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Category: Inventory

The Tale of an E-commerce Brand

The Tale of an E-commerce Brand

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. 

Weeks of Supply Formula: What It Is and How to Master It in 2024

Weeks of Supply Formula: What It Is and How to Master It in 2024

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

Less Overstocks, More Sales: 3 Proven Tips to Balance Your Inventory

Less Overstocks, More Sales: 3 Proven Tips to Balance Your Inventory

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...

How to Increase E-commerce Sales: 10 Tactics for 2024

How to Increase E-commerce Sales: 10 Tactics for 2024

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

A Deep Dive into Dead Stock and How to Prevent it

A Deep Dive into Dead Stock and How to Prevent it

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...

15 Inventory Metrics CEO’s Can’t Ignore in 2024

15 Inventory Metrics CEO’s Can’t Ignore in 2024

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. 👇

Lead Time in Inventory: How to Stop Guessing and Start Optimizing

Lead Time in Inventory: How to Stop Guessing and Start Optimizing

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...

Stockout Costs: The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Profits

Stockout Costs: The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Profits

According to a study from the IHL Group, inventory distortion (i.e., stockouts and overstocks) will cost retailers nearly $1.8 trillion in 2023. That’s roughly the size of Brazil’s entire GDP. 

The impact of stockouts on customer satisfaction can be devastating for modern commerce brands. In 2022, more than half of global e-shoppers reported being unable to purchase products due to stockouts.

According to one McKinsey survey, 71% of consumers said they switched brands or retailers when they couldn’t find their desired product in stock. Only 13% stayed...

You’re Already Selling on Amazon. Should You Add Shopify to the Mix?

You’re Already Selling on Amazon. Should You Add Shopify to the Mix?

You’re doing well on Amazon and you know it’s time to branch out into other channels. You also know there's a huge opportunity in adding Shopify to the mix.

Inventory To Sales Ratio: What It Is And How to Manage It

Inventory To Sales Ratio: What It Is And How to Manage It

As an online retailer, you know that managing your inventory levels efficiently is becoming ever more critical to your bottom line.

You can’t afford stockouts, but you also can’t risk tying up your capital in excess inventory. You have to find that Goldilocks “just right” number for each SKU. 

One of the best ways to do that is to figure out your optimal inventory to sales ratio.