Today, the Australian Retail sector is shadowed by an unprecedented amount of change and uncertainty. Evidence of this change is printed every day in Australian newspapers. Board executives are all too aware of the urgency in adaptive survival. Like Australia’s manufacturing industry which faced a fight or flight predicament, Australian retailers are now fighting to remain relevant amongst new international entrants such as Zara, ALDI, Costco, H&M and Topshop. Responding to these threats, major Australian Retailers such as Super Retail Group, David Jones, Coles and Metcash have all indicated to shareholders that their strategic plans involve significant supply chain restructures. These boards are prepared to invest in the short term to realise long term sustainable growth. So the typical Australian retailer needs to be able to do more with less, in a setting that inherently has significant supply chain complications.

1. PART TWO: Physical Network Optimisation
GRA Retail Supply Chain Series Whitepaper

2. Edition 2 of 4 – Physical Network Optimisation
Retail Supply Chain Series
www.gra.net.au
A retailer’s operating costs (warehousing
/logistics) typically can account for up to 10%
of COGS and thereby planned deployment of
assets and positioning of inventory can
significantly improvement a company’s
performance.
© GRA 2016
Deploying assets and positioning inventory well in a
supply chain network is critical to delivering the right
service at the right cost. Supply chains often evolve
organically and can become awkward collections of
sites, sources and inventory…

3. What we do know is customer expectations have increased over
the last decade, influenced primarily by what ecommerce has
delivered in greater information transparency, lower costs of
communication and rise in information processing capability – all for
the consumer!
For Australian retailers specifically, the supply chain challenges
in this changing environment are substantial. With lower population
densities, smaller markets and an expansive geographic distribution
of customers, the solutions overseas often aren’t as effective here.
So the typical Australian retailer needs to be able to do more with
less, in an setting that inherently has significant supply chain
complications.
We at GRA believe major structural change is upon
Australian retailers.
© GRA 2016 3
Executive Summary
Evidence of this change is printed everyday in
Australian newspapers. Board executives are all too
aware of the urgency in adaptive survival. Like
Australia’s manufacturing industry which faced a
fight or flight predicament, Australian retailers are
now fighting to remain relevant amongst new
international entrants such as Zara, ALDI, Costco,
H&M and Topshop. Responding to these threats,
major Australian Retailers such as Super Retail
Group, David Jones, Coles and Metcash have all
indicated to shareholders that their strategic plans
involve significant supply chain restructures. These
boards are prepared to invest in the short term to
realise long term sustainable growth.
Today, the Australian Retail sector is shadowed by an unprecedented amount of change and uncertainty.

4. 4
James Allt-Graham, Partner – GRA Sydney
For the last 20 years, James has helped organisations in Asia and Australia deliver rapid and sustained
performance improvement through the practical application of leading processes, systems and a high
performance culture. James has worked with clients in the commercial and government sector and has a
focus on engaging executives, agreeing a direction and driving transformation. Within professional services
James has held senior roles as Head of People for a 5,000 person organisation and as the Senior Partner
responsible for the Risk Consulting practice consisting of over 700 professionals. He has served on
international projects for clients, steering groups and has been responsible for running a regional business.
Luke Tomkin, Partner – GRA Melbourne
Luke is a Partner with GRA and throughout his career has helped organisations in South East Asia and
Australasia deliver rapid and sustained inventory reductions, service level improvements and supply chain
cost reductions through the practical application of leading supply chain processes, techniques and systems.
Luke is responsible for the delivery of excellent service to clients in the context of their needs and working to
produce new solutions which create value to the client. He has worked with companies at both the strategic
and operational levels to deliver results in the areas of supply chain network design, IT strategy and systems,
demand and supply planning, inventory optimisation, customer service delivery, operational and tactical
planning.
Shanaka Jayasinghe, Manager – GRA Sydney
Shanaka has proven experience in assisting clients design supply chain strategy as well as identify and
practically leverage service improvements and cost reductions in the supply chain. Shanaka has been deeply
involved in successful client engagements extending across the key strategic initiatives outlined in this
presentation – (1) physical network & flow optimisation, (2) Supply Chain & Merchandise Planning and (3)
Enabling Integrated Frameworks (S&OP). Shanaka is passionate about presenting complex ideas to clients
with any level of technical background.
About the authors

5. 5
Physical
Network
Optimisation
Overview:
• Where is the demand? Where is the growth?
• How many Distributions centres should we have and where should they be?
• What is the profile of our inventory? Should we have less or more stocking locations?
• How sensitive is demand to price, availability and responsiveness?
• How should we best optimise inbound vs. outbound freight?
• What should we consider doing upstream vs. downstream in the supply chain?
• Do we have sufficient volumes to enable super warehouses?
• Do we have sufficient volumes to fragment out inbound freight? Direct ship to WA and QLD?

6. What is our optimisation question?
© GRA 2016 6
Cost Efficiency
Lead-time Responsiveness
High
Low
Short Long
Current Strategy

7. Prior to exploring network optimisation it is important to first understand the supply chain strategy and how this aligns
with the business strategy. Business & supply chain strategies are the gravity for a physical network.
For example, the Australian fast-fashion retailer The Iconic has a customer value proposition of extreme responsiveness
with lead time to customer in some instances, less than 2 hours. Consider the supply chain network The Iconic must
have in place to deliver to such a promise; the number of stocking locations and, moreover, the proximity to customer of
these locations.
Now this is certainly not to say we must all design a network to fulfil to such extreme lead-times, but it is to say that
supply chain strategy has an pivotal influence on network design. Supply chain strategy & network design investments
often go hand-in-hand. The table below explains these concepts in greater detail.
Network Optimisation – Strategy Design
7
Supply Chain Strategy
Distinguishing Attribution Lean Responsive Agile Service-Driven
Example Products Commodities Automotive Spare Parts Fashion Pharmaceuticals
Network Layout Centralised Regional Decentralised Hybrid
Market Demand Predictable Mixed (Predictable + Sporadic) Volatile Consistent
Product Variety Low Extremely High High High
Product Life Cycle Long Long Short Moderate
Customer Drivers Cost Timeliness Availability Availability
Profit Margin Low High High High
Dominant Cost Physical Costs Supply Chain Marketability Costs Inventory Carrying
Stock-out Penalties Sales - Long-term Contractual Sales - Short-term Contractual Sales - Immediate and Volatile
Sales – Lowering Barriers to
Entry
Purchasing Policy Buy Goods Traditional Pull Assign Capacity Traditional Push
Forecasting Mechanism Algorithmic Algorithmic Algorithmic + Consultative Indent Algorithmic
© GRA 2016

8. Network Optimisation – Layout Design
To understand whether an opportunity exists in a network optimisation investment we must consider three key supply chain
elements to determine the flexibility of the current physical footprint. Rationalisation & consolidation opportunities will typically
always exist from a cost perspective, however, it is critical to overlay the realities of business when making such decisions.
© GRA 2016 8
Where is demand?
Where is the growth?
Do we have sufficient
volumes to justify
capital spend?
What are the
customer’s
sensitivities to price,
availability and
responsiveness?
Where are my
sourcing locations
and inbound
receiving flows? Can
we fragment
volumes?
Consolidation2015 2016

9. Network Optimisation – Facility Design
© GRA 2016 9
Lean
Responsive
Service-driven
Agile
DC Operations
Allocation
High Fashion
LateEarly
Put-awayX-Dock (flow)
Ongoing Replenishment
Seasonal Lines
Volatile/Sporadic Demand
Event Stock
Big and Bulky
Stable Demand
High Margin
Another key consideration a company may face when optimising the supply chain network is answering:
“What is the appropriate mix of Cross-Dock vs. Put-away required in a facility and at what point should
allocations to stores occur?”
To assist in answering components of this predicament, see table below from a product perspective.

10. Network Optimisation – Activity Design
VS
Supplier
Store
Supplier
Store
Flow-
through
Model 1 – Cross-Dock Model 2 – Flow Through
Supplier
Store
DC
Model 3 – Put-away
VS
Cross
Dock
© GRA 2016
Allocation
occurs here
Lowest cost
Least flexibility
Allocation
occurs here
Replen.
occurs here
Similarly, how flexible and agile should our supply chain be as we look to balance costs in both COGS and supply chain expense?
• Should we do more or less activities off-shore? How will this impact cost? How will this impact flexibility?
Consolidation Point
Consolidation Point Consolidation Point
Added cost, increased
flexibility
Added cost +
inventory
Maximum flexibility

11. © GRA 2016
At GRA we understand the complex challenges retail organisations are facing
We can help you with not only designing an optimal retail supply chain, but also ensuring
that your inventory is optimised to ensure that the highest possible service levels can be
achieved at the lowest possible cost.
Contact us
Melbourne (03) 9421 4611
Sydney (02) 9810 0229
www.gra.net.au
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