Inventory visibility is the ability to manage stock levels, locations, and movement in real time across every channel. For retailers, it is the foundation for accurate fulfillment, reliable demand forecasting, and customer experiences that hold up at every touchpoint.

The gap between expectation and reality is significant. Our 2024 Omnichannel Leadership Report reveals that less than half of retail websites offer the ability to check store inventory, and only 43% of brands with an app include a feature to check in-store availability within the app.

Customers have zero patience for an experience that promises in-store availability and fails to deliver. For many, one bad experience is enough to stop shopping a brand entirely. Poor inventory visibility does not just frustrate customers. It directly costs brands sales and revenue.

In this article, we answer:

• What is inventory visibility?
• Why is inventory visibility important?
• What are the benefits of inventory visibility?
• What are the challenges with inventory visibility?
• How can you improve inventory visibility?

What Is Inventory Visibility?

Inventory visibility is the ability to accurately track and manage the movement of goods, in real-time, throughout the supply chain. With excellent inventory visibility, you can access real-time data on stock levels, sales, and customer demand, and consolidate this information into a single view.

By effectively storing and monitoring this information, you can make more informed decisions about your inventory management, mitigate the risk of overselling and underselling, and accurately forecast demand. When done well, this can create a strong foundation for scalable growth and bolster your relationships with customers.

Why Is Inventory Visibility Important?

Experience remains the most critical factor in shaping how consumers engage with and perceive brands. ​In fact, research shows that an overwhelming 78% of consumers have made purchasing decisions based solely on their experience, while 82% would recommend a company based entirely on the quality of their interactions.

Modern retail is in a constant state of flux, driven by rapidly evolving consumer shopping habits. Today’s shoppers interact with your brand across multiple channels and devices, all with the singular goal of making their experience more convenient and hassle-free. Many retail brands are having trouble getting it right because most inventory management systems haven’t evolved for modern retail.

Omnichannel focuses on providing customers with seamless and convenient experiences, and real-time inventory visibility is a crucial component of this approach. By maintaining a unified view of your inventory across all demand sources, you can unlock more opportunities to meet and exceed customer expectations. That means delivering on customers’ desires and differentiating your business from your competitors. In essence, real-time inventory visibility is the key to satisfying customers’ “what, where, and when” needs in their shopping journey.

More specifically, when your business has accurate inventory data, you can offer flexible fulfillment options, such as buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS), ship-from-store, and same-day delivery, among others. Additionally, you can optimize your product offerings, and tailor your marketing and promotions to specific customer segments, resulting in more personalized and engaging customer experiences. 

8 Benefits of Inventory Visibility

From improving the customer experience to boosting revenue, inventory visibility offers numerous advantages for retail brands. 

1. Better customer experience

Customers want easy, intuitive, and transparent shopping experiences. Inventory visibility enhances customer experience by ensuring that products are consistently available when and where customers want them. This reduces instances of stockouts and backorders, preventing customer frustration and disappointment. Additionally, it enables retailers to offer accurate product availability information online and in-store, empowering customers to make informed purchasing decisions and ultimately increasing satisfaction and loyalty.

2. Frictionless returns

Achieving true omnichannel excellence means creating enjoyable experiences for customers at every touchpoint, including returns and exchanges. Equipping your staff with the right tools and resources, such as mobile devices like iPhone, makes it easy for them to accept returns and place items back in inventory for reselling. By streamlining the process, you create a more positive and hassle-free experience for customers and store associates alike.

3. Faster delivery

In the wake of the “Amazon Effect,” customers have come to expect quick and efficient delivery as the norm, with same-day or on-demand delivery becoming the industry standard. Meeting these expectations requires complete oversight of your inventory, so you know exactly what you have in each store as well as what is out of stock.

4. More accurate forecasting

Unlocking omnichannel’s full potential requires inventory visibility.  Accurate and up-to-date inventory data enables you to improve demand forecasting and planning, quickly adapt to fluctuations in customer demand, and ensure products are available whenever and wherever customers want them. With accurate inventory data, your team can respond to demand shifts rather than react to stockouts.

5. Save the sale with endless aisle

Omnichannel leaves no room for excuses. Help your store associates say ‘yes’ to more customers by giving them the ability to access and sell inventory from any location. Whether it’s fulfilling an order through another store, a warehouse, a distribution center, or online, endless aisle gives your store associates the inventory visibility they need to save the sale and please the customer.

6. Lower supply chain costs

When your customers have tight budgets, it can have an impact on your business too. During tough economic times, it becomes crucial to make the most out of inventory and minimize expenses. Accurate inventory visibility gives you insight into precise stock levels for each item, enabling you to maximize the sales of your current inventory before investing in more unnecessary stock.

7. Cross-sell or upsell

Empower your store associates to cross-sell or upsell. By making your entire catalog available to all in-store customers, they are more likely to come in and find something they love. This translates into more opportunities to make additional sales without resorting to high-pressure tactics that can turn off customers.

8. Store real estate freedom

Inventory visibility enables brands to implement experience-enhancing solutions such as endless aisle. With near-omniscient inventory management, you can say goodbye to unsightly 30-foot shelves and cluttered clothing racks. Instead, you can use that space to create a more inviting and engaging store experience, allowing customers to browse and purchase from your entire catalog. This approach will also free up staff time to focus on helping customers instead of adjusting displays or organizing clothes racks.

Challenges with Inventory Visibility

Inconsistencies in data and limited inter-system communication result in a confusing picture and unsatisfied customers. Inaccurate information, insufficient forecasting, and difficulties in pinpointing product locations are tell-tale signs that your inventory management needs some love. 

Typically, you can trace the culprit to your technology stack. Outdated ecommerce platforms cannot handle the dynamic, real-time inventory updates from multiple sources, leading to problems such as stockouts, overstocking, and operational inefficiencies. These factors can have a negative impact on your business’s bottom line.

Most of the challenges with inventory visibility are related to:

• Outdated legacy technology
• Siloed information and systems

Outdated legacy technology

Legacy ecommerce platforms may provide a basic overview of your stock availability, but they often struggle to communicate with essential systems that facilitate omnichannel journeys, such as mobile point of sale (mPOS) solutions.

Additionally, legacy systems cannot handle real-time inventory updates in various statuses since they can only process sequential batches and limited file formats. This can result in a fragmented customer experience, where customers may see that an item is available online, but it’s not in stock at the physical store. 

Upgrading to an integrated inventory management system can help ensure that all systems “speak” to each other, providing a consistent experience for customers, regardless of the channel they use to engage with your brand.

Siloed information and systems

Inventory management has become more complex due to the fast-paced nature of modern retail. With customers shopping across multiple channels, a single item can go through potentially hundreds of micro inventory lifecycle events. It’s no longer as simple as just “sold” or not “sold.” Items can be in a customer’s basket, at the checkout stage, on a wish list, saved for later, and more.

Managing inventory data can be complex since it is often spread across different systems, such as order management, warehouse management, and third-party logistics providers (3PL). This data fragmentation creates silos that can make it difficult to keep your ERP and ecommerce platform in sync with your inventory.

To ensure accurate inventory tracking across all sales channels, including brick-and-mortar stores, ecommerce, and marketplaces, you need a more granular level of management and understanding. Legacy systems often cannot handle this level of detail, leading to inventory discrepancies and missed sales opportunities.

How to Improve Inventory Visibility

Real-time inventory visibility is complex. It requires a well-defined process and the right inventory visibility software and approach. Omnichannel orders are especially challenging, and the right technology choices are crucial to reducing human error and ensuring your inventory is always in sync across every channel. 

Omnichannel order management

The key to achieving comprehensive end-to-end inventory visibility hinges on having seamless connections across every stage of the supply chain and all sales channels. To achieve this, you need an omnichannel order management system (OMS) that can capture and integrate data from all sources. 

An omnichannel OMS connects inventory, customer, and order information in a unified platform. It’s the inventory visibility software you need. This comprehensive view is critical for determining if a product is available to sell and streamlining fulfillment. By orchestrating all orders across the enterprise, the OMS ensures efficient operations for ecommerce and point-of-sale systems.

Without an omnichannel OMS, you have to rely on a safety stock model to enable omnichannel, which is not optimal, especially given the current business climate.

RFID and barcode scanning

Radio-frequency identification​​ (RFID) technology uses radio waves to communicate between a tag and a reader, providing real-time tracking of products. This means that you can quickly and easily locate specific items in your inventory, as well as track their movement throughout your supply chain. Studies have shown that RFID can significantly improve inventory accuracy, increasing it from 70% to over 95%. With this increased confidence, you can make smart decisions about purchasing, fulfillment, and other aspects of your business.

Barcode scanning is another quick and efficient method for capturing product data and inputting it into your system. Once you barcode all inventory, your store associates can easily scan each item to access key product information such as the item’s storage location and stock quantity. Barcode scanning is another powerful tool for improving inventory visibility and enabling fast and accurate inventory management. 

Reverse logistics

Reverse logistics plays a crucial role in managing the complex process of handling returns, repairs, and recycling of products. By implementing efficient reverse logistics solutions, retail brands can reduce costs, improve customer service, and increase profitability. When combined with RFID technology, the benefits can be amplified.

For instance, brands can use RFID tags to track products throughout their lifecycle, allowing them to understand the products’ condition and determine their availability for resale. By analyzing returns data in this manner, retail brands can gain insights into which products are selling and which ones are not. This increased inventory visibility can help you adjust your inventory levels, accordingly, leading to better decision-making and increased efficiency.

What’s Next?

No matter how you look at it, retail faces challenges from many sides. Customer expectations are rising. Competition is growing. Retailers must cut overhead costs while keeping stock levels optimized.

Real-time inventory is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity for retail brands that want to win today. As consumer demands rise, retail brands that lack this visibility may lose customers to competitors that provide it. 

Keeping up with these demands requires the right technology choices. Legacy systems often lack the necessary capabilities to handle the complexities of modern retail. Investing in the right inventory visibility software can help you stay ahead of the curve. By using new tools like omnichannel order systems and RFID, you can see your supply chain end to end.

This helps you deliver smooth shopping experiences and run a more efficient business.

To understand where your visibility gaps are and what it takes to close them, talk to one of our retail experts.

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Today, shoppers expect efficiency and speed from their favorite retail brands. While stores have a reputation of being on the decline, that’s far from the case. Brick-and-mortar locations are evolving to keep up with shopper expectations—which is why “buy online pickup in-store”, or BOPIS, has become so popular.

BOPIS services are offered by 54% of brands, as brands focus on driving more customers back into physical stores.

This article covers BOPIS orders and how this fulfillment type benefits retail brands.

Table of contents:

• What Is a BOPIS Order?
• How Does a BOPIS Order Work?
• What Are the Benefits of BOPIS Orders?
• What Are the Possible Challenges Associated With BOPIS?

What Is a BOPIS Order? 

The meaning of BOPIS is “buy online pickup in-store.” It is also sometimes also referred to as “click-and-collect.” A BOPIS order is a fulfillment method used by retail brands. It allows shoppers to buy products online and pick up their purchases in-store, usually in a matter of a couple of hours. 

BOPIS orders give shoppers the convenience of online shopping with the lower costs and immediacy of the in-store experience. It also brings consumers back into stores where they’re more likely to browse and make additional purchases.

Many retail stores, including large retailers like The Home Depot, Kohl’s, Academy, and Walmart, were already using BOPIS before the pandemic to streamline the customer experience. But many shoppers tried it for the first time as a result of the changes in store operating policies. Today, many shoppers expect your store to offer BOPIS, which includes variations, such as: 

• Curbside pickup
• Buy online return in-store (BORIS)
• Reserve online pay in-store (ROPIS)

Some retail brands offer “buy online ship-to-store” (BOSS). While a popular option, it doesn’t have the immediacy of BOPIS as the order is shipped from a warehouse instead of being fulfilled from store inventory. This can take days instead of hours, which doesn’t quite align with the on-demand economy that we’re living in. 

How Does a BOPIS Order Work? 

It’s important to stay relevant by offering BOPIS to your customers. In retail, BOPIS happens in three steps: ordering, processing, and collecting.

1. The customer places an order online

The customer shops for products either through your website or mobile app. As with any other online order, next they add products to their cart. However, when it’s time to check out, the shopper chooses “pick up in-store,” “store pickup,” or another similar variation, instead of delivery. 

This is why it’s so important to have a flexible order management system (OMS) and accurate inventory. You cannot properly execute BOPIS without a real-time view of stock levels. The risk is not being able to fulfill orders and giving customers a poor experience, which can turn them away for good.

Ideally, your system should give shoppers available pickup timeframes and locations before they check out, so customers can choose the best options for them. After making their selection, the customer pays online and submits the order. 

2. The store fulfills the order

Next, the OMS routes the customer’s order details to the desired pickup location. It includes details on the products, quantities, and pickup time for your store associates to begin picking and packing the order. 

Ideally, products will be in stock and employees are able to simply prepare the order. However, sometimes you may have to transfer products between retail locations or wait for a shipment to come in. In this case, your customer will know about the delay ahead of time. 

When the products are ready for pickup, your associates notify the customer through text, email, or app notifications. 

3. The customer picks up their order

Once the customer receives an alert that their order is ready, they’ll go to your retail location to pick it up. 

The customer might make their way to a designated “online pickup” area in your store. For some brands, that is simply a separate counter or kiosk. For others, it looks like lockers or something similar. Ideally, however, your store associates will have a mobile point of sale system that makes it easy to complete the order handover from anywhere in the store. Or even better, if you have a shopping app, customers can pick up orders in-store with one tap.

With a location-based activated store mode, picking up an order in-store has never been easier with a shopping app. The customer can just walk into the store, open the app, and the pick-up order will pop up. 

What Are the Benefits of BOPIS Orders?

BOPIS orders offer several benefits to both retail brands and consumers. Here are some of the advantages:

Elevated customer experience

BOPIS provides a seamless and flexible shopping experience. Customers have the convenience of online shopping and the immediate satisfaction of picking up their purchases without the wait.

Reduced shipping costs

For brands, BOPIS can help reduce shipping costs as the customer is responsible for transportation from the store. This can be particularly significant for bulky or heavy items that would incur higher shipping expenses.

Increased foot traffic

BOPIS can drive more customers to physical stores, increasing foot traffic and potentially leading to additional in-store purchases.

When customers come into the store to pick up their orders, brands have the chance to upsell or cross-sell additional products. This can contribute to increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Reduced returns

Since customers have the opportunity to inspect their purchases at the time of pick-up, there may be fewer instances of returns due to dissatisfaction with the product.

Environmental impact

With BOPIS, customers may choose to consolidate multiple purchases into a single trip, reducing the number of individual deliveries and the associated carbon footprint. Fewer returns also reduces environmental impact.

What Are the Possible Challenges Associated With BOPIS?

While BOPIS offers significant benefits, there are also challenges associated with its implementation. Here are some common challenges:

Requires a brick-and-mortar store

To allow customers to buy online, pick up in-store, your brand obviously must have both an online and physical store. If you lack one or the other this approach becomes impossible.

Inventory accuracy is crucial 

Keeping an accurate and up-to-date inventory is vital for BOPIS. If the online inventory doesn’t reflect the actual stock in the store, it can lead to customer dissatisfaction when items are not available for pickup as expected.

Store associates will need training 

Employees will need proper training to handle BOPIS orders effectively. They must understand the process, locate items quickly, and communicate effectively with customers.

Necessitates space

BOPIS requires designated spaces for order storage and customer pickup. If your store has limited space, it may be challenging to allocate specific areas for these purposes without disrupting the regular shopping experience and driving up wait times.

You need omnichannel order management

Legacy systems won’t get the job done. Retail brands need to integrate their online and in-store systems seamlessly. An omnichannel order management (OMS) system allows your brand to seamlessly manage and fulfill customer orders across various sales channels. 

Give Shoppers The Flexibility They Crave

BOPIS is a testament to the benefits of using an omnichannel approach. One that combines the ease of online shopping with the efficiency of in-store shopping.

Having the right technology to support solutions like BOPIS, is important. NewStore’s omnichannel OMS modernizes fulfillment to maximize store productivity and get products to customers faster. Sign up for a demo and harness the power of omnichannel.

Inventory accuracy is one the biggest challenges for retail brands today.

Many brands are having trouble getting it right because most inventory management systems haven’t evolved for modern retail. But it’s imperative to develop a system to properly manage it. Poor inventory management not only negatively impacts revenue but also your customers’ experience.

This article highlights how to calculate inventory accuracy, the benefits of making inventory accuracy a priority, and steps you can take to improve inventory accuracy so that your retail brand can operate efficiently and meet customer expectations.

Table of Contents:

• What Is Inventory Accuracy?
• Importance of Inventory Accuracy
• How to Calculate Inventory Accuracy
• Additional Benefits of Inventory Accuracy
• How to Improve Inventory Accuracy

What Is Inventory Accuracy?

Inventory accuracy measures the disparity or inconsistency between physical and recorded inventory and is an integral part of inventory management.

Your customers expect your products to be available if you say they are. If you can’t connect your customers to what they want, when they want it, you risk losing their loyalty and repeat business. On the other hand, poor inventory management can result in wasted resources. You don’t want to have more product in stock than is likely to sell through.

To drive customer service and improve your bottom line, you’ll want to achieve inventory accuracy.

Importance of Inventory Accuracy

Inventory accuracy is crucial for ensuring customer satisfaction by enabling timely and error-free order fulfillment, which directly impacts the customer experience. It plays a pivotal role in cost control and operational efficiency, preventing overstock and stockouts, optimizing inventory levels, and streamlining warehouse operations. Additionally, accurate inventory data supports financial accuracy, allows for data-driven decision-making, and helps prevent losses.

Customer satisfaction and order fulfillment

Accurate inventory ensures that customer orders can be fulfilled promptly and accurately, meeting customer expectations and enhancing satisfaction. It also reduces the likelihood of errors in picking, packing, and shipping, contributing to a positive customer experience. Minimizing stock discrepancies helps brands avoid canceled orders and backorders, which can damage their reputation. Timely order fulfillment contributes to customer loyalty, fostering long-term relationships and positive reviews.

Operational efficiency and costs

With accurate inventory data retail brands can prevent overstocking and stockouts. It also allows brands to optimize warehousing and handling costs by aligning storage needs with actual demand. This streamlined approach improves overall operational efficiency, reducing excess expenditures associated with surplus inventory and inefficient logistics. Additionally, better inventory control reduces time spent on manual stock checks and corrections.

Forecasting 

Accurate inventory information provides a foundation for data-driven decision-making, supporting strategic choices related to purchasing, production, and sales strategies. With better forecasting, brands can anticipate seasonal demand fluctuations, adjust pricing strategies, and improve supply chain coordination.

Loss prevention

Accurate inventory tracking helps identify discrepancies caused by theft, damage, or other forms of shrinkage, aiding in the prevention of losses. Early detection of these issues allows businesses to implement security measures and safeguards, reducing financial losses and maintaining the integrity of the supply chain. Regular inventory audits and automated tracking systems further strengthen loss prevention efforts by ensuring discrepancies are addressed promptly.

How to Calculate Inventory Accuracy

To calculate inventory accuracy, you need to first get an accurate count of what you have in stock. Next, you can do inventory reconciliation and compare the physical inventory count with the record of inventory on hand.

If your retail brand has many SKUs, a high quantity of items, and inventory in many locations, you’ll likely want to use a sample to calculate inventory accuracy.

Inventory accuracy is shown as a percentage. You’ll divide the number of counted items that are completely accurate by the total number of inventory items counted, and then multiply this number by 100. Inventory is considered correct when both the quantity and location match what’s on record.

A good inventory accuracy rate is 97% or higher, but of course 100% is ideal.

Additional Benefits of Inventory Accuracy 

As we’ve discussed, achieving and maintaining inventory accuracy is vital for success. Prioritizing accurate inventory management not only streamlines operations but also enhances customer experiences and drives profitability. Making inventory accuracy a priority will greatly benefit your brand. We highlight these key benefits below.

1. Elevated store experience

The store of the future will be all about the experience. With accurate inventory, you can reduce friction during processes like returns and exchanges, while increasing the store’s overall utility.

Gone are the days of massive stores stocked with goods from wall to wall. How? Well, by making your inventory available to sell across your network of stores, warehouses, and distribution centers. Now, you can have smaller stores with less inventory and more experiential draws, such as in-store workshops, lounge areas, or influencer meet and greets.

At the end of the day, you want to create as many opportunities for positive engagement as possible between your store associates and customers, and your customers and brand. 

2. Improved event response time

Real-time inventory data allows for an immediate response to dynamic events in your supply chain, such as a sudden increase in demand in one location. Having an accurate picture of inventory means you can quickly transfer items to satisfy the demand. Your frontline team can shore up the sale instead of turning away customers.

3. Greater planning ability 

Inventory visibility is also strategic for proper forecasting and planning. It’s imperative you have a keen understanding of what is really happening to your inventory over a specific period of time. This will allow you to carefully calculate the inventory needed to fulfill future orders, while also zooming in on customer buying behaviors, trends, and patterns. 

4. Boosted resource efficiency

With the real-time synchronization of all inventory data, manual tasks like cycle counting and receiving become a fully automated, even ongoing process. Additionally, for your fulfillment associates, it prevents mispicks and reduces the chance of shortages. Mobile-enabled inventory management further enhances efficiency, enabling store associates to access accurate data anytime, anywhere.

5. Enhanced employee empowerment

Less cumbersome processes mean more time for personalized service. Your associates will be back on the store floor instead of checking the stockroom or calling another store for an item check. Equipped with real-time inventory access, employees can assist customers faster, build stronger relationships, and drive more sales.

6. Increased store health

Better inventory visibility = more inventory sell-through = higher GMV. (That’s the North Star metric in retail). Inventory accuracy is the backbone of modern retail, ensuring stock is available where and when it’s needed to maximize revenue potential.

How to Improve Inventory Accuracy

There’s no denying that achieving inventory accuracy is hard. It takes a well-defined process, training, diligence and the right software. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to improve inventory accuracy. We cover them below.

Omnichannel order management

When a retail IT stack is made up of legacy point solutions––for e-commerce, warehouse management, transportation, etc.––there is no data integrity. The systems don’t communicate and aren’t connected, which quite simply doesn’t allow for a single view of stock.

When you lack real-time inventory data, you’re forced to use safety stock to make your omnichannel solutions work. This means buying and carrying more inventory than you need. But what happens when you overbuy in the wrong place? The product gets marked down and you lose out on the full-price sale. 

An omnichannel order management system connects inventory, customer, and order information in a single, unified platform. It also provides a singular view of enterprise-wide inventory which you can use to determine if a product is available to sell.

If you want to achieve inventory accuracy, your retail brand needs a flexible order management system.

RFID technology 

Another way to tackle inventory management is with radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. RFID is no longer a sexy option out of your reach; as costs decrease, its adoption is skyrocketing. In 2014, only 34% of North American retailers had implemented RFID. Today, 93% of retailers say they’re either piloting the tech or have fully adopted it into their business.

Why the sudden spike in adoption? The lower barrier of installation is one, but also Accenture found RFID can increase inventory accuracy from 70% to over 95%. If inventory has been an Achilles heel in your quest to omnichannel success, this is a solution worth implementing. It can also help in other business areas, including preventing theft and tracking how product moves about your store. 

Well-labeled items

A general rule of thumb is to avoid handwritten labels on inventory items. This is because they are prone to error and hard to read—thereby resulting in mislabeled goods that are hard to track, negatively impacting inventory accuracy.

The best way to pull off inventory labeling is to use printed labels containing the bar or QR codes of the individual inventory item. Barcodes should integrate with automated systems.

Cycle counting

Cycle counting is an inventory auditing procedure. It uses a sampling technique that allows businesses to count a subset of inventory in a number of areas.

Although brands don’t have to count their entire inventory, it serves a useful purpose by establishing a regular system of checks and balances. Cycle counting, therefore, allows businesses to verify that their physical inventory counts match their inventory records.

Cycle counting helps brands quickly identify problem areas in their inventory. But to improve inventory accuracy, retail brands must ensure they have a comprehensive cycle counting program that’s been integrated into daily operations. 

Inventory storage

Improving inventory accuracy often comes down to having ample space to store inventory items. Brands can lose money due to ineffective storage methods that waste time and increase labor costs. This could also impact customer retention, especially if there’s lost inventory and customer orders aren’t fulfilled on time.

Organizing a warehouse effectively entails categorizing inventory appropriately for easy access. You can also professionally store inventory. Though you’ll incur more overhead costs, professional storage companies have the technology and knowledge necessary for inventory accuracy.

Turning your own stores into fulfillment centers can also help resolve storage issues and improve efficiency.

Approach Inventory Accuracy the Right Way

To satisfy customers and stay competitive, retail brands must maintain accurate and efficient inventory levels. However, achieving and sustaining high inventory accuracy can be challenging without the right systems and strategies in place. From preventing stockouts and overstocks to enabling seamless omnichannel experiences, accurate inventory management is essential for meeting customer expectations and driving profitability.

That’s where NewStore comes in. As an Omnichannel-as-a-Service platform, NewStore has a proven track record of successfully handling complex inventory management. Our solution unifies inventory across all sales channels, giving retailers a single source of truth and the flexibility to fulfill orders from anywhere. Whether you’re looking to optimize stock levels, streamline fulfillment, or enhance the in-store experience, NewStore empowers you to take inventory management to the next level.

Learn how your brand can take inventory management to the next level.

Last updated on March 23rd, 2026 at 10:46 am

Click and collect allows customers to shop online and pick up their items at a nearby location, saving on shipping costs, providing immediate access to their purchases, and ensuring more control over the pickup timing.

Click and collect not only puts products in shoppers’ hands faster, but it also simplifies fulfillment for brands. This fulfillment strategy is a win-win for both shoppers and retail brands. In a competitive market, it can help not only improve margins but also meet evolving customer expectations. 

Let’s get into how click and collect works and its advantages for retail brands. 

What Is Click and Collect? 

Also called BOPIS, which stands for buy online pickup in-store, click and collect is a type of omnichannel fulfillment. A shopper orders your product online as usual, but instead of shipping it to their home, they choose to pick up their order at a physical location. 

Generally, shoppers would pick up their orders at one of your brick-and-mortar store locations, but you could enable them to pick up from any physical location. For example, at your curbside, a UPS or FedEx store, or even a shipping dropbox.

How Does Click and Collect Work? 

As long as you have a robust order management system (OMS), click and collect allows for a seamless shopper experience. Here’s how the click and collect model works:

• The customer chooses click and collect. Your customer shops online or via your retail mobile app and chooses click and collect instead of one of your shipping options. The system will display which physical locations the shopper can collect the item from, and often when the item will be available for collection. The customer completes their order and pays. 
• An employee prepares the order. Click and collect integrates with your POS and store inventory management systems. An associate or the store will get a notification on their store solution that an online order needs to be fulfilled. In a timely manner, they pick the items and pack them up so they’re ready for the customer’s arrival. 
• The system notifies the customer. When the customer’s item is available for pick up, they will receive a notification via email or SMS. Most click and collect models give shoppers a window of time for when they can pick up their item. 
• The customer picks up the order. Click and collect can include buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), where customers retrieve their orders inside the store, or curbside pickup, where they remain in their vehicle and have the order brought out to them. When the customer arrives, a store associate equipped with a mPOS can handover the order from anywhere inside or outside of the store. It’s usually as simple as scanning a QR code on a printed or digital receipt.

7 Major Advantages of Click and Collect

Although click and collect may require a few changes to the back end, it’s a smart model for omnichannel shopping. It combines the best of brick-and-mortar and online shopping to give customers the speed and convenience they expect. 

Brands who offer click and collect options enjoy these seven advantages. 

1. Better customer experience

Click and collect eliminates several pain points that shoppers experience with online shopping, including: 

• Control: Click and collect is a great way to give shoppers more control over their shopping experience, allowing them the flexibility to pick up their order when it fits their schedule. 
• Speed: Depending on product availability, it’s often faster for shoppers to pick up orders at a retail location than to wait for mail delivery. 
• In-store engagement: Click and collect brings customers into your store and allows your store associates to engage directly with shoppers. If they have any questions about their order or other products, there’s a friendly face available to offer immediate assistance.

2. Reduced costs

Click and collect orders allow brands to utilize their existing footprint to fulfill online orders. This helps to improve margins since you’ll save on shipping costs.  Simply fulfill orders to your retail location and wait for customers to pick up their purchases. 

3. Increased sales

Click and collect brings customers into your store, giving them an opportunity to browse and make additional purchases. This can lead to impulse buys that boost your sales and increase revenue. By strategically placing high-margin items and promotions near the pickup area, retailers can encourage these unplanned purchases. Store associates can also use this time to upsell or cross-sell, further enhancing sales opportunities.

4. Enhanced inventory management

By leveraging existing inventory at retail locations, brands can optimize stock levels across multiple channels. This helps reduce excess inventory and minimizes the risk of stockouts, ensuring products are always available for customers.

5. Improved customer loyalty

Offering click and collect can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by providing a flexible shopping option that meets their needs. Customers appreciate the ability to quickly obtain their purchases without waiting for delivery, which can lead to repeat business and stronger brand loyalty.

6. Data collection and insights

Click and collect transactions provide valuable data on customer preferences and buying behaviors. By analyzing this data, brands can gain insights into which products are popular, peak shopping times, and customer preferences, enabling them to tailor their marketing strategies and improve overall operations.

7. Reduced returns

When customers pick up items in-store, they can check their purchases on the spot. This immediate opportunity to inspect goods can reduce the likelihood of returns, as customers can address any issues directly with store staff, leading to higher customer satisfaction and lower return rates.

Click and Collect Made Easy with NewStore

Click and collect is gaining traction. The more shoppers use this fulfillment option, the more they will expect it. 

As a retail brand, you need a flexible omnichannel system that allows shoppers to enjoy a seamless click and collect experience. NewStore can help you facilitate click and collect. Request a demo today.

Last updated on July 30th, 2024 at 01:31 pm

For some retail brands, undergoing an omnichannel transformation may seem daunting. This is especially true for brands that haven’t yet blurred their physical and digital shopping channels. While omnichannel transformations encompass many elements, one remains critical to achieving success: omnichannel inventory management. 

Today’s consumers toggle between many shopping channels, and mixed-cart transactions continue to rise in popularity. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for brands to invest in and optimize omnichannel inventory management.

Read below to learn how omnichannel inventory management helps brands drive full-scale omnichannel transformations.

We cover:

• What Is Omnichannel Inventory Management?
• Benefits of Omnichannel Inventory Management
• Challenges to Omnichannel Inventory Management 
• How to Optimize Omnichannel Inventory Management
• Omnichannel Inventory Management Helps Brands Win

What Is Omnichannel Inventory Management?

Omnichannel inventory management is a strategic approach to overseeing and controlling inventory across multiple sales channels seamlessly. It involves centralizing inventory data to ensure real-time visibility into stock levels across physical stores, online platforms, and other distribution channels. 

By synchronizing inventory levels and optimizing order routing and fulfillment processes, retail brands can provide customers with a consistent shopping experience regardless of the channel they choose. This approach also facilitates offering various fulfillment options such as ship-from-store and in-store pickup to enhance flexibility and convenience for customers. 

Benefits of Omnichannel Inventory Management

Investing in omnichannel inventory management offers several key benefits for retail brands.

Providing better inventory accuracy

Inventory accuracy, which measures inconsistencies between recorded and physical inventory, is key to providing seamless omnichannel shopping experiences. Consumers expect to see real-time product availability across all retail channels. 

They also want the option of ordering products through various channels. As a result, inventory accuracy leads to more order fulfillment and better customer satisfaction. It also helps with loss prevention by ensuring it accounts for each product.

Optimizing sales associates’ efficiency

Putting more data into the hands of sales associates better equips them to do their jobs. Staff that has access to inventory management tools can guide in-store shoppers directly to their preferred products. 

Sales associates can also cross-sell and upsell other pieces of available stock. The clienteling data that inventory management yields helps associates better anticipate customers’ demands, especially for top-selling items.

Lowering amounts of excess stock

With strong inventory management platforms, brands can lower amounts of excess stock. They can also only order the exact amounts of items they need from the manufacturer. 

If a product isn’t selling well, the platform will flag that information. Staff members can then adjust their purchasing accordingly. Stores can also transfer inventory between locations to achieve more optimal stock levels.

Enhancing the sell-through rate of full-price products

Sell-through rate calculates the amount of inventory a retailer sells as it relates to the number of items purchased from the manufacturer. Brands frequently examine their sell-through rates to ensure they hit their sales goals. 

Brands that invest in inventory management platforms can calculate more accurate sell-through rates. This helps them identify which products are selling well and which are not meeting sales goals. Sell-through rates can also help forecast trends if a particular item is exceeding expectations.

Minimizing costs and shrinkage

Brands that deploy inventory management tools can gain a more holistic understanding of their ordering strategies. The tools can help uncover inventory shrinkage, find opportunities for tax write-offs, and more effectively manage inventory turnover. This enables brands to maintain better liquidity.

Elevating the customer experience

Not only does inventory accuracy enhance in-store experiences for customers, but it also improves the post-shopping experience. When stores can track and allocate orders in real time, they can then fulfill the orders promptly and send them to customers more quickly. Inventory accuracy also reduces the potential for errors in labeling and shipping orders.

And even more importantly, it gives shoppers more control over how they would like to receive their orders. If a nearby store or warehouse has the purchased items in stock, customers can use buy online, pickup in store or reserve online, pickup in store options to retrieve them at their leisure.

Challenges to Omnichannel Inventory Management 

While omnichannel inventory management offers numerous benefits, it also presents several challenges that brands must navigate effectively.

Maintaining accurate inventory visibility 

Maintaining accurate and real-time visibility of inventory across multiple channels can be challenging, particularly without the right technology. Discrepancies in inventory data between different systems or locations can lead to stockouts, overselling, and customer dissatisfaction.

Fulfillment and returns complexity

Fulfilling orders from multiple channels while optimizing inventory allocation and fulfillment routes adds complexity to logistics operations. Balancing inventory levels across warehouses, distribution centers, and stores requires sophisticated algorithms and efficient processes.

Likewise, managing returns across multiple channels poses challenges in terms of processing, restocking, and reconciling inventory. Different return policies and procedures for online and offline channels add complexity to reverse logistics operations.

Integration of systems and technologies

Integrating diverse systems and technologies, such as inventory management software, POS systems, and ecommerce platforms, requires seamless data exchange and interoperability. Compatibility issues and data silos can hinder operational efficiency and data accuracy.

Inventory storage costs

Maintaining inventory across multiple channels incurs additional holding costs, including storage, insurance, and depreciation expenses. Optimizing inventory levels to minimize holding costs while ensuring product availability is a delicate balance.

Customer expectations

Customers expect consistent and seamless experiences across all channels, including product availability, fulfillment options, and returns processes. Failing to meet these expectations can result in lost sales, negative reviews, and damaged brand reputation.

How to Optimize Omnichannel Inventory Management

Consolidating inventory data into a single platform will help you achieve a competitive advantage. By investing in omnichannel inventory management, you can significantly improve the shopping experience, while also minimizing costs. 

Implement inventory synchronization

Inventory management platforms maintain accurate records of all goods across all channels. This allows retail brands to leverage cycle counting to pinpoint any discrepancies and ensure stores display all available products. Brands can also ensure they are making necessary adjustments for missing or damaged items.

Utilize demand forecasting

Use historical sales data, market trends, and other relevant factors to forecast demand accurately. This helps in optimizing inventory levels and reducing the risk of overstocking or understocking. With accurate forecasting, retail brands can strategically transfer products between locations to match varying supply and demand. 

Optimize order routing

Having an accurate view of inventory will allow brands to develop intelligent algorithms or rules to route orders to the most appropriate fulfillment location based on factors such as inventory availability, proximity to the customer, and cost-effectiveness. This will get shipments to customers faster, while reducing costs and promoting sustainability. 

Offer multiple fulfillment and return options 

Provide customers with various fulfillment options such as ship-from-store, in-store pickup, and curbside pickup to optimize inventory utilization and enhance the customer experience.

It’s almost important to develop a standardized returns process that allows customers to return items purchased online to physical stores and vice versa. This ensures a consistent and hassle-free experience for customers across all channels.

Leverage a mobile point of sale

A mobile point of sale (mPOS) is crucial for omnichannel inventory management success. With a mPOS brands can fulfill orders more efficiently and provide a superior customer experience. Additionally, leveraging POS data for inventory management enables retail brands to gain valuable insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and inventory performance, empowering them to make data-driven decisions.

Monitor and analyze performance metrics 

To be successful, it’s critical to regularly monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as inventory turnover rate, sell-through rate, and order fulfillment time. By analyzing these metrics to identify areas for improvement, brands can optimize inventory management strategies accordingly.

Omnichannel Inventory Management Helps Brands Win

Faherty Brand’s Global Operations Lead Mark Engebretson recently discussed the symbiotic relationship between inventory management and omnichannel success in an interview for the Endless Aisle podcast. 

According to Mark, strong inventory management helps brands meet customers however – and wherever – they prefer to shop. It also mitigates any potential supply chain challenges, which impacts brands’ ability to serve customers worldwide. Mark also emphasized how inventory management tools enable brands to keep track of serialized inventory. Most importantly, he discussed the tool’s ability to save sales associates time, so they can spend more time assisting customers.

Ultimately, by investing in omnichannel inventory management, brands can take a big step forward into their omnichannel transformation journeys.

To learn more about how a single inventory management solution can fuel your brand’s omnichannel transformation, check out NewStore’s Inventory Management fact sheet and speak with one of our experts today.

Last updated on August 5th, 2024 at 01:18 pm

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While many different technologies help drive omnichannel retail, RFID technology is uniquely positioned to streamline both retailers’ and customers’ experiences. Thanks to its ability to track products in real time, RFID technology can significantly enhance inventory accuracy on the retailer side while facilitating easy in-store checkouts for shoppers. It also assists with loss prevention and returns fraud, among other features – which are revolutionizing the retail sector.

RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification, lets brands track products from their initial shipment to the point of purchase. RFID technology leverages wireless communication and electromagnetic coupling to give an item a unique identifier. This identifier then becomes an RFID tag that brands can link to particular products, in lieu of a barcode. With many retailers attempting to streamline their physical and digital shopping channels to maintain a more accurate overview of their inventory and create better in-store experiences for customers, RFID technology is rapidly rising in popularity.

Kris Barton, Senior Director of Market Development at Avery Dennison, discussed RFID’s transformative impact on retail operations during an Endless Aisle podcast episode with Marcus LaRobardiere, NewStore’s Vice President of Marketing. During their conversation, Kris and Marcus explored how brands can leverage RFID technology to glean more valuable data, improve inventory management, and provide product authentication.

Read below to learn more about how RFID technology is enhancing omnichannel retail, and listen to the full podcast episode here.

How RFID Technology IDs Retail Gaps

RFID technology’s access to real-time data enables those who leverage it to identify gaps across retail operations and inventory management practices. By giving retailers insight into these analytics, the technology can help reveal any supply chain issues, as well as consumer demand for certain products.

“The interesting thing is when people ask, ‘what does RFID do?’” Kris said. “The short answer is it tells you where your problems are. I tell people, ‘RFID doesn’t fix your problems, but it helps you see your problems.’

“I often talk about it like a flashlight in the corner,” Kris continued. “Everything looks fine over there. You put the flashlight [on] and you’re like, ‘Look at all that dust.’ What RFID does is allow you to collect a lot of data in a very precise fashion in a very fast period of time. Now you have the ability to react to real-time data.”

Kris also detailed how a variety of industries are taking advantage of RFID technology’s many benefits – not only the apparel sector.

“Apparel remains the largest penetrated group for item-level RFID,” Kris said. “But there’s a lot of other activity going on in pharmaceuticals. There’s a lot of stuff going on in aerospace, in automotive, and other industrial settings. We’re seeing these other areas see the benefits of RFID and leverage that technology to handle the gaps they’ve got.”

RFID’s Impact on Inventory Accuracy 

RFID technology is widely recognized for equipping retailers with better inventory insights. This results in retailers being able to make more informed decisions on stock levels across their locations and the types of products they carry. Inventory accuracy also helps minimize overstocking, which can significantly impact a brand’s sell-through rate.

“When I think about a typical retail environment, the inventory accuracy is going to be in the neighborhood of 65 to 70% accurate,” Kris said. “That doesn’t mean [retailers] think they have 100 items and only have 65 items across the entire store. What it means is…if you think you have five [items] and you only have four, that’s inaccurate. If you think you have five and you have six, that’s inaccurate.

“So when you are trying to capture data, it becomes a bit more tricky…like, ‘hey, what can I promise to the consumer in terms of online sales?’”

Investing in technology that yields better inventory accuracy is also helpful for companies that measure their inventory on an infrequent basis.

“Typically, retailers will do inventory once or twice a year,” Kris said. “It’s very expensive, so they don’t want to do it very often. A lot of times, they’ll do it in periods where they’ve got the lower level of inventory so that it takes them less [time] to count. But ultimately, over time, that inventory will degrade. 

“The ability to collect this data and make better decisions is really driving RFID across the board.”

How RFID Technology Reduces Returns Fraud

Another use case of RFID technology that’s growing in popularity is returns fraud. Once products receive their unique identifier, it becomes more challenging for individuals to engage in returns fraud and attempt to collect a refund or store credit for an item they didn’t purchase.

“Inventory accuracy is at the heart of almost every installation we do,” Kris said. “But some other use cases have emerged. Combining a digital ID with the garment that gives that EPC value, which is basically a serialized version of the SKU – some representation at the point of sale – is a big unlock. 

“Most retailers are utilizing a linear barcode,” Kris continued. “You’re checking out at the SKU level, not at that particular item level. So somebody brings something in – it’s another one of this particular SKU…did they buy it? You don’t know. They don’t have a receipt.

“You give them store credit. You don’t know that might have been a shrink incident. So if you have that as a 2D barcode and you’re matching that with the EPC and ringing out at that level, now you know this item has been purchased or it’s not been purchased. Returns fraud is an area that we’re seeing grow very quickly with several different retailers.”

Enhancing Checkout Experiences with RFID Technology

In addition to reducing returns fraud, one of the fastest-growing use cases of RFID technology revolves around in-store checkout experiences.

“The other one that’s been growing a lot would be self-checkout or assisted checkout,” Kris said. “We’ve all been to stores, especially during peak season, [where] queue lines are long. I could [take] all my items and put them in a basket; it rings it all up, shows it on a display. I swipe my credit card, and I’m out the door in 30 seconds.”

This method of line busting can serve as a major incentive for retailers seeking to enhance their in-store shopping experiences. They can also invest in mobile point-of-sale (POS) systems equipped with RFID technology. These solutions allow customers to check out from any point in the store using contactless payment methods, like Tap to Pay on iPhone.

Additionally, brands can use RFID technology to offer product authentication and information – such as details about the materials found within the item. If the item is sustainably made, retailers can promote that as a selling point for environmentally-savvy shoppers.

“We’re seeing some other things around product authentication,” Kris said. “If I get a digital ID, I can do consumer engagement things through a QR code and look at the origins of this or the production methodology, the material makeup – all the sustainability things people are starting to become more focused on.”

More Data = Better Omnichannel Practices

Ultimately, retailers that can collect and leverage more data will be better positioned to upgrade their omnichannel practices. With so many brands offering both digital and physical shopping options these days, the ability to more accurately manage their supply chains will streamline retail operations, reduce extraneous costs, and enhance their customers’ shopping experiences.

“The people that can have the data better in a faster period are going to be able to react better and make the right decisions,” Kris said. “Their costs are going to go down. Loss prevention is becoming a huge piece, in the U.S. especially. I also think it’s going to allow people to be a little leaner in their supply chains because they’re going to know, ‘Hey, I can ship this down here and know that when it’s gone, I can replenish faster.’”

Companies must also realize that omnichannel now plays a crucial role in retail operations – and data-driven solutions like RFID technology can truly revolutionize the sales journey for staff and customers alike.

“Omnichannel has been around for a while, but people still call it omnichannel, and to me, it’s called retail,” Kris said. “If you’re not doing omnichannel, you’re not doing retail.

“This is something everybody talks about – how do I do omnichannel? Why do I need RFID to do omnichannel?” Kris continued. “You need RFID because you need to do retail. And being omnichannel enabled is part of table stakes right now.”

“You can’t do good retail without good information about what you have and getting all those benefits that you see with RFID every day.”

To learn more about how your business can take advantage of omnichannel data, speak to one of our experts today.

Last updated on July 30th, 2024 at 01:35 pm

For retail brands trying to unlock value from their physical store locations, herein lies the opportunity. With no signs of slowing down, retail brands can leverage their physical spaces to support ecommerce distribution and execute rapid fulfillment.

The average consumer wants two things: fast order fulfillment and convenient fulfillment options. It’s a precedent set by Amazon and driven by the convenience economy – consumers expect products and services in real-time and on-demand.

In this article, discuss ship from store and what you need to know about this omnichannel fulfillment strategy. 

What Is Ship From Store?

Ship from store refers to the retail fulfillment strategy where a brand uses its physical store locations as distribution centers for fulfilling online orders. Instead of relying solely on centralized warehouses or distribution centers, the retail brand utilizes inventory from its various brick-and-mortar stores to fulfill customer orders placed online.

Benefits of Ship From Store

Embracing the shift towards leveraging physical stores for online fulfillment is not just a strategy—it’s a necessity for staying relevant and competitive in the ever-evolving retail landscape. Retail brands that do not provide a ship from store option will find themselves at a huge competitive disadvantage. Traditional retail fulfillment models using warehouse-only fulfillment are simply no longer viable for the long term.

Below, we breakdown the key benefits of ship from store.

Never lose a sale

If inventory exists in the retail chain, there needs to be a way to get it to the customer. Your customers aren’t thinking about what is happening behind the scenes. Frankly, they probably don’t care so long as they get what they want. That’s why it’s so important to enable the sale of any item, whether at your store, another store, a warehouse, or a distribution center (DC). 

Satisfy the customer

One-day and two-day delivery is becoming the norm, but that is still time a product spends in transit versus in your customers’ hands. With ship from store, you have the ability to pick a fulfillment location that is closest to your customer. If you have a widely distributed physical footprint, this could mean a store is closer than your distribution center. 

Greater stock availability

Distribution centers tend to be wide with inventory, but not very deep. They stock every size and color variant produced, but don’t have an infinite amount of units. On the other hand, stores usually stock products to cater to their geographic region. Stock usually reflects local trends and buying habits and is, therefore, more likely to align with what consumers want. 

Lower cost of inventory

It is expensive to maintain inventory at a physical location, not to mention space within a store is sacred. However, you’ll never be stuck with aged inventory – which is a margin risk – if you can optimize it with the most productive products and distribute it to your online buyers.

Lower shipping costs

Shipping costs are the number one consideration for online shoppers. USPS found that 51% of shoppers always choose the cheapest shipping option. But things like free shipping can be a burden to retail brands, especially in the many instances where faster delivery is also expected. You can mitigate the high costs by shipping across the fewest transit zones, especially when utilizing an order management system with automated smart routing.

Avoid markdowns

Perhaps there was a merchandising mistake, or maybe demand shifted mid-season. Either way, every retailer wants to sell inventory at full price. So, how can you move products and avoid markdowns? You can do so by incorporating store inventory into your web assortment and routing from stores that are about to markdown so the margin is not lost.

Ship From Store Challenges

Here’s an overview of the common challenges that retail brands may encounter when adopting a ship from store fulfillment model.

Difficulty managing inventory accuracy

You’ll need to maintain real-time inventory accuracy across stores and online platforms.

The inherent discrepancies arising from in-store sales, returns, or tracking system errors necessitate robust systems for precise inventory management.

Requires technology updates

You will need an omnichannel order management solution to ensure seamless integration between online and in-store technology channels. Legacy technology will not be able to support a successful ship from store fulfillment strategy.

Can impact store layout

Adapting store layouts to accommodate fulfillment needs without disrupting the in-store shopping experience can be a logistical challenge. Efficient organization becomes essential to streamline the process, necessitating careful consideration of traffic flow, storage capacity, and accessibility for both customers and staff.

Necessitates staff training

Continuous staff training is vital for maintaining high efficiency in picking and packing processes, especially during peak order periods. As technology evolves and processes are optimized, ensuring that store staff stays updated and proficient is an ongoing challenge that requires consistent investment in training programs.

Can impact customer satisfaction

You must meet customer expectations for fast and accurate delivery. Delays, errors, or communication gaps can result in customer dissatisfaction.

How Retail Brands Can Ship From Store

Ship from store isn’t without its operational considerations. Here are a few of the things you should think about to make ship from store as valuable of an omnichannel fulfillment strategy as possible.

Empower your store staff

You must have the staff to handle pick, pack, and ship activities. These employees must also be motivated to perform tasks not as directly connected to sales numbers. Fulfillment requires a different mindset than selling, so make sure you have the right store team in place to manage every aspect of the job.

Inventory accuracy

Store merchandise is traditionally planned, allocated, and replenished based on historical sales. Now with store fulfillment, buy online return in-store (BORIS) and endless aisle, you’ll need to rethink your approach. There needs to be a balance between inventory for “walk-in” customers and that in which you’re fulfilling from the web.

Brands need clear inventory visibility, and it takes a well-defined process, training, diligence, and the right software.

Ship from store aligns supply with demand, but only if you have a single view of all supply sources – web, warehouses, distribution centers, other stores, and third-party suppliers – and all demand sources, including orders and carts across channels.

Invest in a flexible order management system

You will need a flexible order management system to determine the most efficient fulfillment location based on factors like proximity to the customer, stock availability, and shipping costs. With an omnichannel fulfillment solution you can adapt to changing conditions and prioritize customer satisfaction.

Attribution

Who gets credit for the sale if it’s bought online but fulfilled in-store? A similar question arises at the store level when a commission is involved. You’ll need to do what’s best for your brand, but remember a sale is a sale – as long as it doesn’t go to your competitor.

Store readiness

Your stores will need to present direct-to-consumer shipments in the same way as a distribution center. This will likely require incremental supplies, new processes, and corporate oversight. Ensure that physical stores have the necessary supplies and staff is trained to use these materials efficiently and follow standardized packaging guidelines. Also, you’ll want to ensure you have enough physical space to be able to successfully fulfill ship from store orders.

Efficient picking and packing

Think like a warehouse to optimize picking and packing and make store fulfillment tasks more productive. With batch picking (also known as wave picking) associates walk through the store to pick multiple orders at once versus picking orders one at a time. Forward picking is also helpful – dedicate a special place in your backroom for commonly ordered or “hot” items to save your pickers time. 

Omnichannel Fulfillment Requires Ship From Store

Many retail brands are already putting their physical stores at the heart of fulfillment and delivery.

NewStore customer Outdoor Voices is modernizing its customer experience in a similar way. With 99% inventory accuracy thanks to RFID labeling, the brand has a real-time view as to what items can ship from different stores. Store associates can then efficiently accept the request and fulfill the order from an iPhone, getting it out to the customer much more quickly than if a warehouse sent it or if it was fulfilled in-store via a clunky computer system.

Ship from store offers the speed and options consumers expect. Even more, it increases store productivity and inventory turns and drives store traffic through pick-up orders. Simply put, it’s a must if you want to survive today’s modern retail world.

Check out NewStore’s omnichannel store fulfillment solution.

Last updated on July 25th, 2024 at 04:57 pm

In today’s competitive marketplace, retail brands must battle for consumers’ attention and wallet share. This is especially challenging among ecommerce giants that offer a plethora of products and convenient shopping options. As a result, many brands may opt to increase their inventory to attract more consumers. However, to keep turning a profit, brands must ensure they maintain a favorable sell-through rate. 

Below, we cover how maximizing sell-through rate can help brands benefit from better inventory accuracy and a more efficient supply chain.

In this article, we cover:

• What Is Sell-Through Rate?
• How To Calculate Sell-Through Rate
• Why Sell-Through Rate Matters
• How Inventory Visibility Impacts Sell-Through Rates
• Why Sell-Through Rate Is an Important Metric

What Is Sell-Through Rate?

Sell-through rate refers to the amount of inventory a brand sells relative to the number of products bought from the manufacturer. 

Brands with favorable sell-through rates can treat those as indication that their sales performance is strong. Those with lower rates may want to review their marketing tactics and inventory management to understand where they can make changes.

The ranges for sell-through rates can fluctuate based on market trends and seasonal products. For instance, if customer demand for a certain type of item is extremely high due to a specific trend, or shoppers clamor to buy particular products during the holiday season, those factors can drive up the brand’s sell-through rate.

How To Calculate Sell-Through Rate

To calculate sell-through rate, you divide the number of products sold by the number of products purchased from the manufacturer. Then, multiply that number by one hundred. That percentage is the sell-through rate.

Many brands calculate sell-through rates on a monthly basis to ensure they stay on track to hit sales goals. This then provides companies with multiple benchmarks to review at the end of the year, which they can use to determine whether sell-through rates fluctuate at certain times.

Retail brands seeking a strong sell-through rate should aim for 80% or above. However, according to a study conducted by Coresight Research, non-grocery retailers typically hover around a 60% sell-through rate for full-price products. 

Why Sell-Through Rate Matters

Sell-through rates help brands balance supply and demand. If you purchase too many products from manufacturers, you will have lots of leftover stock. This will then eat into profit margins and increase storage fees. 

On the flip side, brands that purchase too few products will not meet shoppers’ demands and may end up losing them to a competitor. Retail brands that effectively monitor their sell-through rates will stand a much better chance at ensuring their longevity. 

A strong sell-through rate help brands:

• Reduce markdown losses: Brands typically mark down items that are not selling well. If you order the right amount of inventory from the get-go, you won’t need to sell as many products at a price reduction.
• Cut storage costs: Maintaining stock in brick-and-mortar locations is expensive, and brands do not want excess inventory collecting space where new products can live. By achieving a favorable sell-through rate, brands can ensure they use their physical retail space efficiently.
• Manage inventory: Inventory management is critical for any brand, particularly those with omnichannel shopping options. Examining the sell-through rate helps brands determine which products are selling well and which aren’t. The findings will help inform stocking needs and may also forecast future trends.
• Develop metrics for success: Brands can aim to surpass their sales targets by measuring their sell-through rate. To achieve a strong rate, you will need to identify opportunities to operate in a more strategic manner. This could mean swapping manufacturers or tweaking inventory to strive for a better rate.

How to Improve Sell-Through Rate

Improving sell-through rate involves a combination of strategic planning, efficient operations, and effective marketing tactics. Here are several strategies you can consider:

Understand your customer

Understanding your target audience, their preferences, behaviors, and purchasing patterns can help improve your sell-through rate. Use tools to gather data on customer demographics, shopping habits, and product preferences. This insight will help you tailor your inventory and marketing strategies accordingly.

Clienteling, a modern customer service technique that allows brands to build long-lasting relationships with customers, can help you gain next-level customer data. By understanding individual customer preferences, purchase history, and needs, brands can engage customers on a more personal level and drive sales.

Enhance product presentation and store layout

For your online store, invest in high-quality product photography and compelling product descriptions to showcase your offerings effectively. Provide detailed information about features, benefits, and usage instructions. Optimize product listings for search engines and e-commerce platforms to improve visibility and attract more potential customers.

In-store, it’s important to place high-demand or featured products in prominent locations to immediately capture customer attention. You’ll also want to implement a logical and intuitive store layout that facilitates easy navigation and minimizes congestion, allowing customers to browse comfortably and efficiently. Regularly update product displays and arrangements to showcase new arrivals, seasonal promotions, and complementary items, keeping the store fresh and engaging for repeat visitors.

Enable endless aisle shopping

Endless aisle technology lets store associates access and sell inventory from a variety of distribution centers and locations. It also offers insight into real-time inventory so they can view the full product catalog across the enterprise.

With endless aisle, store associates can help customers make purchases if their desired items aren’t available in a particular location. For instance, if a shopper wants to buy a shirt not available at their nearest store, an associate can leverage endless aisle technology to check if a nearby distribution center or store location carries the item. If the item is available in another location, the store associate can complete the sale on the spot and ship the item directly to the customer. This allows brands to fulfill orders from a variety of locations, while saving sales. 

Leverage store fulfillment options

Brands seeking to move inventory from brick-and-mortar stores can offer customers a variety of store fulfillment options. Store fulfillment allows brands to complete and ship orders from their physical locations. Customers can then retrieve their orders by choosing from buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS), curbside pickup, or ship-from-store options. This clears more space for new inventory. Additionally, shoppers who come in to pick up their order may make a purchase, further increasing the sell-through rate.

Offer retail promotions

Brands can also achieve a better sell-through rate by effectively leveraging retail promotions. Certain types of tactics, like percentage discounts, enable them to move inventory that’s not selling well by advertising a percentage off a certain item or an order threshold. Percentage discounts may also fuel sales from inactive shoppers, motivating them to make impromptu purchases due to the limited-time deal.

Brands with excess inventory that need to sell more units can use tactics such as tiered promotions, buy one get one (BOGO) deals, and other bundling opportunities. These all encourage shoppers to purchase more products in one transaction and are especially useful for selling complementary products – such as socks and shoes – or items with expiration dates or shorter shelf lives.

How Inventory Visibility Impacts Sell-Through Rates

Brands must maintain up-to-date supply chain information so they can attain a favorable sell-through rate. Inventory visibility refers to the practice of tracking the movement of inventory throughout the sales cycle in real time.

This gives retailers important data on sales, stock levels, and product demand. The data then enables them to make more informed choices related to inventory management. Some of these decisions may include forecasting demand for certain items and avoiding overselling or underselling inventory.

Additionally, inventory visibility can empower store associates to cross-sell or upsell various products. Store associates can also leverage the visibility to drive purchases of current inventory before the retailer buys additional items from manufacturers.

To improve their sell-through rates, brands can invest in solutions like omnichannel order management systems and RFID technology. 

An omnichannel order management system captures all customer, inventory, and order data in one platform. It also lets retailers engage in more efficient operations by managing all inventory across the enterprise. They can enable item-level order routing based on availability, location, and fulfillment capacity.

Meanwhile, RFID technology allows brands to track inventory from initial shipment to point of purchase via wireless communication. This ensures a high level of inventory accuracy and supply chain visibility, as they can access real-time data on sales and stock levels at any time and from any location.

Why Sell-Through Rate Is an Important Metric

Ultimately, setting – and then exceeding – sales goals is key to any retailer’s success. Sell-through rates help brands identify their supply chain’s effectiveness. They also assist brands with standing out in a competitive marketplace. 

A favorable sell-through rate indicates that a brand is accurately purchasing top-selling products from manufacturers. A low sell-through rate demonstrates that brands may need to dig into why their inventory is moving slowly.

The good news is that lower sell-through rates are fixable – if retailers are willing to invest in solutions like inventory visibility and omnichannel order management. These solutions will support faster inventory turnover, which will subsequently enhance retailers’ bottom lines.

Interested in learning how your business can improve its sell-through rate? Speak with one of our experts today.