In today’s competitive retail environment, effective inventory management across multiple channels is crucial for success. This case study focuses on a well-known brand in the activewear and sports apparel industry, which operates both B2C and B2B businesses. The brand encountered significant challenges in optimizing inventory and order fulfillment across its multiple sales channels, including its own stores, brand websites, and online marketplaces.
The Challenge
The brand was grappling with inventory optimization issues due to the need to expose a single inventory pool across all its sales channels. With separate inventory pools for offline B2B channels, online B2C portals, and marketplaces, managing stock levels, fulfilling orders, and minimizing errors became a significant challenge. The complexity was further heightened by the need for concurrent fulfillment, where orders from all channels had to be processed simultaneously, reducing manual warehousing errors and avoiding delays.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment Difficulties
The brand’s inventory was exposed to multiple channels, including offline B2B (own stores and multi-brand retail outlets), online B2C (brand websites), and third-party marketplaces. To maintain optimal stock levels and reduce errors, there was a need for seamless integration and visibility across all these channels. The business also faced challenges with adherence to marketplace Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for timely and accurate order fulfillment. The manual processes in place led to delays in pick-pack-dispatch operations, which often resulted in SLA breaches, impacting customer satisfaction and the brand’s reputation.
Need for Technological Integration
To streamline its operations, the brand required a stable and scalable technology solution that could meet current business needs while accommodating future growth. This included deep integration with the existing ERP system to cover both routine processes and exceptional scenarios. There was also a critical need to track inventory at the vendor level, as multiple vendors were involved in manufacturing the same product, leading to complexity in product identification due to different barcodes.
Operational and Warehousing Challenges
The brand’s warehousing operations were heavily manual, which led to a range of issues, from shipping errors and inventory mismanagement to SLA failures. A lack of real-time order visibility and manual cycle count corrections further complicated operations. Moreover, there was a need to map maximum operations to mobile handheld devices, allowing for better flexibility and scalability.
Conclusion
The case study highlights the various challenges faced by the brand in managing its inventory and fulfillment processes across multiple channels. These include inventory optimization, technological integration, and operational efficiency in a multi-channel retail environment.
Download the full case study to discover how the brand addressed these challenges and transformed its inventory management practices!
