Inventory Management

The pandemic was a shock for retailers. Panic-buying of disinfectants, hand sanitizers and countless other goods resulted in historic demand and out-of-stocks for many products, leading to lower customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, not to mention loss of sales. As upstream suppliers dealt with their own supply chain disruptions, retailers were left with empty shelves…

In episode 334 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Mike Relich, co-CEO of PacSun, the California lifestyle clothing, shoes and accessories brand for teens and young adults. Relich discusses his recent presentation at the 2022 National Retail Federation Big Show, outlining the business challenges that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic as omnichannel shopping…

As COVID-19 continues on and both the Delta and Omicron variants bring more uncertainty, companies are turning to a buffer stock strategy to mitigate the potential downsides of variability. By keeping excess inventory on hand, organizations hope to maintain steady operations amidst unforeseen demand surges. While buffer stock can certainly accomplish this goal, there are…

In today’s COVID-19 landscape, companies are expected to predict future revenue, prevent risks, and react to opportunities quickly in order to drive profitability. As such, they need a reliable way to ensure projections align with revenue and real-time market conditions. That’s why forecasting is a necessity for retailers as it enables them to ensure they…

Holiday shopping season is upon us. From the initial look of things, retailers can expect “peak on peak” demand again this year. While the pandemic increased e-commerce shopping by 44 percent last year (NRF 2020), it also exposed the weaknesses of retailers. Seventy-seven percent of the retailers experienced increased latency and downtime during the holiday…

The biggest risk for third-party Amazon.com sellers in the fourth quarter is likely to be inventory storage limits. Amazon’s Inventory Performance Index (IPI), which measures things like sell-through rate and age of inventory to determine what it costs Amazon to warehouse your inventory, is the primary factor the company uses to calculate sellers’ inventory storage…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss a blog post by Jim Shea recently published titled, “Brands Are Making Bets on Which of Their Products Will Be Hot This Holiday, But They Don’t Have to Guess.” Shea writes about how supply chain and shipping crunches mean leaner…

Costco is renting its own container ships to prevent delays and keep costs down as the global shipping crisis continues, according to Business Insider. In a call with analysts Thursday, Costco CFO Richard Galanti said the retailer has chartered three ships to import products from Asia to the U.S. and Canada to help Costco avoid spending six times the normal price…

What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, consumers were hesitant to spend on much besides essentials and products that would make their life at home more comfortable. They were fearful about going into stores, many of which were temporarily closed due to the pandemic anyway, worried about how COVID-19 would affect…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published by Total Retail titled, “Amazon is Finally Acting Like a Retailer, and What That Means for Brands,” authored by Tim Hershey, chief retail officer at Netrush. Amazon has recently tightened its inventory restrictions, placing new pressures…