Flieber Blog

Managing inventory is arguably the hardest task of any retail brand. That is especially true for e-commerce, where sales, advertising, payments and even the customers are digital and can be managed with the click of a button, while inventory is still physical and needs real-world interactions to be produced, moved and stored. 

In the cutthroat game of e-commerce, it’s all about keeping costs down and margins up.

For certain retailers, the publicity you can garner when a viral product is low in stock is more precious than gold. But for most, not having enough inventory has the opposite effect. 

Lost sales and increased inventory costs are just some of the risks involved with putting e-commerce products on backorder. But what many retailers don’t realize is that it is possible to get the best of backordering, using it to increase sales while maintaining inventory control.

In this guide, we'll reveal the benefits of backordering in the current e-commerce climate...

In the early days of e-commerce, effective retail operations were all about increasing top line revenue. All you had to do was be more convenient than in-store shopping and the sales were virtually guaranteed. 

But that was then. As the e-commerce market matures, you need new ways to boost your top and bottom line growth. If the goal is to widen your margins and continue driving sales, you can’t afford to overlook your operations.

In this article, we’ll explore the latest best practices in retail operations and the role of inventory planning in driving...

Every day, in every media outlet, you’ll see articles discussing retail companies with overstock inventory. Even large brands are still working to balance their inventory levels post pandemic, with 66% of owners and executives reporting overstocks.

To solve this problem, brands often fall back on what they do best: drive more sales. 

Markdowns, promotions, and clearance sales are the default methods for offloading excess inventory. But these approaches can have a major impact on your margins.

The truth is, profitable scaling starts long before the point...

According to some estimates, there are over 12 million e-commerce companies worldwide. In other words, the landscape is crowded. 

If you’re left with too many units and no way to move them, you could be experiencing one of the worst (yet most common) problems for modern commerce brands: dead stock.

An estimated 46% of stock losses come from human error, with US retailers having roughly $1.43 stuck in stock for every $1 sale they make.

But what exactly is dead stock? And why is it important to avoid it? In this article, we’ll share tips to help you clear your obsolete inventory and improve your demand forecasting systems to maintain the right inventory levels moving forward.

Table...

As of late 2023, many large retailers are still struggling to balance their inventory levels. Merchants and supply chain leaders are fighting to reduce inventory glut and protect margins as carrying costs increase.

But finding the right balance between your sales and inventory is a tall order. To keep overhead low and profit margins high, understanding your inventory is crucial.

Here are some of the top metrics leading brands use to track inventory, plus tips for how and when to apply them for better sales, profitability, and cash flow management. 👇

In a world of supply chain disruptions, raw materials shortages and labor issues, getting your products to your warehouses, and then to your customers, can take a long time.

Add in inefficiencies in your own operations, and you could be looking at weeks or even months to get your products from the office whiteboard to your customer’s front porch.

Which SKUs do you order? In what quantities? And when?

To guarantee sales several months out, you need confident answers to each of these questions. 

While you may not be able to control which products will go...

There’s a reason Excel is the go-to forecasting tool for countless brands and merchants. It’s flexible, affordable, and you already know how to use it.