Retail Wire published an article today including a quotation from our CEO on global data sync but the article missed a key point so we are adding our comments to the article here. You can view the article on www.retailwire.com, article name: "CPGMatters, What's Next for Data Synchronization."

I'll add a point which I provided when I was interviewed for the article, but sadly did not make it into the final version. While the benefits of an accurate global data catalog are extremely attractive there are simply too many constituents with competing objectives and too many disparate technologies to make the vision a reality. At best a few industry leaders will create a solution which will have only modest adoption, but more likely the project will fail. Industry trade journals document this to be true and numerous comments above lament this reality. But vendors who cite the inaccuracy of on-hand data as justification not to use POS activity data for decision making and planning are missing a huge opportunity. Sure data accuracy can be questionable but if the current situation is no visibility into store level on-hand and you are running 3 to 5% out of stock isn't some visibility better than no visibility? I have personally worked with dozens of vendors who are tracking store level on-hand and comparing the quantities they have shipped to those stores and the unit sales at those stores to estimate what they feel is an accurate on-hand. Even if that effort increase your in-stock by 1% you have capture lost sales and grown your top line. The bottom line is this: if you are a vendor don’t focus on the complexity of global data sync, focus on the small and inexpensive ways you can reduce your stock-outs and increase your sell-thru.

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