The future of global sourcing

Hong Kong, December 12, 2017 – The 10th Annual CBX Software Global Sourcing Day provided retail executives from merchandising, quality, sourcing and supply chain, a platform to interconnect and meet like-minded professionals. Attended by retail executives from Target, Toys R Us, REI, Liverpool, Casino, Tesco, Pet Smart and many more, this year’s event proved to be a very valuable, informative and educational experience for retail industry leaders.

“CBX Global Sourcing Day is definitely the best Supply Chain conference/event on the calendar and provided a tremendous value to the participants” says Jane Singer, Director & Head of Market Intelligence, Inside Fashion.

Global sourcing presents many challenges to the dynamic merchandise industry. The past year has been wrought with turbulence and uncertainties such as but certainly not limited to, ongoing currency fluctuations, potential new trade alliances that are redefining the global trade map, wage and labor challenges, compliance issues, sustainability initiatives and more.

This year’s Global Sourcing Day event went in depth to uncover these challenges and educated the attendees on how to address them. “I really liked having the opportunity to meet with different industry professionals and learning from their experience facing challenges within the sourcing process and management” says Joel Ma, Director of Business Strategy, Hallmark Cards Limited.

Over the next decade, sourcing and supply chain professionals will need to take on more expansive roles within their organization. They will need to become guardians of the corporate brand, advocates for sustainable business practices and innovators who help develop new products and services.

Companies that embrace this broader perspective for their sourcing and supply chain teams will find themselves in a better position to anticipate and manage the looming changes of an evolving retail industry. In the future, global sourcing will still come down to cost savings but more importantly it’s about staying out of the headlines while delivering products to market ahead of consumer expectations.

Discussions at the 10th Annual Global day went far beyond cost savings with topics ranging from digital innovations and supplier collaboration to the introduction of a game changing Extended Quality & Sourcing Solution (EQSS) from SGS, the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification service.

“SGS will deliver supply chain automation through EQSS by bringing together improved data flow along the whole supply chain and better quality assurance at all stages – from raw materials to the retailer, says Robert Parrish, Managing Director, SGS Hong Kong Limited.

As the 2017 Global Sourcing Day came to a close Retail Industry leaders were already looking forward to the 11th Annual Global Sourcing Day to better educate themselves on how to scale their business and source better, faster, and smarter.