How Inventory Planning Supports Marketing Decisions
Mistakenly viewing inventory planning as a strictly operational process for reducing costs and improving efficiency is common. Many retailers are focused only on metrics such as in-stock rates, fulfillment percentages, back order rates and inventory turnover.
Many smaller retailers (say, under $10 million in annnual sales) simply don’t believe that improvements in inventory planning will provide enough incremental profit gain for a company its size to justify investing in staff, systems or processes. However, they may be overlooking a crucial piece of the puzzle: how inventory planners help marketing and merchandising teams grow sales and increase gross margin.
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- Inventory Management
Joe is Vice President of Product Solutions at Software Paradigms International (SPI), an award-winning provider of technology solutions, including merchandise planning applications, mobile applications, eCommerce development and hosting and integration services, to retailers for more than 20 years.
Joe is a 34-year veteran of the retail industry with hands-on experience in marketing, merchandising, inventory management and business development at multichannel retail companies including Lands’ End, LifeSketch.com, Nordstrom.com and Duluth Trading Company. At SPI, Joe uses his experience to help customers and prospects understand how to improve sales and profits through applying industry best practices in merchandise planning and inventory management systems and processes.
