How A New Inventory Replenishment Discovery Made A Plain Retailer Grow

Inventory Replenishment Software Needs Updates

The retail landscape has changed widely over the last 15 years; How about your inventory replenishment? Today’s customers demand more choices and have higher expectations.. Customers want personalization; such things as on-demand product information, access to best price deals, express shipments and exceptional customer service as part of their experience. For companies to be successful in the marketplace, they must adapt the way they do business to accommodate today’s customer demands. To find success in the marketplace; they need to focus on their customer and become demand driven. The problem for many of you is your technology is as old as the phone in this picture and you stubbornly believe it doesn’t matter… bet the same folks who say it doesn’t matter have a $200+ smart phone in their pocket now…

As the Oracle of Omaha has shared,

“No business ever failed with happy customers.. And you’re selling happiness… I like wonderful brands, If you take care of a great brand, it’s forever.” Warren Buffett

Read the blog 5 Scary Changes to Your Inventory Replenishment —Which Do You Make?

One of the keys to providing a happy customer experience is your supply chain execution. You can’t make the customer happy unless you give them what they want. Today’s business environment is not supported well by retailer’s legacy inventory replenishment, leading to a serious strains on customer service, inventory and profitability.

Inventory Replenishment Out of Stocks Do Not Just Go Away

When out of stocks are causing service problems the first thing you hear from everyone in a company, “If only we could do a better job forecasting demand then most of our service issues would go away. Improving inventory decisions, utilizing demand forecasting, optimized inventory replenishment, and new analytics can make a huge impact on company results, yet most companies are reluctant or slow to change their promotion planning, demand forecasting and operations.
Again Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, said this about companies he admires:

“You want a restlessness… a feeling that someone is always after you, but that you’re going to stay ahead of them”

Many retailers have been reluctant to make changes in their demand forecasting and inventory replenishment tools to improve execution. There are major businesses currently using 15-20 year old demand forecasting and planning tools to run their inventory replenishment. Here’s the problem, technology has changed dramatically; your smartphone is 100 times more powerful than a late 1990’s desktop computer. I bet nobody would want to use a Motorola cellphone from that era. Well using 15 year old supply chain decision tools makes about as much sense as a Motorola flip phone!

Today’s computing power greatly improves the quality of decisions, timeliness, and the productivity of the people making decisions. With the computing power available today, real time service alerts, more accurate forecasts, higher customer sales and lower inventory are all within reach.

Retailers need to have the right amount of product at the right location at the right time. Balancing the objectives of high level of service and the lowest possible inventory is the key to success. Optimizing inventory allows the customers to have a valuable experience but, at the same time, minimizes your inventory.

Inventory Replenishment Better Price / Better Product

Today’s inventory replenishment software take into account everything related to moving product in the most efficient manner from point to point: balancing vendor restrictions, purchasing requirements, required lead times, transportation costs, along with providing the highest lift for your promotions and making happy customers. This is where today’s demand forecasting and inventory planning tools make a considerable impact on business.

End to End in Near RealTime – Fast – Low Price

It is not only about having the right data, but also having the right data in real-time. Changing your company’s focus by adopting a demand driven forecasting and inventory replenishment strategy will improve your bottom line. Companies show improved performance, return on investment 27% higher, 23% more inventory turns, and revenue growth of 26% when adopting a demand driven strategy, according to a recent Gartner study.

Start on Your New Inventory Replenishment Strategy Today

For more information on creating a business strategy that can work for your company, contact us. We can help you transform your company into a demand driven retailer, ready to succeed in today’s market. This is essential for the future of retail. If you would like to know more about today’s inventory replenishment solutions we can help.

Contact us., for a view of connected, end-to-end inventory replenishment. We can help you to ‘Tighten the Links in Your Chain™.’

About
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Stuart D

Stuart Dunkin is a strategic visionary who leads by calling on his broad range of experience as a former retail executive as well as a consultant for top retailers and for the E3/JDA software company. He founded Data Profits to solve a real-world problem plaguing retailers today – the disjointed relationship between supply chain data, people and business goals. He has experienced first-hand the challenges and frustrations that occur when decisions are made based on wrong data, which often leads to the wrong actions being taken with crippling results like overstock, out-of-stock, and increased working capital.
Stuart graduated from Auburn University, with bachelor of science in business administration.