Competing with big box stores can often feel like trying to win the World Series with a rookie roster. The top players have massive networks, seemingly endless budgets, and delivery timelines that feel impossible to other medium-sized or small businesses (SMBs).
However, Fanatics' Director of Planning and Strategy, Nitin Kumar, proved that speed, cost-efficiency, and reliability aren't relegated to the giants (no, not the football team). With enterprise-level know-how, smart analytics, and AI-driven planning, Kumar helps smaller companies play in the same league.
Experience in the Minors and Majors
Sure, Kumar has gone up to bat with billion-dollar retailers like Walmart and Wayfair. But he's also helped mid-sized businesses like OnTrac and Shopify become household names. Kumar views big-company strategies not as abstract theories but tools that can be adapted to fit smaller budgets and even tighter timelines.
Whether deciding where to store inventory, planning for peak seasons, or landing on the kind of realistic delivery promises a business can make, Kumar focuses his energy on the precise moves he can make to keep customers happy without depleting resources.
Using Technology to Turn Profit
AI and machine learning are often tossed around as buzzwords, but Kumar uses them as everyday tools. He's built advanced models, including XGBoost, SARIMA, and RNNs, that learn from past sales patterns to forecast demand with remarkable accuracy. The result: faster delivery, fewer stockouts, and less capital tied up in idle inventory.
It's not just about the numbers, though. Kumar turns a substantial amount of data into a clear set of blueprints on what's working, what's too pricey to continue using, and what needs to improve to create the most significant impact. He doesn't just keep his know-how to himself, though. He's published articles on AI in last-mile delivery and the challenges SMBs face in supply chain planning to break these ideas down easily.
The Man Behind the Big Picture
Great forecasts are only as valuable as the networks they power, and Kumar makes sure his predictions turn into operational wins at every stage of delivery. From big-picture capacity planning to ensuring a single package arrives on time, he's overhauled transportation networks, cut millions in costs, and sped up delivery without sacrificing service. His track record of scaling Wayfair's delivery speeds by up to 10% and applying AI and machine learning to forecast demand with under 5% MAPE accuracy speaks for itself.
Of course, a part of that success stems from how Kumar connects the dots between teams. Finance, planning, and operations aren't approached separately. They all share the same goals, numbers, and definitions of success.
Bringing Small Companies to the Big Leagues
Kumar's idea of leveling the playing field is simple: design networks that work for the customer and business. Those shared values often center on balancing speed and costs. Kumar believes you don't need the most extensive network to win the game; you need the smartest one.
Starting a business might seem futile with the heavy competition and box store giants. Some people might wonder, "What's the point?" Yet with some strategy, technology, and focus, Kumar has proven that SMBs can offer the best service in the business.
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