What actions do supply chains take to answer the transportation and distribution digital Black Weeks challenges?” (Nike case)

Details

Supervisors

Semal, Pierre

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

In this thesis we address the problem of distribution capacity during Black Weeks, the online peak sales weeks that include Black Friday and its younger sibling Cyber Monday. We focus on online sales and we analyse the existing solutions in literature and in the field (Nike) according to 4 main axes. Indeed, to answer demand uncertainty problems, companies can act according to 3 levers: either simply increasing the capacity, or increasing the inventory, or finally increasing the lead time. In addition, we propose a last axis: the simplification of the demand. For e-commerce, this is possible thanks to deliveries such as Click and Collect, as this makes it possible to consolidate delivery to relatively few points of sale, for example. In order to be successful during this period, Nike plays mainly on the capacity and inventory levers. Actually, with the multi-carrier strategy they increased capacity and with the ship from node strategies they increased capacity and inventory. On the other hand, Nike also has a buffer day solution which is more lead time related and which appears to be a key for success. Moreover, they develop their Click and Collect network which acts on the last lever, namely the simplification of the demand. At the end of our paper, we propose possible tracks for improvements, namely a new delivery option allowing customers to be delivered later and, on the other hand, the default setting of the Click and Collect option in order to consolidate the demand.