1.    In-Store Logistics: includes in-store visibility, shelf-ready products, shopper interaction
2.     Collaborative Physical Logistics: shared transport, shared warehouse, shared infrastructure
3.     Reverse Logistics: product recycling, packaging recycling, returnable assets
4.     Demand Fluctuation Management: joint planning, execution and monitoring
5.     Identification and Labelling
6.     Efficient Assets: alternative forms of energy, efficient/aerodynamic vehicles, switching modes, green buildings
7.    Joint Scorecard and Business Plan

1. In-Store Logistics. Solutions in this area involve improvements within the store and focus on adding value to the consumer and reducing business costs. These solutions encompass products entering the store at the back and products picked by or for the consumer in the store.

An example is in-store visibility. RFID technology can be used to enable real-time insight into inventory, with alerts via computer when supplies are running low or when theft is detected. Another example is shelf-ready products, which arrive as a merchandise unit that is easy to identify, easy to open and can easily be put on the shelf.

Shelf-ready products aim to improve shelf replenishment and enhance visibility. Shopper interaction is another in-store logistics solution and requires improved availability of consumer data for both the manufacturer and retailer.

POS data should be available and used to build a data warehouse, which provides analysis and reports that fit to the KPIs of the manufacturer and retailer. Shopper interaction may involve the use of mobile devices such as electronic labeling, mobile payments and mobile device marketing, and in-store kiosks and narrowcasting to present information designed to stimulate purchases.

2. Collaborative Physical Logistics. This solution area is defined as the sharing of physical infrastructure such as warehouse storage and transportation vehicles in order to simplify the overall physical footprint, and to consolidate flows to improve service and asset utilization. Sharing and collaboration can take place both between and across various nodes of competitive supply chains and it can apply to existing infrastructure or to newly built collaborative infrastructure. Examples include:

•    Shared transport: A collaborative approach between manufacturers, between retailers, and between manufacturers and retailers and possibly a third-party logistics provider to share transport; it involves sharing load planning and truck capacity.

•    Shared physical infrastructures: Manufacturers, retailers and possibly third-party logistics providers collaborate to share warehouses and distribution centres for activities such as storing goods or cross-docking.

•    Shared information: Sharing information to manage flows among manufacturers, retailers and third-party logistics providers in order to combine deliveries from more than one source towards multiple stores via a warehouse or distribution centre.


3. Reverse Logistics. This is defined as logistics designed to reprocess assets, materials, packaging, products or other components that can be recycled, reused or remanufactured. Solutions include traditional backhauling, product recycling, packaging reuse and packaging recycling.
Reverse logistics solutions encompass the reuse of assets in the supply chain that are not directly product related, such as pallets and crates. For example, an automatic pallet labelling solution may incorporate “Flag Tag,” a feature that makes it possible to tag all pallets with one type of tag, such as an RFID chip.

4. Demand Fluctuation Management. Demand fluctuations require new models to smooth the demand signal coming from customers. These new models transcend traditional approaches to retailer supplier integration and collaboration.
Vertical solutions include promotion/introduction calendars and supply/demand capacities to align introductions and promotions. An additional solution is collaboration on execution, that is, joint supply/demand anticipation based on real-time visibility of the physical flow of goods and consumer (sales) behavior. Also, collaboration on monitoring, which involves joint, real-time access to results of introductions and promotions, based on secure systems.


5. Identification and Labelling through the use of barcodes and RFID tags. Identification is about providing all partners in the value chain with the ability to use the same standardized mechanism to uniquely identify parties/locations, items and events, with clear rules about where, how, when and by whom these will be created, used and maintained.

Labels currently are the most widely used means to communicate about relevant sustainability and security aspects of a certain product toward consumers and trading partners.

6. Efficient Assets. This solution area encompasses efforts by companies to modify existing or design new equipment or buildings, to enhance their productivity and reduce their environmental impact.

Transportation solutions include more efficient and/or aerodynamic and jumbo vehicles; utilizing alternative or multiple modes of transportation; and switching to different transport modes.

Solutions involving buildings include the adoption of a “green” building policy by using alternative forms of sustainable energy or improving existing building energy efficiency.

These types of solutions make more efficient use of key resources like energy, water, land and materials.