Using accurate data to reallocate inventory enables you to stock the right products for the right customers at all the right moments. The payoff? Increased full-priced sales across your chain, better efficiency, and happier customers.
To understand the impact of inventory reallocation, imagine a customer who enters your store looking for a new kind of soft drink. You normally stock the drink, but you just ran out. Surprised, the customer claims your other store always has plenty of the drinks in stock.
The customer is on to something.
Maybe you should shift some inventory from that store to yours. After all, if the other location is overloaded with the drinks it probably won't sell them all.
Evidence-based inventory reallocation can help you avoid missed sales opportunities like this one, which is why it's a fundamental part of all AccuStore retail store surveys.
Our survey teams will help you:
- Identify overstocked and understocked products
- Pinpoint opportunities to shift inventory among locations
- Rebalance existing inventory to avoid overbuying
- Rethink visual merchandising practices to move products from shelves
- Implement processes that link inventory allocation to customer demand
Fixing inventory misallocation helps you do a lot more than sell more soft drinks to thirsty patrons (although it can help with that, too). Retailers using data to shift inventory among stores enjoy a variety of benefits, namely:
Reduced need for promotions and clearance sales: Overstocked products lead to excess inventory, and excess inventory means more markdowns and slimmer profit margins. What if you could stock more products at the locations where those products sell well – and fewer at the locations where they don't? You wouldn't have to slash costs as often, and your balance sheet would thank you.
More efficient inventory flow: When you purchase more than you're able to sell, it pays – literally – to move excess inventory to the locations where people will buy it. After all, reallocating what you have is a lot less expensive than purchasing additional products. Over time, reduced costs for you will lower costs for customers, too. Speaking of customers…
Better customer experiences: The more often customers find what they're looking for, the more likely they are to frequent your places of business. Intelligent inventory allocation makes it easier for customers shop, and they might just become lifelong champions of your brand.
Discovering opportunities to reallocate inventory is a key part of our professional onsite survey methodology. Let AccuStore take your stores from inventory confusion to an allocation that increases sales and pleases customers. Contact us today to get started!