Enhancing Operational Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction through Digital Inventory Tracking

Investing in Digital Inventory Tracking: A Necessity

It’s highly frustrating for customers to order a product online, only to discover that the item they ordered is unavailable. Manual inventory management, especially in companies adopting omnichannel sales strategies, hampers growth and wastes valuable time and energy.

What happens when a customer discovers that the product they were seeking is out of stock?

According to a ERC Europe study, most shoppers (37%) opt for another brand’s product; 21% continue their search in another store; 16% buy an alternative product from the same brand, and 9% abandon the purchase altogether. According to NielsenIQ data, in 2021, retailers incurred a loss of $82 billion as a result of out-of-stock items, which accounted for 7.4% of retail sales.

The solution lies in moving to digital Inventory Tracking solutions that automate these processes, significantly reducing management time to a few hours or, even minutes.

5 Benefits of Inventory Tracking Technology

Adopting inventory tracking software minimises the risks of both overstocking and running out of stock. It also plays a pivitol role in enhancing inventory management efficiency, reducing management time and enabling real-time responses. This facilitates sales across all channels, allowing retailers to comprehensively and promptly cater to customers’ needs, as customers expect immediate information about product availability.

Now, let’s dive into the benefits in more detail.

1. Enhancing the Customer Experience

Inventory tracking directly impects the customer experience. With accurate inventory, stores can provide precise details regarding product availability and delivery timescales, reducing customer disappointment associated with unfilled orders or delayed deliveries. Moreover, efficient inventory management enables optimisation of promotions and special offers, ensuring customers benefit from competitive pricing without encountering availability constraints.

2. Maximising Sales and Cultivating Customer Loyalty

One of the advantages of inventory tracking in the retail sector is the ability to prevent sales. product availability, it is possible to anticipate potential shortages. This prevents customers from seeking alternatives from competitors..An always-available supply maximizes sales opportunities and preserves customer loyalty.

3. Optimising Inventory

By effectively managing product quantities in stock, retailers can avoid overproduction and the accumulation of unsold items. This reduces warehousing costs and enables resources to be invested in products that are in demand by customers. Well-managed inventory ensures the availability of popular products while minimising waste, thereby contributing to the store’s financial health.

4. Minimising Losses

Through constant merchandise monitoring, potential discrepancies between inventory records and actual stock can be quickly identified. This also enables rapid detection and resolution of issues problems such as theft, counting errors or accidental losses, all of which are critical to maintaining store profitability.

5. Promotion Planning

Inventory tracking provides valuable data for promotion and sales planning in the retail sector. By knowing available inventory and sales trends, stores can strategically plan targeted promotional campaigns, like offering discounts and incentives on specific products, driving sales, and facilitating the rapid turnover of inventory to make way for new arrivals, thereby maximising profits.

Cegid Retail Inventory Tracking

Cegid Retail Inventory Tracking is a comprehensive solution provided by Cegid for automating and digitising inventory management. It centers around a mobile POS solution that not only handles payments but also provides real-time statistics on inventory, specific customer profiles, and access to omnichannel services. One of its key strengths is the reduced implementation time.