Inventory Management

Target warned investors Tuesday that its profits will take a short-term hit as it marks down unwanted items, cancels orders, and takes aggressive steps to get rid of extra inventory, reports CNBC. The retailer slashed its profit margin expectations for the fiscal second quarter from around 5 percent to around 2 percent to account for a…

While only a few months ago U.S. retailers were scrambling to fill their shelves due to supply chain delays, many are now facing inventory surpluses and having to discount unsold goods, according to a Reuters report. Average retail inventories have been rising quickly, too. The Reuters article cited research from Citi that found 11 of…

Apparel organizations that fail to plan might as well plan to fail, particularly in the TikTok and Instagram era. The power of social media has never been more apparent to fashion brands, which, because of influencers, sell out of much-wanted items faster than they can make them — inadvertently sending shoppers elsewhere. For instance, after…

In episode 341 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Michael Maher, CEO and co-founder of Taylor Stitch, a men's lifestyle company crafting responsibly built staples that are made to last. Listen in as Maher discusses his inspiration for launching Taylor Stitch, the premium products the company creates, and how pandemic-driven consumer behavior shifts…

The pandemic was a shock for retailers. Panic-buying of disinfectants, hand sanitizers and countless other goods resulted in historic demand and out-of-stocks for many products, leading to lower customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, not to mention loss of sales. As upstream suppliers dealt with their own supply chain disruptions, retailers were left with empty shelves…

In episode 334 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Mike Relich, co-CEO of PacSun, the California lifestyle clothing, shoes and accessories brand for teens and young adults. Relich discusses his recent presentation at the 2022 National Retail Federation Big Show, outlining the business challenges that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic as omnichannel shopping…

As COVID-19 continues on and both the Delta and Omicron variants bring more uncertainty, companies are turning to a buffer stock strategy to mitigate the potential downsides of variability. By keeping excess inventory on hand, organizations hope to maintain steady operations amidst unforeseen demand surges. While buffer stock can certainly accomplish this goal, there are…

In today’s COVID-19 landscape, companies are expected to predict future revenue, prevent risks, and react to opportunities quickly in order to drive profitability. As such, they need a reliable way to ensure projections align with revenue and real-time market conditions. That’s why forecasting is a necessity for retailers as it enables them to ensure they…

Holiday shopping season is upon us. From the initial look of things, retailers can expect “peak on peak” demand again this year. While the pandemic increased e-commerce shopping by 44 percent last year (NRF 2020), it also exposed the weaknesses of retailers. Seventy-seven percent of the retailers experienced increased latency and downtime during the holiday…

The biggest risk for third-party Amazon.com sellers in the fourth quarter is likely to be inventory storage limits. Amazon’s Inventory Performance Index (IPI), which measures things like sell-through rate and age of inventory to determine what it costs Amazon to warehouse your inventory, is the primary factor the company uses to calculate sellers’ inventory storage…