Balancing high availability with minimized markdowns and wastage
Q: Allocation & Replenishment understands and considers the impact of potential markdowns and waste on every inventory decision it makes, and balances that with the availability that the retailer shows the customer. Q considers markdowns and waste not only in historical sales, but converts it into true demand forecasts which utilize local demand to decide how much inventory to place in each location to meet financial objectives and fulfill the demand appropriately.
The smarts //
Q can take in and analyze data as fast as the retailer can provide it – whether that’s hourly, daily, or multiple days at once. Q uses this understanding of sales, inventory positions and stock outs to create a very granular picture of demand and product behavior to determine what the appropriate inventory stock should be for each product in every store.
Rapid response //
Q enables 100% allocation of receipts and also allows retailers to optimize second or third drops of merchandise from second orders or small hold-back quantities. Q provides automated, granular analysis that gives retailers the power to respond rapidly if a product or location is failing to achieve its goals or has the ability to exceed them. It also makes it possible to respond to localization of demand and the impact that this will have on store specific size and color requirements. Because of this visibility and level of detail, Q is able to minimize markdowns and improve margins, while enabling more efficient, automated allocation and replenishment processes.
Efficient and profitable //
To place inventory in the most efficient and profitable way, merchants can define product objectives, like minimum stock and service levels, in simple terms with Q, which then evaluates those objectives by SKU and store for each inventory placement decision. This enables much more sophisticated, automated execution of SKU optimization – and superior demand insight to create rapid results.
