This cannot, however, mean just bringing in new products, leading to an ever-increasing stock valuation and more shelving every week. No, instead we should be looking more closely at the wonderful data that our epos systems can provide, such as which products are experiencing a decline in sales, or just not performing as well as they should.
Maintaining an up-to-date and balanced range is tricky, however, and the situation is further complicated when availability issues come into play as a result of temporary unavailability and wholesaler delistings. Then, of course, there are plain out-of-stocks, which in turn lead to poor availability in stores and frustrated shoppers. This often happens with new launches yet surely if you have spent millions launching a new product you would ensure you had plenty of stock?
As retailers we are to a certain degree at the mercy of manufacturers and wholesalers with regards to their stocking and order levels.
I recently had a discussion with one of my chilled van sales suppliers who visited late one hot Saturday afternoon and had virtually nothing left. When I asked him why, he told me that he didn’t know it was going to be hot. I suggested he should have looked more closely at the forecast as it is a given that the weather has a huge influence on sales.
All this demonstrates the importance of clear working relationships and good communication within the supply chain to ensure good availability, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. The more we know our customers, the better we can serve them, and the same rule applies right up the supply chain.
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