Inventory Management

The holiday season has always been a tricky time for retailers, and this year will be no different. With the inflation rate fluctuating between 3 percent and 4 percent, consumer spending behaviors have become increasingly unpredictable. How can retailers forecast the right products and channels to stock their shelves effectively in Q4? To stay agile…

Research from Morgan Stanley suggests that inventory restocking may face sustained headwinds as companies respond to persistently high interest rates. The report indicates shippers are increasingly reluctant to rebuild inventory, preferring instead to run leaner operations even at the expense of being late on orders. Meanwhile, the enduring drought in the Panama Canal and the escalating conflict in the Red…

The retail supply chain is undergoing a major transformation, driven by the rise of e-commerce and the increasing complexity of global supply chains. In Gartner's 2023 Top Supply Chain Technology Trends report, "actionable AI" was named the No. 1 trend. This reflects the growing recognition among retailers that artificial intelligence is essential for modernizing and…

Demand planning uses available data and analytics into past market behavior in and around a business to predict the future. Without these insights, business owners could make inventory misreads, marketing mistakes, shipping blunders, and hiring miscues, all eating into profit margins. By assessing your current business performance and past order histories, you can anticipate the…

A boom in online shopping or will there be a return to in-store shopping in the lead up to Christmas this year? We all know that more and more buying decisions start online. According to our latest research, that figure sits at a hefty 84 percent. With inflationary pressure continuing to overshadow the public purse,…

As part of its 2023 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report, Total Retail assessed leading retailers and brands across a host of operational criteria. One of those criteria was the ability for consumers to view in-store inventory availability and stock levels from a retailer's website and/or app. Inventory transparency is critical to not only the customer-facing…

Retail theft has been a major problem, particularly since the pandemic, costing retailers $112.1 billion in 2022. A number of retail giants have announced they're closing stores across major cities due to theft and organized retail crime. But recent analysis shows that theft is only one of many factors behind these shutdowns. The combination of inflation,…

In the fast-paced world of modern retail, the competition is fierce, customer expectations are higher than ever, and technology continues to reshape the landscape. For retailers, maintaining margin integrity and ensuring efficient operations in an omnichannel fulfillment environment has become an imperative. While organizations have spent the last several years investing in technology to see,…

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Shikha Jain, partner and head of North American retail and consumer at Simon-Kucher, a global commercial growth and strategy consulting firm. Listen in as Jain discusses the work that Simon-Kucher does with retail organizations and the positive impact that it has had on…

The retail landscape is swiftly gearing up for its busiest time of year, punctuated by Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM). New research paints a picture of an industry feeling the pressure, grappling with economic hurdles, data inconsistencies, and rising costs. Amidst global supply chain disruptions, fluctuating consumer demands and spending, the urgency for brands…