How Software Can Prevent Out-Of-Stock Issues

Retail Dive, an online publication recently published a story about how out-of-stocks led to $175 million in lost sales for Bed Bath & Beyond in the last quarter (you can read the article here). Ouch. And they’re not the only ones. Plenty of businesses have been missing out due to out-of-stock issues over the last few months (you can read an article from a few months ago about it here).  

How can you avoid losing out on sales because of out-of-stock issues? One of the best ways is by implementing technology that fosters visibility into your inventory. A TMS, a WMS, or even ShipCaddie TWMS offer insight into everything from shipping rates and performance to, you guessed it, inventory levels. Below we break down the ways technology solutions can help you avoid losing out on sales due to out-of-stock problems.

Software can help you keep track of how much inventory you have left of each SKU, simplifying how you keep track of your inventory. Some software programs even enable you to pick how much inventory you have listed in each site you’re selling from. For example, if you’re selling your products through your own website, Amazon, WooCommerce, etc. you can choose how much inventory is available to each site. If you were selling rings and you had 100 total of a particular SKU, you could choose to have 50 available through your site, 35 through Amazon, and 15 through WooCommerce. This leads to the next way software can help avoid out-of-stock issues.

Custom business rules can be created to give you alerts when inventory is running low. Want to know when there is a product count of 2? Sure! Want to know when there’s a product count of 30? Absolutely! Setting business rules that are tailored to your offerings is crucial in making sure you’re on top of your inventory levels and that your planning is on par with your customers expectations.

Missing out on sales is something you don’t want to do, and software is key. Let us know in a comment if you have any useful strategies to share with fellow business owners to avoid out-of-stock notifications!