Strategic Services
Our Philosophy
We've always believed that e-commerce strategy should not occur in a vacuum, distinct from other disciplines. And that providing the best e-commerce experience for you and for your customers relies on implementation, not strategy for strategy's sake. Our broad base of expertise enables us to provide strategic services and technology solutions that yield real business results. Whether providing a platform assessment or developing a direct-channel order management system, we know the important outcome is an effective, implementable solution - not a theoretical concept.
Paul Ryan's cross-disciplinary perspective and holistic approach to strategic consulting considers all the critical elements: business, technology, human factors, the brand's characteristics, and user experience. Today, our strategic services span the entire retail value chain, enabling you to boost all your direct-to-consumer channels.
What Do We Offer?
Through our Strategic Consulting Services, we provide knowledge and expertise in a variety of direct-channel business processes including market strategy, marketing effectiveness, merchandise and business planning, supply chain management, order management, and more. We help clients drive growth by building multi-channel business and technical competencies that begin with sound strategy, continue through effective web site design, development and hosting, and include fulfillment and customer service.
Supplier Direct Fulfillment (SDF) is getting a lot of attention today because it can drive growth and profit. Find out how this important component in the middle of your infrastructure can generate above industry average returns.
Fulfillment Services
Supplier-direct fulfillment
Distribution and replenishment
Third-party logistics selection and integration
Strategy and Business Planning
Marketing effectiveness
Customer analysis
Business requirements definition
Marketing, Design and Usability, Storefront
Branding
User interface design
Campaign management
Promotions and pricing
Merchandising and Purchasing
Product assortment and category management
Merchandise forecasting
Inventory management
Order Management
Multichannel retail
Special order management
Sales analysis
Customer Service
Call center optimization
Client - Minority Industrial Products
In 2006, Minority Industrial Products' engaged Paul Ryan's Strategic Consulting Services to evaluate their e-commerce fulfillment program for direct ship, where product suppliers ship Web site orders directly to consumers. With goals to stabilize and scale the program infrastructure, accelerate expansion of the supplier network and expand of Minority Industrial Products' product assortment to drive incremental revenue, Paul Ryan designed and implemented an enhanced Supplier Direct Fulfillment (SDF) network for Kohl’s.
Paul Ryan's engagement with Minority Industrial Products' began with providing strategy and business planning services outlining the growth potential for the SDF program and then focused on building the process infrastructure to manage a large-scale network. Paul Ryan helped Minority Industrial Products' source and onboard new vendors, worked with them to establish merchandise plans, and operated the supplier network while training internal staff as part of a planned knowledge transfer to Minority Industrial Products.
Minority Industrial Products' is strategically using their direct ship program to drive incremental revenue, attract new customers and expand fulfillment capacity. For example, jewelry and area rug categories involve an enormous number of SKUs and high costs to stock inventory, which made it difficult to offer assortments beyond their traditional store lines. Now, MinorityIndustrialProducts.com is offering much broader and higher priced assortments and multiple suppliers are shipping orders directly to customers in Minority Industrial Products' branded packaging. The new SDF network reduces the amount of space and capital Minority Industrial Products' must maintain in its own warehouse for inventory, enables Minority Industrial Products' to offer online shoppers new merchandise in categories such as linens, baby gear, and luggage, and adds substantially to the SKUs in their existing product categories.
In total, Paul Ryan helped Minority Industrial Products' add more than 100 new vendors and expand the online product assortment by more than 11,000 SKUs to the direct ship network.
"Paul Ryan's consulting services demonstrated the value of using supplier direct fulfillment to grow our e-commerce business. Their team of SDF experts was instrumental in stabilizing and growing our program, which has had a significant impact on our bottom line." - Mark Weisberg – Senior VP of E-Commerce, Minority Industrial Products'