Growth Strategy Partners, in association with the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers, conducted a webinar on Improving Fill Rates While Decreasing Costs with Sales and Operations Planning. The purpose of the webinar was to educate shooting sports industry executives on the benefits of S&OP and how to implement it in their businesses.

During the webinar, attendees were asked, “How would you rate the sophistication of your S&OP process?”

•  0%   rated their performance ‘very high’.  
• 16% rated their performance ‘high’
• 24% rated their performance ‘average’
• 48% rated their performance ‘low’
• 12% rated their performance ‘very low’

“The shooting sports industry has a more complex supply chain and it is quickly impacted by world events and legislation, therefore I was surprised at the percent of companies in the lower performance categories,” states Chris DiCenso, the Managing Partner of Growth Strategy Partners and one of the presenters.  

Sales and operations planning has shown to increase order fill rate by over 54%, increase inventory turns 52%, and decrease costs over 10%.

So, what are the challenges executives are facing when trying to implement S&OP? Attendees identified these challenges:

• 23% said having expertise and experience in building an S&OP process
• 23% said changing their incentives and goals to align with S&OP
• 23% said committing to making planning an important tool for success
• 19% said designing and formalizing our planning process
• 13% said obtaining cultural or leadership buy-in

The webinar was recorded and can be viewed at http://growthstrategypartners.com/resources/videos-2/ or https://www.nasgw.org/resources/webinars

Growth Strategy Partners is a management consulting firm which accelerates the revenue, profit and organizational performance of companies in the shooting sports industry by applying their research based 7 Keys to Growth. Implementing sales and operations planning programs is one of their specialties.  You can learn more at www.GrowthStrategyPartners.com or call Chris DiCenso at 781.837.3276

The National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers is a trade association with a mission of bringing shooting sports buyers and sellers together.  NASGW is comprised of wholesalers, manufacturers, independent sales reps, media and service providers.  To learn more visit www.NASGW.org