Stock Management v Stock Replenishment

Stock replenishment is hardly a new topic of conversation for retailers. It’s been tried, tested, optimized, and frankly, it’s not something that gets us very excited. Stock management, however (done right at least) is a topic we know more than a thing about and something we see every omnichannel retailer can benefit from improving. Shall we start with some definitions?

Setting The Stage

Before we go any further, let’s quickly just cover what stock replenishment is and what we define as stock management.

Stock replenishment

Stock replenishment is all about replacing sold stock in the best way possible. That means making sure you refill the shelves (including digital ones) at a pace and volume that meets predicted customer demand. Basically only put back what needs to be there, that way you can be as efficient with your capital held as stock at any given time.

Stock management

When we say ‘management’ we’re talking about optimizing the stock you have everywhere, not just in your replenishment warehouse that points to your various channels. That means that you can improve the accessibility of your stock to your customers, giving them more choice, greater opportunities for you to upsell, and so much more.

Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Unlocking Stock

If you’ve worked in retail for any amount of time, you’ll be familiar with stock being tied up in a particular location. This means that not only could you miss a sale, but you’re also paying for that stock when it isn’t delivering value. Being able to ‘unlock’ that stock is where stock management really comes into play.

Omnichannel operations mean you’re going to have stock tied up in store, but also in warehouses that feed your online presence – be it marketplaces or your own web store. That means you’re going to have a pretty strong stock footprint so that you can continue to fuel all those channels.

That’s certainly not a lean way to operate though… which is where ORP comes in. ORP (Omnichannel Retail Platform) can give you a true real-time view of your stock across all of your channels. Why does that matter? Well if you know that you have stock in store, sitting waiting for a keen customer to pick it up off the shelf, but at the same time you have a customer who has added that product to their basket in a web store, you need to connect that online customer with that brick-and-mortar stock.

ORP does that by bringing orders together from every stock location you have in the most efficient way possible. That could mean that a customer service agent in a store has to pick a couple of items, but that info can be pushed directly to a handheld device and will mean you never keep a customer elsewhere waiting.

Great for service, great for brand, and to the point of this blog – perfect for managing stock more efficiently. Want to manage your stock better than ever before and deliver to your customers quicker than they’ve seen? Contact Wolfpack today to find out how ORP can make that happen.

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