Are you in an inventory-driven business? If so, you recognize the importance of understanding trends at the beginning of their curve—to maximize profits and minimize losses. But what tools do you use to help you spot these trends?
Do you wait for orders to outpace typical inventory? On the flip side, for SKUs of declining popularity, do you look to inventory aging reports? The problem with both of these methods is that they are lagging indicators—by the time you spot them, it’s often later-than-optimal in the consumer purchasing cycle–and you are leaving money on the table, or locking it up in unsold goods. SKU management can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. Or, it can be your competitive advantage.
Capitalizing on explosive SKU trends
Consider the explosion of CBD-related products in the marketplace. Warehouses that stock these products saw hundreds to possibly thousands of new SKUs added to inventory. That level of complexity can make or break a warehouse and picking staff—and become a management nightmare.
The best way to capitalize on the opportunity that new SKUs represent is with real-time alerting—instead of traditional reporting.
Real-Time Business Intelligence Drives Bottom-Line Results
In distribution business where margins are tight it’s all about the “what ifs”:
- What if you get an email when inventory of a given SKU, or family of SKUs, exceeds or falls below a predetermined threshold?
- What if your sales team gets a text when an account’s order volume varied from normal?
- What if your shift manager receives a text when a picker went longer than 10 minutes between picks (or 3 minutes, or 45 seconds—you choose)?
- What if your buyer gets emails when a SKU goes out-of-stock more than twice in a week?
These are the kinds of insights that can make an immediate and dramatic impact on an inventory-driven business. A Business Intelligence (BI) solution that connects your existing inventory and picking systems is the key.
Ready to see your business in real-time? Let’s talk!