SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Foot Locker Logistics and Supply Chain Management



Foot Locker Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Foot Locker

Foot Locker is a multinational U.S company dedicated to footwear and sportswear. It is headquartered in New York and operates in over 20 countries with nearly 3,900 franchises. As a main sign of identity, logo and employees wear a uniform similar to that of the referees in American sports leagues.

History of the Company

In 1963, the group Woolworth bought a company dedicated to footwear, Kinney Shoe Corporation, which became a subsidiary. This company specialized in shoes, especially those, which had a target market of athletes. The company manufactured athletic footwear and apparel, as the company Foot Locker emerged in 1974. That same year, the company opened its first store in California (Branch, 2008).

The brand soon began to expand throughout the U.S. and even started operations in Europe in the early 1980s. However, this conflicted with the decline of its owner Woolworth, which began to close a number of its stores across in the country. Foot Locker operations became controlled by an entity called Woolworth Company, with the collapse of the matrix in 1997. Foot Locker and became the leading shoe company of the Kinney group. In 1998, Venator announced the closure of all the antique shops of Kinney, making Foot Locker as the core company of the group, and in 2001, the group itself changed its name to Foot Locker Inc.

Logistics and International Trade

It is essential for global organizations to have effective distribution systems to gain competitive advantage. Foot Locker needs to ensure that its supply chain and logistics are effective and have the ability to deliver products to respective stores in an efficient manner. Failure to do so will result in loss of sales to competitors. Furthermore, Foot Locker needs to manage its product supply and distribution according to demand. Therefore, Foot Locker needs to have an effective demand forecasting system, as well. There is a consensus that the most important factors bearing on the development of foreign trade are the efficiency of transport infrastructure services (ports), logistics services (agency and transport) and providing oversight (Handfield, 2002).

The sum of the costs associated with these factors may constitute up to 40% of the value of goods traded internationally. That is why, Foot locker ensures that the public policies are integrated in to the business in a harmonious way to maintain a balance between efficiency and flexibility required by the logistics chain. In addition, it also ensures the continuing need to safeguard the economic assets, tax and animal and plant health, without neglecting aspects of safety and environmental care. Foot Locker believes that the transport infrastructure services technically and economically responds to the logic of economies of scale and large investments, and therefore, is planned with a long-term perspective (Harrison, 2005).

Current Operations in Foot Locker's Supply Chain Management

Foot Locker has decided to implement SPS Commerce Inc.'s Catalog Services to bring automation into its supply chain operations pertaining to electronic ...