This blogpost outlines the importance of effective stock management, and how Archean from Retail247 improves our clients’ stock management practices.
Why stock management is so important
We could talk forever about why stock management is so important… Instead, we’ve narrowed it down to our top 3 reasons:
- Customer Satisfaction: Some retailers underestimate the importance of effective stock management. Without it, retailers risk leaving customers unsatisfied. For example, if your stock is only 70% accurate, 3 out of 10 customers are going to be unhappy when they realise that actually, the jumper they wanted to buy is not in stock after all. We can all relate to how frustrating this can be! By implementing a strong stock management solution, retailers can ensure stock figures are accurate in head office, online and in-store. In turn, this delivers a much more satisfying customer experience.
- Simplifies In-Store Operations: A modular stock solution like Archean (from Retail247) can also simplify in-store operations. It’s not just about satisfying your customers, but your employees too! Archean Move reduces the time for stock receipting by 70%, meaning your in-store staff can spend more time on the shop floor, and less time in the stock room.
- Improves Profitability: Effective stock management ensures strategic allocation and timely replenishment. Leveraging accurate data for stock allocation and replenishment allows businesses to maintain a competitive advantage and meet customer expectations. Allocating and replenishing stock based on accurate data means that stock will be in the best place to achieve a high full-price sell through.
Common mistakes retailers make when it comes to stock management
Without a stock management system, it’s very easy for retailers to mis-manage their inventory and slip into bad habits. These can include:
- Overstocking and/or understocking: Sending the same type and amount of stock to all stores does not work – every store and customer is different.
- Inefficient replenishment processes: This can include sending stores the wrong amount of stock, having them do lengthy processes to receipt the stock, and over complicating store-to-store transfers.
- Out of date stock data: If retailers are only seeing an updated stock figure at the end of each trading day, how do they know what’s available to sell to their customers?
- Not having a stock management system: Why not make it easy? Use a stock management system to manage all of your stock data activities.
Archean from Retail247
Archean can be deployed to address many different business challenges, but its main purpose is to be a high performance central stock engine capable of managing all stock affecting activity and to be the system of record for stock data.
The best example of how we’ve deployed Archean is at Crew Clothing, where we are now the prime system for stock. We track all stock changes across multiple definable stock states, and have deployed Archean across all Crew Clothing stores for stock receipting, stock transfer and stock adjustments. Archean also manages replenishment and allocation.
Implementation can be done in a number of ways. We can layer capability onto existing infrastructure, or we can be the single system of stock record. The journey at Crew Clothing delivered early benefit, increasing efficiency and reducing space in their distribution centre, before a phased deployment to all areas of the business. In its simplest form, Archean is quick to deploy, dependent on integration capabilities of any 3rd party systems.
What makes Archean different?
We have built a platform which enables us to quickly configure multiple stock transactions and processes. We can define unique transaction types, with each transaction having definable stages. Each stage can also affect multiple stock states in configurable ways. As well as being hugely flexible, Archean is also extremely scalable. This approach with an ERP, on the other hand, would be difficult, taking months and at a vast cost.
To learn more about Archean, browse more of our blog posts, or email archean@retail247.com.
