At Van Heusen Inner Wear and Athleisure, a major chunk of revenue is generated from the general trade channel that comprises more than 300 distributors across India. My project was related to Supplier Managed Inventory and Collaborative Replenishment, wherein I conducted a need analysis and feasibility study of an Automatic Replenishment System (ARS) with distributors of men’s innerwear. This system could help them maintain appropriate buffer stock as per their secondary sales & assortment and assist them in placing orders of right quantity at the right time to the warehouse, thereby ensuring equitable distribution among all these channel partners. I also proposed the mathematical logic to be used for implementing ARS and a plausible deployment/rollout plan.
Market research (both primary through surveys & interviews, and secondary through literature review) was an important aspect of my internship. I interacted with relevant personnel engaged in distribution and replenishment such as the warehouse team; the SAP team; the sales team including the RSMs, ASMs, & SEs and the distributors on the other hand. I connected with SMEs from other ABFRL brands which indeed is a boon working here, they are just a ping away! I also talked to people from the FMCG industry and from competitor brands such as Jockey and Enamor who have put ARS in use. Lastly, I validated my proposal with my mentor and some other stakeholders in order to fine-tune the ARS logic and overall hypothesis. This also included exploring the software(s) that could be used, ongoing process improvements and challenges to automation.
As I reflect on the 8 weeks of my blink view at ABFRL, I will always be short of words to touch upon all the aspects that I was able to experience. I learned the dynamics of the trade channel and its dissimilarities from the retail channel. My interactions with the sales force made me realise how products are placed and distributed in the market. Further, I am lucky enough to work on a project related to automation in supply chain and replenishment planning, that too across the general trade channel in apparel retail where there is a lot of scope.
Some advice that I would like to give my juniors – Primary Research is a very crucial part of your internship, talk to as many people you can both before and during the internship. You can always learn what you know you are lacking at but the knowledge and wisdom received from industry professionals will definitely go a long way in your career.
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