In today’s Amazon-impacted world, we believe in instantaneous delivery.  It has become an expectation.  Even my mom who orders on Amazon by calling me believes a two-day delivery is a bit long.  After all, she might not realize she needs something until the last minute.  Thus, which is more important – time or money?

Here are a few questions to ponder when thinking about time vs. money:

  1. Do you expect rapid deliveries across the board? 
  2. Are you willing to spend extra money for speed?  Are your customers?  Do you know this answer or are you guessing?
  3. How important is cash flow to your business?  How long is your supply chain?  Regardless of how well inventory is managed, how much will be tied up by virtue of your supply chain design?  How does that compare with delivery expectations?
  4. Have you thought about investing in your demand plan instead of into inventory to be better prepared to deliver quickly without sinking cash into what is likely to become slow moving inventory?
  5. Have you thought about investing money into strategically placed inventory?  Having what your customer needs when they need it might be the difference between success and failure.
  6. In your business, can you have time AND money?
  7. What other types of time and money are you overlooking?  Get the full picture before jumping in.

© Lisa Anderson