Geerlings & Wade - Cutting Through the Vines (2,787 words)

Because in the alcoholic-beverages business, he says, "you can't sell off inventory to someone at 10 cents on the dollar. So we really don't have many alternatives but to be accurate in forecasting."

Geerlings & Wade's average inventory in each state is 750 SKUs of its total 1,500 product universe, in which costs range from $7 a bottle to $1,000 a bottle. The number of SKUs seems large because each wine vintage has its own SKU.