Competing against a big box store can feel like trying to win a World Series with a rookie roster. Top players have large networks, seemingly endless budgets, and delivery timelines that feel impossible for other medium-sized or small businesses (SMBs).
However, Nitin Kumar, director of planning and strategy at Fanatics, has proven that speed, cost-effectiveness and reliability have not been relegated to the Giants (no, not on the soccer team). With enterprise-level know-how, smart analytics and AI-driven plans, Kumar is helping small businesses play in the same league.
Minors and majoring experience
Certainly, Kumar has become a bat along with billion-dollar retailers like Walmart and Wayfair. However, he also helped medium-sized companies like OnTrac and Shopify become popular names. Kumar looks at tools that can adapt large corporation strategies not as abstract theories, but to smaller budgets and even more stringent timelines.
Whether you're landing on where you store your inventory, planning for a peak season, or on a realistic delivery promise your business can make, Kumar will focus your energy on the precise movements you can make to keep your customers happy without draining resources.
Using technology to change profits
AI and machine learning are often thrown away as buzzwords, but Kumar uses them as everyday tools. He has built advanced models including Xgboost, Sarima and RNNS, learning from past sales patterns to predict demand remarkably accurately. The result: Delivery speeds increase, stocks are low, and capital tied to idle inventory is less.
However, it's not just numbers. Kumar turns a substantial amount of data into a clear set of blueprints about what's working, what's too expensive to continue using, and what needs to be improved to produce the most important impact. But he doesn't just protect his know-how. He has published articles on AI in his last mile delivery, and the challenge SMBS faces with supply chain planning is that it can easily break these ideas.
The man behind the big picture
A good prediction is as valuable as the network they supply power, and Kumar sees his predictions turn into an operational victory at every stage of delivery. From planning large capacity to ensuring that a single package arrives on time, he overhauls the transport network, cuts millions of costs and enhances delivery without sacrificing services. His track record of scaling Wayfair's delivery speed by up to 10% and applying AI and machine learning to predict demand with MAPE accuracy of less than 5% speaks for itself.
Of course, part of its success comes from how Kumar connects dots between teams. Finance, planning, and operations are not approached individually. They all share the same goals, numbers, and definitions of success.
Take big companies to big leagues
Kumar's idea of leveling the stadium is simple: a design network that will help customers and work. These shared values are often focused on balancing speed and cost. Kumar believes that it doesn't require the most extensive network to win the game. You need the smartest one.
Starting a business might seem like a waste of time with fierce competition and box store giants. Some people may wonder, “What's the point?” However, with some strategies, technology and focus, Kumar has proven that SMB can provide the best service in the business.
