New grocery tech has driven overwhelming sentiment and buzz in the first few months of 2019. Much of it centers around the growing abundance of really cool digital and mobile technology for taking orders, fulfilling orders and delivering them to consumers. While shiny new technologies can bring … [Read more...] about Will New Grocery Tech Amplify Your Old OOS Challenges?
Shrinking Shrink with Itasca
Shrink. Almost no one wants to spend time hearing or worrying about this retail reality. Whether it’s from damage, theft (internal or external), spoilage, date-coded product, or bad ordering, shrink is a bane to profit, and it’s not easy to fix. Itasca retailers have a different experience. Think … [Read more...] about Shrinking Shrink with Itasca
Itasca: Enriching the eCommerce Experience
Recognition of the need for understanding inventory levels in a grocer’s supply chain, and especially on-line when an order is being placed, has rapidly become the hot topic-of-the-day. And for good reason…it’s vitally important to retailers’ success in a world where they are relative newcomers – … [Read more...] about Itasca: Enriching the eCommerce Experience
Delivering on the Promise
THE BLOCKBUSTER announcement last week from Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market has analysts and the business media buzzing about a potential new era in online grocery ordering. Amid the hype, it seems to us at that an important fundamental point about On-Shelf Availability is being persistently … [Read more...] about Delivering on the Promise
Downstream It’s a Forecast; Upstream It’s a Fact
THE HEADLINE FOR THIS COLUMN may seem like a riddle, but it’s intended as a succinct way to characterize the flow of forecasted order quantities up and down the supermarket supply chain. The prevalent method has long been to order product in a consolidated way for use downstream – that is, for … [Read more...] about Downstream It’s a Forecast; Upstream It’s a Fact
Talking DSD at NGA
AT THE VIBRANT National Grocers Association meeting in Las Vegas, attendees heard from a trio of grocery retail experts about the role DSD receiving processes play in loss prevention. In a session entitled, “DSD Receiving & Auditing,” Bob Summers, Director of Loss Prevention, Buehler Food … [Read more...] about Talking DSD at NGA
What’s Up with Target and Walmart Inventories?
A RECENT ARTICLE in the Wall Street Journal, “Target Expands Inventories to Repair Stock-Outs,” once again highlights the dilemma facing the nation’s largest retailers when it comes to getting stock levels right. The article quotes Target COO John Mulligan, who said the retailer had upped inventory … [Read more...] about What’s Up with Target and Walmart Inventories?
Five Keys to No-Compromise Inventory Optimization
WHEN IT COMES to inventory accuracy, compromise should by now be a thing of the past. It's time for supermarket operators to put an end to: Low out-of-stocks at a cost of excessive inventory levels on the shelf and in the backroom. High turns that beget excess labor costs for restocking. DSD … [Read more...] about Five Keys to No-Compromise Inventory Optimization