Target missed earnings last quarter. Walk into any Target store today and you'll see why: empty shelves staring back at customers who came to buy something specific.
If you're a retail CEO, this should terrify you. Not because Target struggled, but because the same thing is probably happening in your stores right now—and you might not even know it.
At Manhattan Associates’ Momentum 2025 conference in Las Vegas, three industry veterans sat down to discuss what's really broken in retail operations. Their one-word reactions to the current state of the supply chain? "Frightened." "Agile." "Excited."
That range tells you everything about where the industry stands: some retailers are adapting fast, others are drowning, and a few are actually thriving in the chaos.
The Real Problem Isn't What You Think
In my opinion, "Shoppers don't care what broke down.. "They just care that what they want wasn't there when they wanted to buy it."
Your customers don't want to hear about supplier issues, transportation delays, or system failures. They want products on shelves when they shop. Miss that basic promise, and they'll find someone who won't.
The problem isn't your people working harder. It's that different parts of your organization operate like separate companies.
"Supply chain planning and execution is like a dance," explains Ryan Gifford from Manhattan, who's spent 20 years in supply chain operations. "We're both trying to achieve similar goals, but we're going about it in different ways because the responsibilities lie in different spaces. If you're not moving in a coordinated effort like a dance, then you're gonna end up with results that are probably disjointed and disconnected."
When Systems Don't Talk, Sales Walk
Here's what happens in most retail operations: Your buying team creates forecasts in one system. Your warehouse team builds labor plans for another. Transportation works from different data entirely. Marketing launches campaigns without checking if it has the inventory to support demand.
Miles Tedder, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Pet Supplies Plus, puts it bluntly: "When you make a plan, the one thing that's guaranteed about that plan is it's gonna change almost immediately."
Yet most retailers still operate like it's 1975. They batch process everything overnight, hope the systems sync up, and pray nothing breaks. When something does go wrong (a supplier has capacity issues, tariffs change overnight, or demand spikes unexpectedly), teams scramble with phone calls and spreadsheets to figure out what happened.
"As supply chain management professionals, we have to figure out how to make consistency and standardization out of chaos," Tedder continues. "Every day we have so many opportunities to disappoint our customers."
The Hidden Cost of Disconnection
Independent advisor Bart de Muynck, with over 30 years in the industry, has watched this problem compound: "Years ago, if something went wrong, we were stuck with that. Because we set the plan, the plan's in stone, we don't react based on real-time data and execution."
Think about what this means for your business. A shipment gets delayed. In the old world, that delay cascades through your entire operation without anyone having visibility to react. Stores run out of stock. Customers leave empty-handed. Sales teams wonder why their conversion rates have dropped. Marketing campaigns run against out-of-stock products.
The financial impact goes beyond lost sales. You're paying for:
- Expedited shipping to fix stockouts
- Overtime labor when teams scramble to respond
- Emergency inventory purchases at higher costs
- Customer acquisition costs to replace frustrated shoppers who went elsewhere
What Changes When Everything Connects
Some retailers have figured this out. They've moved beyond the spreadsheet-and-phone-call approach to something that actually works in real time.
"We've gotten to the point that right now we're able to notify our stores when a shipment leaves a distribution center," says Tedder. "Give them a link to track it in real time and let them watch the truck as it comes to their store. We're primarily a multi-stop truckload, so they can see when it goes to the first stop, second stop, we give them updates."
But it goes further than tracking. "We're pretty close to being to the point that when we geofence it and they get within 10, 15 minutes from the store, we also ping the store or call the store and let them know the truck's coming, be at the back door to meet it."
This isn't about showing off technology. It's about operational excellence that directly impacts your bottom line.
Real-Time Decisions, Real Business Impact
The game-changer isn't just visibility—it's the ability to act on information immediately.
"We used to have floor-level practitioners making decisions as to what's going on a truck versus us being able to leverage data," notes Gifford. "Now we have the ability to allow the system to go in and say, 'Hey, here are the orders we need to update, here's why.' And then you can take action. We don't have to be a day behind, hours behind."
When tariffs hit unexpectedly in April, some retailers could react in real time. Ships already at the port got redirected. Shipments got rerouted to different warehouses. The retailers with connected systems have adapted. Those still running on overnight batch processes got stuck with expensive mistakes.
The Processes That Need to Die
What needs to change immediately? The experts are clear.
"Excel," says Gifford without hesitation. "It serves a great purpose. It's a very good supplemental tool, but it's not going to generate a true forecast, logistics, or labor plan for you. We're moving too quickly. Commerce is moving too quickly to rely on Excel to help you reach the next level."
Tedder agrees: "I think what I would like to see retailers kill off is that siloed, independent planning and execution phase and start working more collaboratively and leverage technology that will allow them to do it."
But the biggest process that needs to die? The assumption that your current approach is good enough.
The New Reality Demands New Thinking
"Sales kind of makes the promise. Supply chain execution has to make it happen," observes Bart. "Which is why it's always your fault."
As a CEO, you can't keep putting supply chain leaders in impossible positions. Marketing launches campaigns without inventory confirmation. Sales make promises that the operation can't keep. Buying decisions happen without considering warehouse capacity or transportation constraints.
"People understand the importance of supply chain now, which five years ago, people, unless you were in it, didn't see that," he added.
The question is: do you understand it enough to act?
Your Competitive Moment
The retailers winning right now aren't necessarily the biggest or oldest. They're the ones who've connected their operations so that when plans change (and they always do), the entire organization adapts together.
Your competitors are already making this shift. Every day you delay is another day they gain ground in operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profit margins.
The choice is simple: evolve your operations to compete in today's reality, or keep running yesterday's playbook while your customers shop elsewhere.
Ready to see where your retail operation stands against industry leaders? Download the Unified Commerce Benchmark Report 2025 to compare your capabilities and identify the gaps that could be costing you sales.
