E-commerce platforms are becoming a part of the broader supply chain. Since 2020, daily worldwide e-commerce sales and digital online shopping have soared at a height of 66%. This significantly surpassed the online shopping market the year preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to efficiently manage omnichannel fulfillment and guarantee cohesive costs and buyer needs, companies must have complete visibility of supply and demand. This must be performed at the e-commerce level. In fact, according to recent research, 94% of today’s retailers view omnichannel fulfillment as a top priority.

Although more brick and mortar retailers are opening back up to the public, the shift to online shopping and consumption is becoming a permanent consumer behavior. Google research shows 84% of Americans are online shopping at any given time daily. With these long term shifts, retailers are adjusting pricing, logistic strategies, and inventory requirements to adapt to these ongoing changes. 

One of the greatest challenges that retailers in e-commerce face today, is accumulating excess stock. According to recent studies done by Shopify, expiring inventory costs retailers around $1 trillion a year. This huge expense is a result of managers facing a current information deficit, exercising poor inventory management control and misjudging customer demand. So how can this be avoided? 

“43% of small businesses only use manual methods to track inventory, or use none at all, according to statistics from e-commerce experts.”

Inventory Visibility and Optimization

Around 43% of small businesses only use manual methods to track inventory, or use none at all, according to statistics from e-commerce experts. This means that a large number of retailers are unaware of the time and money-saving options they have at their disposal. Accessible supply chain software can assist companies with identifying and understanding how to control non-moving and expiring inventory. Tasks such as: Inventory Management, Demand Planning, Predictive Analysis, Forecasting, Assessing Economic and Market Trends, Market Basket Analysis and more can be improved drastically with effective technologies and softwares. 

AI-driven software is becoming an essential resource for retailers to achieve optimal inventory management to meet the increasingly rising demand of consumers. AI  captures and processes real-time data quickly and efficiently, revealing the status of every SKU so all inventory is accounted for and planned for – essential capabilities in today’s fast changing market. 

To learn more about how your ecommerce and retail business can take control of its non-moving and expiring inventory today, contact [email protected] or request a demo