Control its stocks and the availability of its products?

by | Jun 22, 2020 | Non classé

Linear lighting products. We see a tidy stock, no break, a self-service stock and a very readable face.

Inventory management: definition and issues 

The acquisition and storage of inventory represents a significant cost to businesses. This is why it is essential to ensure the sustainability of the company, to have good inventory management. To do this, the company must determine:

  • when to stock up
  • quantities to buy

This management is essential to meet all customer requests.

Avoid under-storage

If the stock is not large enough, we are talking about stock outages or undersupery. If the company has a product not available at a sale, a stock outage has a negative impact on the service rate. This can result in a loss of the company’s customers and buyers, who turn to competition.

This product is out of stock in Caen whereas usually there are at least ten pieces per store.

Avoid overstocking

Maintaining too high a level of products entails very high costs (Logistics, fixed assets …) that weigh heavily in operating accounts. In addition, poorly controlled volumes create a risk of becoming obsolete or aging poorly.

The map shows a store that has ten times more inventory than the neighbouring stores. A surstock that will take up space at the expense of other products in the store. It is also the risk of causing disruptions in the chain’s other stores.

How do you manage your inventory?

Safety and alert threshold.

Safety threshold (SS): it aims to avoid stock outage. It is a minimum amount to hold to meet demand. When the safety threshold is reached, the command point is triggered if no Alert Threshold (SA) is set. To be effective, the security threshold must take into account resupply times. The longer the delay, the higher the security stock and vice versa.

Warning threshold (SA): it is the stock that triggers the order, it is equal to minimum stock – security stock.  Minimum stock (SM): it is the stock that corresponds to sales during delivery times. For example, a supplier asks for a week of delivery. If the sales of an item are 20 pieces per week, that is the minimum stock. If the store orders with only 15 pieces left, it will be out of stock before the end of the week.

The distribution of your stocks …

To better track your stored products, Retail Shake geolocates your inventory. You can see on the map, those that are present in each store. To get better visibility, you can filter according to your needs (product breaking or less than such number of parts).

Screenshot of our Eglo Townshend suspension tool. You can see the amount of inventory of this product in each store.

You are alerted in real time to the quantity and value of your inventory as well as the stores that are out of order. This information is indicated for each product.

Screenshot of our tools to know the stocks and stock values of each of your products.

Retail Shake helps you locate your inventory, detect any breaks or those that are left. You are then master in your decisions: delivery arbitrages, stock balances in a geographical area, destocking or reverse logistics.

To find out where your products are distributed, we invite you to read this article: But where are your products?!? 

Do you want to optimize your ranges, make the right decisions quickly and have a real-time photo of your competitive space?

Ask for a demo

The essentials to know about your rate watch.

by | May 28, 2020 | Non classé

Before starting a definition of tariff watch.

Tariff watching is a technique that allows a company, distributor or brand to regularly or continuously monitor the prices charged by its competitors in the market.

The importance of tariff watch for a company.

Today, it is important for distributors and brands to remain competitive. To do this, you need to know how to adjust your pricing policy on the products they market. And whatever the distribution channel, whether in-store or via the Internet. In other words, in order to make the right decisions, brands must constantly monitor tariffs, to monitor the evolution of the prices charged by distributors of their products. Distributors, on the other hand, must monitor the prices charged by their competing brands.

Tariff watching is therefore essential to develop its business strategy more effectively.

The 6 stages of the tariff watch:

  1. Defining the competitive perimeter
  2. Data collection
  3. Product matching
  4. Analysis
  5. Decision-making
  6. Moving into action

Step 1 out of 6: Definition of tariff scope

The first step in the tariff watch is to define its tariff scope. Retail Shake lets you track the brands you’re interested in. All you have to do is click the “SUIVRE” button.

Follow a sign (here the Castorama sign) with the Retail Shake tool

Step 2 out of 6: Data collection

Retail Shake offers smart pricing watch. Our robots scan the product pages of its customers and competitors on the internet in real time. Our solution scans 2,699 brands and retailers.

For example, the photo below shows the product sheets of a Seynave suspension in 6 brands: Leroy Merlin Italy, Leroy Merlin France, Weldom and Brico. 

The product sheets of a Seynave suspension in the Retail Shake tool.

Step 3 out of 6: Product matching

Our artificial intelligence recovers all the product catalogs marketed on the market. Then it automatically establishes a match between these products. To do this, it uses barcodes, supplier references and image recognition.

Step 4 out of 6: Analysis and your price indices

Retail Shake calculates the price index for your brand and that of your competitors. You are then informed about the competing brands, the number of common references with them and their price indices.

On the example below, Retail Shake calculated 48 price indices for Leroy Merlin. We notice therefore that the ManoMano brand with 2828 common references and a price index of 97.86 compared to Leroy Merlin.

Retail Shake calculated 48 price indices for Leroy Merlin

Step 5 out of 6: Decision-making

Once you have collected and analyzed the information on your pricing watch, you have better knowledge of your environment. However, gross rate watching is not enough to make the right decisions in the short and long term. You have to cross this with quantitative aspects (stock and digital distribution) and qualitative aspects (customer reviews, photos and texts, merchandising).

It is by combining the four main areas of marketing mix: product, price, communication and distribution, that a brand or brand is able to make the right decisions to ensure its success or that of its product.

Examples of decision-making related to the tariff watch analysis include:

  • Having to lower these prices in order to remain competitive.
  • Have the opportunity to increase rates by remaining competitive but increasing its sales margins.
  • Monitor its exclusives and distribution monopolies.

Step 6 out of 6: Moving to action

Finally, the final step: The move to action. The move to action is simply the things to do in the back office (central or store). The price change, the product repository (Product Information Management), ERP (electronic catalogue).

Do you want to optimize your ranges, make the right decisions quickly and have a real-time photo of your competitive space?

Ask for a demo