Accelerated Analytics always has our eye on the ball – through rain, snow, and especially major regional storm events. Seasonal weather is one thing, but when you run against storm events that cover the map, you’re bound to see major disruption to civilian and business life. From road closures to power and internet outages before,... Read more »
Despite uncertain economic reports, retailers are expected to report increased sales, according to an article in the WSJ. Of interest to this blog, the article noted retailers have been doing a good job of managing inventories in a difficult environment. As we work with our clients, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on… Read more »
If you are a Home Depot vendor, you are eligible to receive product sales activity and inventory data via EDI 852. Preparing to setup and receive the EDI 852 files can be confusing, and creating usable reports for your team can be very time consuming. Fortunately, Accelerated Analytics® provides a simple, outsourced service for all… Read more »
Still messing with manual? If you are a vendor supplying to a retailer, you are no doubt receiving POS and inventory data. Sorting out all of that data can be a real headache, considering the files can be different for each retailer. Your team probably spends hours each week manually entering data, creating spreadsheets and… Read more »
Retailers and vendors in today’s retail market face the unenviable challenge of reducing costs and maintaining margins, despite falling overall sales and slow-to-recover consumer demand. One of the areas in which retailers are pushing back onto vendors is inventory management, which for vendors too often translates into retail partners that reduce overall inventories and require… Read more »
I sat down with an analyst at a consumer products company the other day, and had an in depth conversation with her about the process she goes through to export data from Retail Link and transform the data into reports for her management. I’ve been working with Walmart vendors for a long time, so I… Read more »
I read this very good article yesterday and wanted to share it. Business Intelligence and Performance Management Rising to the Top of the Supply Chain Executive’s Agenda By Viktoriya Sadlovska and Nari Viswanathan In the context of today’s complex demand-supply networks, in which visibility into key performance indicators across the entire network is key to business… Read more »
A metric fundamental to managing the retail supply chain is weeks of supply (WOS). Weeks of supply tells the inventory manager how long the current on hand will last, based on current sales demand. By keeping your eye on weeks of supply, you can avoid inventory stock outs and lost sales. The basic calculation for… Read more »
I spent about 9 hours yesterday analyzing sales, order and forecast data for Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s vendors, and I am somewhat surprised by my observations. It’s pretty clear that there are some min/max rules in place, as I can see patterns to the order quantities based on the OH inventory and the order… Read more »
Nordstrom and Lowe’s both reported big increase in profits, and their CEO’s believe the economy is improving, and their sales will continue to improve. Nordstrom’s Profit More Than DoublesUpscale department-store chain Nordstrom Inc. reported a 152 percent increase in profits during the quarter ended Jan. 30, underscoring how its strategy of expanding price points and… Read more »
The following is a step by step process to aid replenishment vendors in identifying stores on an item level basis, that are losing sales due to inventory stock outs or inventory that is present but unavailable for sale. Such unavailable inventory may include lost or damaged items or items on the shelf but not available… Read more »