Contact

Case studies

Retail

Description

Background

In the past, the retailing sector was dominated by the hypermarket model, offering a broad selection of low-cost products. Since then, it has progressed significantly, on the basis of a number of major concepts:

  • the increased segmentation of the product offer, in particular due to the rise of retailer brands,
  • the return to local stores (renewal of city center concepts, the vitality of medium-sized and small stores),
  • multi-channel retailing (combination of sales outlets and internet channels to improve understanding of customers and promote made-to-measure sales policies).

These market trends have been supplemented by two other structural phenomena: the economic crisis, which prompted a rise in low prices and special offers, and regulatory changes (changes in payment conditions by the LME law in France), which have prompted measures to optimize stocks by developing cross-docking and consignment stocks.

Many retailers have understood that the competition has become more “vertical”. Entire channels, including suppliers, logistics operators and their own business organization (head office and warehouses) and the supply chain are now in competition. At the same time, the service component has become more important to consumers, who are increasingly demanding in terms of product availability and reactivity, since the offer is driven by catalogs, promotions and large-scale media campaigns.

The challenges

Against this backdrop, the goal of the supply chain no longer consists in simply achieving the best service level at the lowest costs, but in offering economically optimized support for rapid changes in sales strategy, by easily and efficiently integrating all the internal and external players who contribute to its success. This demands efficiency, agility, adaptability and alignment.

  • Efficiency: minimizing the cost of delivery to the warehouse demands that the supply circuits (direct, cross dock, regional platform, central stocks, consolidation center, etc.), the logistics circuits and the costs (warehousing, transport) are all optimized: benchmarks, modeling of supplier logistics costs and logistics networks, process re-engineering, deployment of Lean methods in the organizations (standard times, lean office,etc.) are the tools most commonly used in this type of initiative.
  • Agility: correctly positioning goods on time and at the lowest cost, while coping with unforeseeable demand and sourcing incidents, demands an agile supply chain, capable of rapidly choosing the right logistics circuits and the best means of shifting stocks downstream. Collaborative forecasting, reaction to demand signals, control of flows and capacity, and a flexible logistics network can all offer leverage.
  • Adaptability: the structural changes in the market and the offer demand a quick and adapted response from the supply chain, that will deliver the competitive performance and level of service expected by consumers, while respecting new environmental constraints. Three levers can be used to adapt the supply chains to these market changes: the quality of the teams (the management committee, levels of expertise), the performance of processes, and in particular cross-functional and inter-company processes (flowcasting and collaborative supplies) and the performance of the information systems (decision-support and operational systems).
  • Alignment: the frontiers of the supply chain stretch beyond and disrupt the traditional limits of the company. Achieving these goals demands greater cross-functionality and combined skills than conventional functions. Retailers need to come up with new collaborative practices, both internally (category management, global indicators, inter-departmental planning and arbitration processes) and with suppliers (sharing of costs and gains from optimization, shared indicators, performance indicators of a complete channel, etc.).

How can Argon Consulting assist you ?

Argon possesses in-depth knowledge of the issues and the competitive levers in the retailing sector. Argon teams can help their retailing customers to achieve durable results by transforming their organization into a supply chain that is agile, adaptable and aligned.

  • sourcing strategy and optimization of the major imports chain,
  • service strategy and segmentation of service policies,
  • optimization of supplier relations (industrial audit, contractual purchasing and procurement conditions, etc.),
  • inter-company supply chain collaboration (flowcasting, GPA, data synchronization, etc.),
  • control of flows (incident management, flexible logistics network, optimization of arbitration between cost and service, performance indicators),
  • sales and supply forecasts, warehouses and stores,
  • optimization of stocks and working capital requirement (development of cross-docking and just-in-time flows),
  • excellence in logistics and transport,
  • overhaul of the supply chain processes (BPR, BPM),
  • optimization of information systems (master plan, assistance in making decisions, support),
  • change management (change strategy, communication, training, assistance).

Argon Consulting is proud to work with the following customers:

  • Retailing: Carrefour (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Argentina, etc.), Système U, Monoprix, Auchan, Casino, Franprix Leaderprice, etc.,
  • E-commerce: Telemarket, Hourra, Spartoo, Ooshop, etc.,
  • Specialist retailers: Fnac, Relay, Castorama, Conforama, Galeries Lafayette-BHV, Autodistribution, Euromaster, Norauto, Gamm Vert, Rexel, Selecta, Stokomani, Tout Faire Materiaux, etc.

Argon Consulting is a partner of GS1 France, Supply Chain Meter and IDG (the international benchmarking organization that manages the ECR in the UK).

Team

Yvan Salamon – President of the Argon Group

The founder and President of Argon Group, Yvan has managed and been directly involved in many assignments in the distribution and manufacturing sectors to improve operations (costs, cash flow), as well as industrial and logistics strategy assignments, in particular with Carrefour, Casino, Monoprix, Castorama, Conforama, Euromaster, etc.  Before creating Argon Group, Yvan Salamon was a member of the European Board of Hays Logistics Group (Kuehne & Nagel), where he was in charge of production methods and organization. Prior to that, Yvan Salamon spent four years as the Production Plants Manager with CGC, and five years with the strategy consultancy bureau, Mars & Co. Yvan is a graduate of the Ponts & Chaussées engineering school.

Laurent de Bourmont  –  Associate Director

Before joining Argon Consulting, Laurent de Bourmont was a partner at Bearing Point, in the retail and consumer goods group. He has 15 years of experience in the optimization of the supply chain in manufacturing (textiles, luxury goods, consumer goods) and distribution (retailing, specialist distribution and e-commerce), and in particular with Carrefour, Casino, Monoprix, Celio, Okaidi, Jacadi, Galeries Lafayette, etc.  Laurent is a graduate of HEC and Science Po Paris.

Marc Peigné – Associate Director

Marc Peigné is one of France’s leading specialists in logistics. Marc has worked on many logistics master plan, operational re-engineering, outsourcing and change management projects, in particular for Carrefour, Monoprix, Système U, Hourra, Telemarket, etc. Before joining Argon Consulting, he worked for Hays Logistics (Kuhne & Nagel), where he was in charge of planning and logistics engineering in France, before becoming a Divisional Director. Prior to that, Marc was in charge of procurement at Alcatel.

Fabrice Corbière – Associate Director

Fabrice Corbière has more than 20 years of experience in supply chain consulting and almost 40 supply chain change projects under his belt. Fabrice has managed numerous projects, in the general and specialized retailing sectors, to reduce working capital requirement and to keep ROCE under control, in particular for Décathlon, Franprix-Leaderprice, and Groupe FNAC. Before joining Argon Consulting, Fabrice was an Associate Director with PEA Consulting, then with Cap Gemini Consulting, where he was in charge of the supply chain practice. Fabrice is a graduate of Centrale Paris.

Eric T. – Director

Eric T. joined Argon Consulting after 10 years with BearingPoint, where he worked on logistics strategy projects, and on logistics and manufacturing performance. Before that, he worked for Productive Edge Associates. {0><}74{>He has managed numerous projects in the retail sector for Galeries Lafayette, Relay, Delhaize, Castorama, focusing on the optimization of transport or the logistics system (implementation of cross-docking, overhaul of the transport plans, transport calls for tender, etc.). Eric is a graduate of Polytechnique and of Ponts et Chaussées.

Isabelle H. – Senior Manager

Isabelle H. is a Senior Manager in the supply chain and manufacturing practice, with more than 10 years of experience in consulting. Her assignments have enabled her to acquire highly specialized knowledge of the retail sector, both in food goods (Carrefour, Système U, Monoprix) and specialized retailing (BHV, Galeries Lafayette, Rexel, Tout Faire, Castorama, Conforama). She has managed projects to improve the performance of warehouses and transport systems, and to define distribution networks and procurement circuits. She has also managed APS and WMS calls for tender in this sector. Before joining Argon Consulting, Isabelle worked in the planning department for Hays Logistics (Kuehne and Nagel) and for Sylea (Valeo), in the field of industrial planning. Isabelle is a graduate of the Arts & Métiers school.

Donatien M. – Senior Manager

Donatien M. is specialized in supply chain. He has worked with both manufacturers and distributors on issues of logistics strategy and industrial planning and scheduling and operational improvement programs. He has worked with many of the players in the retailing sector (Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, BricoMan, Conforama, Norauto, Monoprix, etc.). Donatien is a graduate of Centrale Paris in industrial engineering, production management and logistics.

Carmela V. –  Senior Manager

Carmela V. is a Senior Manager specialized in logistics. Carmela has worked on numerous logistics performance projects (warehouses, transport, network, systems), in particular in the retailing sector (Monoprix, Système U, Conforama, Galeries Lafayette, Carrefour, Castorama, GS1). Before joining Argon Consulting, Carmela worked for Hays Logistics (Kuehne & Nagel), where she occupied a number of positions, ranging from logistics consultant to IT project manager and operations.

Emmanuel S. - Manager

Emmanuel S. is a Manager specialized in Distribution and Logistics. He has worked on Supply Chain organization and process optimization (assortment planning, purchasing, warehousing, transportation) and on IT implementation for the Supply Chain (blue print, validation of solutions, change management), for Retailers (Department Store Le Printemps, Nespresso) and for Industrial Distributors (Yves Rocher, PSA, Gefco, EDF). Emmanuel is a graduate of Centrale Lyon in industrial engineering, production management and logistics.

Danielle P. - Manager

Danielle P. is a Manager in the supply chain practice. Through her missions, Danielle has been involved in projects aiming at improving logistics performance (storage, transportation, network), redefining supply chains, reducing cost  and optimizing the working capital for clients in the retail food industry (Casino, system U) and in the specialized distribution (spare parts for cars, DIY).  Danielle is a graduate of Mines Paris.

Eric P. - Manager

Eric P. has worked on many performance improvement assignments (logistics and supply chain) as well as transformation assignments. Eric has many times intervened in the industries of retail, both in mass-market retailing and in specialized retailing, mainly on logistic issues. He has worked in particular for Conforama, Système U, Casino, Carrefour Belgium and Gamm Vert. Eric is a graduate of Centrale Paris and of Technical University of Munich (TUM) in production management.