Retailers and suppliers have embraced Direct Store Delivery (DSD) for decades, and for good reason. Retailers relied on DSD Suppliers to stock their shelves regularly, maintain their inventories consistently, and place replenishment and promotional orders accurately. DSD alleviates the burden on store staff and ensured high velocity categories receive more dedicated focus. DSD Suppliers can influence outcomes more directly through their control over fulfillment and execution, to the benefit of both parties and the ultimate consumer.

But DSD is not without pitfalls, and particularly the historic misalignment in access to information. Too many trade partners miss out on the power of sharing information, frequently out of the false belief that keeping their own information out of their trade partner’s line of sight gives them an advantage – a leg up – in the relationship with the counterparty.

The result is an imbalance of data visibility between DSD Suppliers and the Retailers they serviced – resulting in less transparency, trust, and collaboration. Ultimately, it is the mutual business that suffers, as what should be viewed as mutual goals diverge into separate, independent set of priorities. This misalignment has a significant impact on results.

During his presentation at ECRM’s Snack & Dry Grocery Event, to be held February 23 to 26 in Jacksonville, Fla., TJ Zlotnitsky is co-founder, Chairman and CEO of iControl, will discuss the challenges retailers and suppliers face in DSD alignment, and how they can improve transparency at every point of the DSD supply chain, to provide real-time access to business-critical intelligence. He’ll support this with examples of retailers and suppliers that have done this to drive successful DSD practices including:

• Reporting of order accuracy and fulfillment alongside sales and promotional performance – at the Store/UPC/Day level. 
• Daily synchronization of item cost and retail files to improving billing and payment reconciliation, while offering much more accurate insights into price sensitivity in the marketplace. 
• Leveraging advanced analytics to harness loyalty card data and share insights into coupon and promotional performance. 

TJ Zlotnitsky is co-founder, Chairman and CEO of iControl, a provider of data, payments and insights solutions to retailers and their supply chain partners. Prior to iControl, TJ was the Chairman and CEO of Current Companies, a family-owned wholesale distributor that operated in 33 states, which the family sold in 2009 to Hudson News. He has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Time magazine, Calgary Herald, Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times. TJ is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.