Category: Sales

If modern retailers know one thing, it’s that no matter how hard you plan, things almost always work out differently than expected. And nowhere is that more true than with your supply chain.

Suppliers, vessels, trucks, warehouses. Supply chains are complex and chaotic by nature. To solve the disconnects between your forecasts and what actually happens on the road, water, or factory floor, you need to be able to act and react as quickly as possible.

The good news is, there’s never been more data available to help you do that. With AI’s ability to crunch...

The new world of retail isn’t for everyone. Less than 10% of emerging brands make it past the death valley curve of e-commerce. If you’re one of the few online retailers that has found success, you know you can’t afford to let your foot off the gas. From one or two top channels, you’re ready to expand.

According to research, for every three new sales channels you add, you could increase your revenue by up to 190%. The only catch? 

There’s a lot of talk about the role of AI in inventory. But with so many unknowns about how these tools are developed, how do you know whether your forecasting algorithm is really doing its job?

From just 4% in 2016, nearly a third of retailers are now using AI. But there’s a lot more to it than customer service bots and product recommendations. For retailers spending multiple hours per week on inventory, AI can help you make better replenishment decisions in less time.

Last week, we explored the top four use cases for AI in inventory. Today we’re taking a closer look at its current and future impact on what is arguably the most critical inventory task: forecasting.

From Amazon to Shopify and beyond, no matter which corner of commerce you operate in, you lose sales when your products go out of stock.

Every year, retailers lose an estimated $1.8 trillion due to inventory mismanagement. That’s roughly 7.8% of total global retail sales.

At Flieber, our team has onboarded over 3 million SKUs. We’ve found that the number for this subset of products is even more drastic: our calculations point to an average of 11.2% in lost sales. 

To understand the impact of these numbers on your own business, let me tell you the tale...

If you’re here, you know stockouts can harm your business in more ways than one.

Whether it’s maintaining your marketplace rankings, protecting your market share, or scaling your revenue to $10M and beyond, keeping your business free from stockouts can help you get there faster.

But in order to avoid stockouts, you first need to understand how they impact your business. Let’s get started.

Stockouts and overstocks are part of the game in modern commerce. But that doesn’t mean you can’t control their impact on your business. 

As a retailer, it’s your job to make sure you have enough of your bestsellers to satisfy demand, while avoiding the trap of overstocked inventory.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at the risks involved with stockouts and overstocks, and sharing practical tips to help you strike the right balance.

If you’re here, you know your inventory mistakes are costing you a lot more than lost or deferred transactions.

Inventory constraints like low inventory, stockouts, and overstocks, can do long-term damage to your margins and future sales. For some, it can take weeks or even months to recover from a single miscalculation in your forecasts.

So, how do you fix it? The solution to inventory problems doesn’t stop at better forecasting. It’s a combination of better planning, better visibility, and quick course correction.

Let’s break it down.

Imagine waking up to discover that just 17 of your 220 SKUs generated 80% of your profits. For Flieber CEO Fabricio Miranda, this was one of many harsh reality checks in his past e-commerce career.

From that moment on, he began to manage his brand as a portfolio of products, carefully considering the lifecycle phase of each one to maximize growth and profitability

Because the truth is, the steps that got you to early success with a couple of products, aren’t enough to build an enduring brand. As a product matures, you need different strategies to stay...

With a couple of best-selling products under your belt, you’re ready for the next phase of e-commerce growth. But with each new product you launch comes a host of new challenges.

Suddenly, you’re dealing with new suppliers, varying lead times, and unpredictable sales patterns.

To keep your retail operations running smoothly, you need a central source of truth for understanding what's happening with your inventory today and what will happen in the future.