Inventory Management

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Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to start looking at your shelves — made bare by wave upon wave of aggressive holiday shoppers — and begin executing your plan for the new year. 2016 could be the year that you adopt a comprehensive solution to keep your inventory appropriately stocked with the right…

With 250 stores and robust e-commerce and mobile sites, The Limited is challenged to identify and truly get to know its 3 million customers. Not surprisingly, gaining that in-depth knowledge of its customers is a key priority for the women's apparel retailer. In a session yesterday at the National Retail Federation Big Show in New…

You’ve survived the furor that was Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. Once you and your staff have leapt over that hurdle, there are January sales to contend with. Many things can go wrong for retailers during this period, most of which pertain to the tracking and management of inventory. The four tips below can…

For Pawstruck.com, on online retailer of natural dog treats and chews, selling via third-party marketplaces, most notably Amazon.com, is critical to its business. During the holidays, when Pawstruck's sales ramp up on both its own site and on Amazon, ensuring that its products are well stocked is a top priority. In episode 15 of Total…

As foot traffic at shopping malls and retail outlets begins to trend upward during the holiday season, making sure inventory levels are accurate for the most popular clothing and accessory items is one of the best ways retailers can maximize profits. Sparse shelves mean unhappy customers. Nobody likes it when they find that perfect piece…

When Macy’s, a store closely associated with Christmas, says there's trouble brewing ahead of the holidays, it's enough to send the world of shopping into a tailspin. The retailer of “Miracle on 34th Street” warned Wednesday that its stores were awash with merchandise after a sluggish fall season and that slow business would force it to…

A highlight of my year is the annual Direct Tech (now SPI) User Conference. (SPI acquired Direct Tech earlier this year.) This event brings together SPI clients for three days to network with their peers, learn more about SPI software applications and services, and discuss best practices related to merchandise and inventory planning. This year’s…

One of the biggest problems Wal-Mart identified in its latest profit warning was what it calls “shrinkage.” Greg Foran, president and CEO for Wal-Mart U.S. said on the earnings call that “accelerating pressures in shrink” were one of three major factors that contributed to the company’s underperformance. The others were an overall decline in gross…

One of the buzz phrases that's surfaced with merchandise and inventory planning systems over the last few years is “predictive analytics.” At its simplest, the term reflects the fact that data processing capabilities have advanced to the point where they don’t simply generate operational reports and ask the user to interpret information. They're now capable…