Category: Technology

74% of ecommerce leaders say AI is their primary competitive driver this year. Only 7% have actually scaled it.

That gap is not a technology problem. It is an execution problem. And for ecommerce brands specifically, it shows up most painfully in the place where bad AI decisions cost the most: inventory planning.

Ecommerce operations have always required teams to balance a complicated set of moving parts. Inventory needs to be in the right place at the right time, purchase orders need to account for supplier lead times, forecasts need to adjust as demand changes, and decisions across marketing, finance, and operations need to stay aligned.

For most of retail history, inventory planning has been a guessing game dressed up as a science. Buyers look at last year's sales, factor in a gut feeling about the season, pad the number "just in case," and place a purchase order. Sometimes it works. Often, it doesn't — and the result is either a stockout that costs you sales and rank, or a warehouse full of product that ties up cash for months. Understandingwhere ecommerce brands actually lose money in inventory is the first step toward fixing it.

If modern retailers know one thing, it’s that no matter how hard you plan, things almost always work out differently than expected. And nowhere is that more true than with your supply chain.

Suppliers, vessels, trucks, warehouses. Supply chains are complex and chaotic by nature. To solve the disconnects between your forecasts and what actually happens on the road, water, or factory floor, you need to be able to act and react as quickly as possible.

The good news is, there’s never been more data available to help you do that. With AI’s ability to crunch...

When it comes to AI, context is everything. But in the dynamic world of retail, there are countless movements across a range of products. AI can account for those intricacies for you, leading to a more nuanced and accurate forecast — but only if you have the right data to get the quality output you need.

The reality is, in a fast-paced retail environment, you won’t always have the full scope of data you need to get the accuracy you want out of your AI algorithms. 

The new world of retail isn’t for everyone. Less than 10% of emerging brands make it past the death valley curve of e-commerce. If you’re one of the few online retailers that has found success, you know you can’t afford to let your foot off the gas. From one or two top channels, you’re ready to expand.

According to research, for every three new sales channels you add, you could increase your revenue by up to 190%. The only catch? 

There’s a lot of talk about the role of AI in inventory. But with so many unknowns about how these tools are developed, how do you know whether your forecasting algorithm is really doing its job?

From just 4% in 2016, nearly a third of retailers are now using AI. But there’s a lot more to it than customer service bots and product recommendations. For retailers spending multiple hours per week on inventory, AI can help you make better replenishment decisions in less time.

Last week, we explored the top four use cases for AI in inventory. Today we’re taking a closer look at its current and future impact on what is arguably the most critical inventory task: forecasting.

After reaching the peak of the hype cycle last year, the AI fatigue is setting in. Modern retailers are done talking. They want practical ways to deliver value from AI.

The truth behind the buzz is that AI can help you achieve success with inventory as you scale — if you know how to use it.

With an unmatched ability to crunch vast amounts of data, AI can drastically improve your forecasting, save your team hours in manual data analysis, and help you make profitable business decisions in a fraction of the time.

Here are four ways modern brands and...

Tim Angel always wanted to build his own business. With a natural knack for problem solving, he loved coming up with new ideas to help make life easier.Today, he and the team at Zugu sell over $30M per year of their best-selling iPad cases. Tim and the team have expanded the brand’s footprint from three to 17 countries and are consistently leveling up its sales with each new launch.But it didn’t happen overnight. We sat down with Tim and his sister, Chief Operating Officer Jenn Angel, to get a glimpse into Zugu’s incredible story and learn how a highly...