'all have continued to refine and perfect an engine that delivers those quality experiences and conveniences for your customers out there. Look forward to having y'all back. Justin.

Scott W. Luton [00:49:17]:

Hey, big thanks to you and the ProShip team for bringing Jim and Venky and their stories, what they're doing out there to our supply chain out audience. What is next for ProShip? Y'all stay on the move here. What's coming up?

Justin Cramer [00:49:30]:

Yeah, well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna steal the word you just said, which is simple. And my phrase that I love to talk with our implementation teams, our development teams is simple is never easy.

Scott W. Luton [00:49:40]:

Right.

Justin Cramer [00:49:41]:

And in order to make something simple, you need to really do two things, communicate and improve. And that's exactly what ProShip is trying to do going forward. We put out yet another report about all the data that we've got from the input from our customers to help the industry. But also we are communicating with our customers even more. We've got a user conference coming up in Maine, Colorado. Look forward to talking to more people in person, especially after we've all recovered from be right and really just folding all of that information back into the product. So as we deal with the carrier volatility and the rest of the enterprise software stack continues to move that we can keep up with it and try to make it as simple as possible.

Scott W. Luton [00:50:25]:

Oh, I love that, Justin. I love that. And we're going to touch on one of those resources you mentioned in just a minute, the Pro Shrimp report, which will help a lot of folks. A lot of good information there. So Justin, also we had a blast talking Trek a few weeks back and another one, two punch here with Jim and Venky with the Spencer's & Spirit stories. Fascinating stuff. All right, Kim, I'm going to get your patented key takeaway in just a second. I want to share some resources with everyone out there.

Scott W. Luton [00:50:56]:

Let's go ahead and share and then we'll make sure folks know how to connect with Justin, Venky and Jim here today. And I want to start with what Jim was just touching on and that is the ProShip report. Hey, did you know that over 50% of high volume shippers in 2024 prioritize on time delivery. When choosing a character, a carrier rather well, you can dive deeper into all sorts of revealing statistics. That and a whole bunch more with this white paper entitled the ProShip Report Navigating the Future of parcel shipping 2024. It's good stuff. Check it out if you're, if you love data and data driven insights, you're going to want to check that out. Also, hey, go ahead and schedule a personalized discovery call and demo with the ProShip team to kick the tires a bit.

Scott W. Luton [00:51:40]:

Justin welcomes all the tough questions, I promise you, and they can see or you can see what they can do for you. We're dropping both those links to the report and that demo call right there in the chat and make it really easy. Kim, before we connect the dots, we have got, I don't know, I've got about 19 pages of key takeaways from Jim and Venky and Justin here today. But if you point our audience, the smartest audience in all the globe, to one thing that I got to take away from the story here today, what would that be?

Kim Reuter [00:52:14]:

The key takeaway is this. An 80 year old company can stay relevant in today's world and can continue to deliver on a customer experience that is exceptionally challenging. Probably one of the more challenging customer experiences in retail and e-commerce out in the market today and is continuing to evolve. I work with a lot of small mediums, a lot of startups and a lot of companies fizzle out at the 10 to 15. And if you can make it 80 and continue to innovate and deliver on customer experience, that's really doing something.

Scott W. Luton [00:52:48]:

Well said. Moving the bar ever higher every day. Venky and Jim, good stuff. And Justin of course I bet you and the team are thrilled to collaborate and learn from this team here of gurus every day. All right, big thanks to our panel here today. Venky Avunoori, Vice President, eCom and Customer Technologies at Spencer's & Spirit. Venky, how can folks connect with you if they want to learn more about this incredible story that you have been writing for quite some time?

Venky Avunoori [00:53:18]:

Yes, Scott, thank you for having me today on this show. It has been a wonderful experience and the audience can connect with me on LinkedIn search for Venky Avunoori. You will find me.

Scott W. Luton [00:53:31]:

Great to have you here. Venky, I really have enjoyed learning from you and your colleague Jim Ray, Divisional Vice President, Supply Chain Technology, also at Spencer's & Spirit. Jim, a pleasure to have you here today. How can folks follow up with you to learn more?

Jim Ray [00:53:46]:

Yeah, again thank you Scott for having me And Kim, for participating in Justin as well. I can reached out at LinkedIn as well is probably the best way to get a hold Ruth.

Scott W. Luton [00:53:58]:

Okay. Or at a hockey rink, Ohio. Or you can track down Venky running through now maybe the beautiful city of Philadelphia on the next half or full marathon. So really enjoyed y'all being here. Justin Kramer, the hit maker. Justin, really appreciate again bringing the story here today. Really appreciate what you all doing at ProShip. How can folks track you down?

Justin Cramer [00:54:23]:

Well, proshipinc.com is a great way to contact the whole company and of course, I'm available at LinkedIn as well.

Scott W. Luton [00:54:29]:

Outstanding. I appreciate that. Kim Reuter, really have enjoyed your perspective as we have heard from Jim and Venky and Justin here today. Hits keep on coming, of course folks, y'all, if you don't already, make sure you find follow, connect with Kim Reuters, especially on LinkedIn. Yes, you don't want to miss that perspective. Kim, thanks for being here.

Kim Reuter [00:54:52]:

Thank you.

Scott W. Luton [00:54:53]:

All right, folks, I hope you've enjoyed this fascinating conversation as much as I have. We've dropped the links all there. We want to make it really easy, right? We want to, we want to serve as connectors here. So you'll find Venky, you'll find Jim's and Justin's LinkedIn profiles right there. Make the connection. But more importantly, you got homework, man. We've got a masterclass in how to execute on customer experience and protect it and optimize it here today, especially from a supply chain perspective, you got to take one thing from the truckload of brilliance we heard here today. Put it into practice.

Scott W. Luton [00:55:25]:

Share it with your teams. They're ready to change how business is done. But it takes deeds, not words. So with all that said, on behalf of the Supply Chain Now team, Scott Luton, challenge you - do good, give forward, be the change that's needed. We'll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.

Narrator [00:55:42]:

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain Now community. Check out all of our programming at supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain Now anywhere you listen to podcasts and Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain Now.