Managing supply chains through segmentation

As defined by The Global Supply Chain Forum, Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the integration of key business processes from end user through original suppliers that provide products/services and information that add value for customers. This concept of SCM has undergone a paradigm shift in this era of digitalization because neither the markets are the same nor the buyers, as they were before the inception of www.com. A number of challenges like demand variability, high level of responsiveness and e-commerce are forcing the supply chain managers to think of a solution to integrate their supply chains in such a manner so as to retain their valuable customers with reduced costs and high profits. The purpose of this paper is to study various challenges of SCM and suggests how the concept of Segmentation can be helpful for the same. Segmentation is the grouping of customers with similar needs and then developing a unique supply chain to fulfill those particular requirements. The main objective of managing supply chains through segmentation is to develop certain distinct chains that can cater to the requirements of thousands of customers efficiently, effectively, timely, profitably and last but not the least globally. The article has used secondary data from various research articles of national and international journals, relevant websites and handbooks on the topic. The findings indicate that instead of ‘one-size fits all’ approach, the need of the hour is multiple supply chains through segmentation which have shown improved profit margins, increased market share, reduced production complexity cost and better customer service.