Inventory
Our inventory coverage addresses supply chain challenges, obsolete and slow-moving merchandise, forecasting, out-of-stock strategies, direct-to-consumer selling, supplier challenges, and more.
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Inventory
Stagnant Sales Are Creating an Inventory Glut
September 1, 2022 • Marcia Kaplan
Recession fears combined with supply-chain excesses have created a dramatic increase in unsold inventory. We explain.
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Inventory
Supply Chain Bottlenecks from the Trenches
June 13, 2022 • Christopher Dobroth
Contributor Christoper Dobroth, a longtime ecommerce manager, purchases inventory for his employer, a seller of lighting and home decor items. He explains his reality of keeping goods in stock in mid-2022.
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Inventory
Supply Chain Problems Upend the Global Economy
September 23, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan
Nothing highlighted the United States’ reliance on foreign manufactured goods more than the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Inventory
Getting Investors to Buy Your Inventory
July 28, 2021 • Armando Roggio
When it comes to funding inventory, retail businesses can be creative, using loans, credit cards, supplier terms, and even advances from family. Whatever the method, however, raising the money can be a challenge.
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Inventory
Save Money on Inventory with EOQ
May 17, 2021 • Armando Roggio
An American production engineer developed the economic order quantity (EOQ) model to help buyers at manufacturing companies understand how much of a given raw material or part they should buy. Many companies now use EOQ to calculate the ideal amount of inventory to minimize costs.
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Inventory
The Increasing Complexity of Product Returns
April 29, 2021 • Marcia Kaplan
The pandemic sparked an increase in ecommerce sales but it also generated a massive rise in product returns. According to U.S. Department of Commerce estimates, total ecommerce sales for 2020 were $788 billion, an increase of 32.4 percent from 2019.
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Inventory
How to Calculate and Interpret Inventory Turnover
March 18, 2020 • Armando Roggio
How quickly a business sells its inventory is typically a strong indicator of efficiency, cash flow, and general well being. Thus inventory turnover — and the related inventory turnover ratio — is a powerful key performance indicator.
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Inventory
The Keys to Lower Inventory Costs
February 27, 2020 • Phil Masiello
Managing inventory is among the most critical tasks of an ecommerce company. Poorly managed, inventory costs can escalate, and profits erode. In this post, I'll review five tactics of high-performing, multichannel sellers that greatly lower inventory costs while streamlining operations.
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Inventory
3 Inventory KPIs to Drive Ecommerce Profits
February 10, 2020 • Dale Traxler
Basic inventory management involves tracking quantities by channel, location, and return rates. Key performance indicators, however, are far more critical for driving profits. In this post, I'll address three essential inventory KPIs: turnover, carrying costs, and opportunity costs.
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Inventory
Recommerce Surges as Retailers, Brands Get in the Game
August 28, 2019 • Marcia Kaplan
Recommerce, the process of selling used products or excess inventory to companies or consumers, is growing 20-times faster than the broader retail market and five-times faster than off-price retailers. Leading recommerce merchants include thredUP, The RealReal, and Poshmark.
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Inventory
12 Ways to Lower Inventory Costs
July 8, 2019 • Viktoria Kanevsky
U.S. retailers are reportedly sitting on about $1.43 in inventory for every $1 of sales. Decreasing inventory costs should therefore be a priority for all merchants. In my experience, there are many options for reducing inventory costs. In this post, I'll review 12 of them.
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
My first big inventory mistake
July 3, 2019 • Peter Keller
I'll never forget my first big inventory mistake. It occurred in 2006. I was working for LivingDirect, an online appliance retailer. I thought for sure I would get fired.
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Inventory
How to Calculate ‘Available to Sell’ Inventory
June 11, 2019 • Anna Kayfitz
"Quantity on hand" is physically available inventory. It's a simple number, but it does not include unfulfilled sales and outstanding purchase orders where the inventory has not arrived. All those scenarios can be addressed in an "available to sell" calculation.
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Inventory
16 Inventory Sources for Fashion Retailers
December 5, 2018 • Viktoria Kanevsky
Merchants who prefer touching and feeling during the buying process should consider trade shows. Wholesale, online marketplaces are another good way of finding fashion merchandise. You can shop dozens of vendors at the same time without leaving your office.
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Inventory
Strategies for Discontinued Inventory Pages
May 30, 2018 • Armando Roggio
When an item in an ecommerce store is temporarily out of stock, the site can add a notice or send a message to a shopper. But what should an online ...
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Inventory
9 Tips to Manage Out-of-stock Inventory
May 28, 2018 • Armando Roggio
Sometimes even the most-prepared retailers sell out of popular items. How these inventory shortages are communicated on an ecommerce website may impact shopper experience, search engine optimization, and sales. Although not ...
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Inventory
9 Startups That Are Disrupting Inventory Management
November 7, 2017 • Gagan Mehra
The sweet spot for inventory management is to spend the minimum amount to have adequate stock for customer orders. There is no shortage of software to help with this. But ...
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
Deleting slow-moving inventory
March 27, 2017 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth
My Wedding Décor will celebrate its second birthday next month. When the website launched in April 2015, it began with 80 products, which had grown to almost 500 products at the ...
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Inventory
5 Ecommerce Inventory Spring-cleaning Tips
March 2, 2016 • Armando Roggio
As spring arrives, many online retailers find that they need to change products or product lines — winter coats won’t sell as well in April or May. Last season’s fashions, innovations,
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Inventory
Inventory hiccups highlight 2015
December 23, 2015 • Kenny Kane
As 2015 comes to a close, it is a good time for self-evaluation. Hopefully, you’ve met or exceeded your revenue goals, and come in under on the expense side. Regardless ...
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Inventory
SKU Management Ensures Inventory Profits
July 1, 2015 • Michael Manzione
SKU management is the process of analyzing the cost of carrying each inventory item to ensure it is meeting the financial objectives of the business. If your business is virtual and ...
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Inventory
Inventory Labeling Basics: SKUs, UPCs, EANs
May 27, 2015 • Michael Manzione
The barcode was first scanned in 1974, on a packet of Juicy Fruit gum. Since then, the technology used in scanning products in the retail marketplace has become commonplace. In ...
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Inventory
How to Set Up Inventory and Fulfillment to Manage Growth
April 27, 2015 • Michael Manzione
Many new ecommerce businesses become overwhelmed with managing inventory and fulfillment. What started in a garage, with little fanfare, now requires more space and more organization. Perhaps the business is ...
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Inventory
5 Tips for Buying Retail Inventory, for Ecommerce
January 11, 2015 • Armando Roggio
Smart wholesale buying can lead to ecommerce success and good profits. But the act of buying products to sell on an ecommerce site can be more of a challenge than ...
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
Wanted: crystal ball for inventory demand
November 2, 2014 • Richard Stubbings
The vast majority of articles and blogs regarding ecommerce focus on selling. They discuss the importance of marketing, search engine optimization, site design and navigation, converting customers, and so on.
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Inventory
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Merchant Voice
Trials and tribulations of inventory management
January 15, 2014 • David Sasson
Holding inventory can be an advantage and a disadvantage. It can be both a competitive edge and an incredible headache. Some retailers choose to only drop ship and others sell ...
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Inventory
7 Tips for Good Supplier Relationships
September 11, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Good supplier relationships may lead to favorable prices, generous terms, improved availability, and even the occasional buyback. With these sorts of opportunities at stake, it can be very important for ...
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Inventory
4 Tips for Finding your Ecommerce Niche
July 5, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Finding your ecommerce niche is an exercise in discovering passions, solving problems, networking, and testing for supply, sales, and competition viability. But once discovered, marketing and selling products to a niche can lead to online retail success. Nearly anything can be sold onl...
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Inventory
Reducing Excess Inventory to Free-up Capital
February 20, 2013 • Armando Roggio
Reducing excess inventory, even at a loss, can free-up capital and help a small online retailer grow. Slow selling products sitting in a warehouse — or, for very small retailers, a garage — tie up cash and may make it hard to invest in marketing, new product lines, or site improvements...
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Inventory
3 Tips for Making Better Product Decisions
August 16, 2012 • Armando Roggio
Purchasing inventory wisely is an important part of any online retail business, since buying too little of a product might leave virtual shelves bare just when shoppers want something and buying too much can diminish capital and restrict cash flow. Often the secret to making better pur...
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