SKU SOS APPAREL EXECUTIVES SHARE THE STRATEGIES THEY’RE USING TO SOLVE TODAY’S MOST PRESSING INVENTORY ISSUES. LA U R E N PA R K E R
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he Rolling Stones’ most famous lyric aside, no customer wants to hear they can’t always get what they want. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, shoppers have been facing an unprecedented level of stockouts in some categories. Meanwhile, retailers are sitting on a glut of unsold goods in other areas thanks to shelter-in-place measures and work-from-home mandates. While the industry could be forgiven for the inability to manage inventory through a black swan event, the reality is fashion has long been plagued by a mismatch in supply and demand. Here, we’ve tapped industry leaders in inventory management to share how they’re overhauling their digital-first strategies, inventory visibility and demand planning to manage inventory volume and availability across channels.
FRANK BRACKEN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CEO OF NORTH AMERICA, FOOT LOCKER On what digital-first assortment planning means for his business: We have worked hard to build a true omni-view inventory— an inventory that is visible and committable regardless of where the item physically sits— especially over the past 24 months.
4 / 2021 INVENTORY REPORT
On improving inventory visibility: Most recently, we re-platformed our entire core retail system to focus on inventory and order brokering to benefit our customers. Essentially now, online transactions can pull from warehouse and store inventory and vice versa. There is no such thing as stranded inventory in our ecosystem. On the most useful information in demand planning beyond historical data: We are entering a new era of demand planning, inventory and supply chain management— all enabled by technology and integrated systems. The collective ecosystem that we create will include data sharing and inventory sharing, all of which will make our customers happy.
