Why Stock Clearance Sale is good for managing Inventory

For a retailer, the best way to ensure you continue to stock latest products and get your items moving  is to ensure you continue to de-clutter your store so only the best merchandise remains.

This is more so especially for  retail stores as  " life cycles for fashion "  are quick and abrupt. It is important  for a retailer to get  some of your investment back before it is totally worthless.

Many merchants are just hesitant to markdowns, and it is unnecessary. Your money is already gone; holding on to it just ties you to the past and all your are left with " stuff that will not sell as time grows by"  and  especially in apparel trade. If  the clothes lying on your shelf has not sold for the last 5 months, chances are it may never get sold in the coming 6 months.

The best way to get rid of them is a "stock clearing sale" as  you don't want to " have excess inventory" when you are just waiting for the latest stocks to  arrive.. knowing that  those will sell well

 But many retailers feel that they must get back whatever they paid for their inventory, no matter how many years ago the merchandise first arrived in their store. This thinking is murder on their cash flow.

Some more  retailers feel there will always be a demand for a part or accessory to a model or product, even if that product is no longer sold. Maybe on Ebay, but not on your display shelves.
inventory being like apple and  milk and  the more they sit there doing nothing ... the more are the chances of them getting spoiled.

 Unlike Humans.. whose power of thinking and rationalizing  gets better with age. Merchandise Doesn’t Get Better With Age. It only stops you from getting better returns
Too many retailers avoid aggressively clearing out old merchandise either because they feel they will lose money when they sell it, or it’s too complicated to know what to clear out. Neither is true. If merchandise is old, you’ve already lost the money. The fact it is sitting on your display shelves doesn’t make that any less true, but it does make your entire store look dated, out-of-touch or just plain old.

Read More

Supply Chain Risk; Suppliers Vs Manufacturers

 SUPPLY CHAIN RISK: SUPPLIERS VS COMPANY

For companies that manufacture products mostly  use suppliers, and over a period of time, they have become extremely dependent on them.  So should the  supply chain depends on the outsourcing suppliers? Most companies have many suppliers as to derisk their investment and ensuring backup if one supplier goofs up

However,  there exist a divided opinion on ultimately who is responsible for " supply chain.  Are the suppliers more accountable for the  supply chain risk, or is it the supply chain teams  of the company more responsible for " ensuring vendors and suppliers" deliver in  the right number and the right time

According to The Ripple Effect, a recent survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting LLP, 63% of executives see external suppliers as one of the biggest sources of today’s supply chain concerns. And when problems do arise, it’s the company—not suppliers—that will likely bear the brunt of the blame. What’s more, even having a diversified portfolio of suppliers is no guarantee when it comes to managing the supply chain.

 For example, when Japan was hit by a tsunami in 2011, most companies thought their supply chains were safe because they had multiple suppliers as backups. As it turned out, many of those suppliers relied on the same secondary suppliers, causing the entire supply pyramid to collapse.

Read More

5 Things Retailers hate to encounter

Running a retail business without using technology is more like locking horns with the bull. It can give you nightmares that you never imagined. Here is a list of 10 things that retailers never want to encounter.

1. An empty shelf of an important product– There are few products which sell like hotcakes in the retail space. And these same products are often missing on shelves. To this retailers can only surmise in retrospect about what went wrong.
2. Delay in delivery of much-awaited products– Sometimes there are issues of transportation or miscommunication that can lead to a plethora of problems in the supply chain. Hence, the much-awaited products are delayed which leads to losses on every front.
3. Expiry of products even before they get sold– There are products on shelves which do not sell at all. Often as a customer, we hate to even see them on shelves. Still no one seems to care about them. So with the passage of time, they get expired leading to your loss only.
4. Cluelessness on demand and supply– There is supply in accordance to the demand. And demand is volatile, so keeping a track of it is impossible.
5. Losing customers– All these mentioned problems leads in losing of customers which is the most dreaded experience for any retailer. This happens due to inventory mismanagement. And inventory is mismanaged because it is done manually. So taking the help of technology is a smart way of avoiding loss of the customer. Predictive analytics can be that saviour.

Read More

Top 5 Consumer-driven Trends in Retail

The impact of Social Media– Social media platforms are now the determining factor behind sales of any brand.  Any word out on social media as tweet or post can make or break any brand.

The generation born in the 80s or 90s are setting the tone– The kids born in 80s and 90s are setting the tone for any brand. They are already profoundly shaping the consumer experience. Their spending power is one of the key factors in driving sales.

Personalized or Customized Preferences– Brands have now focussed their attention on personalization. Personalized products according to the choices of the customer are the hottest trend in the marketplace. Basically, the customer is the king and services are offered for him to cater his needs.

Applications on Smartphones– Peek into your smartphones, few clicks on the screen and you’ve successfully purchased the product. Applications have invigorated the shopping experience. From groceries to clothes, everything is available on smartphones. E-commerce websites have played a big role in shaping the popularity of shopping applications.

Big Data & Predictive Analytics– Big data is the massive amount of data that consumers are generating with every click and even physical movements in stores. The collected data can be analysed with the help of technology. Recent developments in predictive analytics have ensured the effectiveness of big data. Retigence Technologieshave developed such a technology in predictive analytics to handle the inventory problems that any supply chain faces. Retigence’s PRAN crunches the fed data to outline what to keep, what not to keep and how much to keep.;jl;ksnkl;kl;glsa

Read More