Back Room Study Sees Potential For More Than $18 Million in Supply Chain Improvements

The industry’s Back Room Study is an initiative recommended by the industry’s supply-chain committee, now called the Christian Retail Solutions Committee. In unprecedented industry cooperation, retailers and suppliers co-sponsored the research, including CBA, the Covenant Group, the Parable Group, EMI CMG, Pubnet, Spring Arbor Distributors, Thomas Nelson Publishing, Tyndale House Publishers, Word Entertainment, and Zondervan.

The industry Back Room Study identified more than $18 million in potential Christian Retail Channel benefits. Developing industry-wide collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) practices and improving inventory management would result in greatest benefit, according to the research — more than $14.5 million in savings and added sales.

Douglas Popken, operations research engineer and Systems View president, conducted the research, which involved visiting nine independent retail stores of various sizes and sales volumes. It also included a survey of CBA member retailers to confirm store-visit findings.