Inventory Management

Toys"R"Us Vendors Cut Shipments on Bankruptcy Fear
September 15, 2017 at 10:36 am

Some suppliers to Toysโ€œRโ€Us have scaled back shipments to the retailer as it struggles to refinance debt and avoid a potential bankruptcy filing, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The vendors are balking as Toysโ€œRโ€Us continues talks with lenders over a new loan that would allow the retailer to stay open while it worksโ€ฆ

A Localized Approach to Back-to-School Planning
July 24, 2017 at 12:06 pm

Despite the fact that summer is not yet half way over, many retailers are already rolling out full-blown back-to-school floor sets. In a world where timing is everything, is it really necessary at this point? The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts that consumers will collectively spend $83.6 billion on back-to-school items this year, more thanโ€ฆ

'The Great Returns Race' Benchmark Q1 2017
June 16, 2017 at 3:46 pm

As multichannel retailers engage and sell products to customers across increasingly more channels โ€” and collect data in each of those channels โ€” their businesses become that much more complex. Siloed, disparate data sets exist throughout an organization, from inventory to POS to order management and more, leading to a fractured, incomplete view of customers [โ€ฆ]

RFID: Fact or Fiction?
May 15, 2017 at 11:47 am

The industry has been talking about RFID for 20 years, but it still hasn't come into common use or delivered significant value to retailers. The biggest issue hasn't been the technology itself, but rather the hype and promise around RFID before it was in the right place to deliver. The price of RFID tags hasโ€ฆ

2016 Peak Season Learnings for Retailers
April 5, 2017 at 10:03 am

The 2016 peak season saw record-breaking e-commerce growth โ€” reaching over $91.7 billion in online sales, an 11 percent year-over-year increase. The biggest three days for online shopping were Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (no surprises there), but a grand total of 57 days during the holiday season exceeded $1 billion in sales (upโ€ฆ

Integrated Supply Chain Pays Off for Nebraska Furniture Mart
March 6, 2017 at 10:35 am

In episode 82 of Total Retail Talks, Scott Hansen, general manager, supply chain and logistics at Nebraska Furniture Mart, the largest home furnishing store in North America, discusses how the company has benefited from implementing an integrated supply chain for its online and brick-and-mortar operations.

The Value of Allocation Accuracy
January 9, 2017 at 10:06 am

Itโ€™s among the most frustrating parts of retailing: You built a strong assortment plan. Great product mix. Good margin. Customer response is better than you had hoped for. You're ready for an outstanding selling season. Yet the allocation process drops the ball. Too many large dresses in store A while the racks are empty inโ€ฆ