To help retailers deliver on the key proposition of grocery e-commerce, ReposiTrak is offering an omnichannel perpetual inventory system that ensures products selected online are actually available in the store.
The ramp up of ReposiTrak’s perpetual inventory solution comes at a time when brick-and-mortar stores have morphed into e-commerce fulfillment centers. However, the lack of visibility to store-level inventories for key categories, particularly high demand, fast turn DSD products, finds many retailers at a major disadvantage in meeting customer expectations due to high out-of-stocks levels, said Randy Fields, chairman and CEO of ReposiTrak.
“While COVID has created the most compelling case imaginable for retailers to accelerate their omnichannel strategies, it has also exposed a glaring weakness relating to lack of visibility to store-level inventories,” Fields said. “At its core, online grocery ordering aims to deliver convenience for the customer, but all too often leads to a series of text message substitution requests because DSD products like bread, milk and dairy are out-of-stock, and the e-commerce system is blind to that fact. In order to effectively implement an omnichannel strategy, a DSD perpetual inventory system is essential.”
Direct-store delivery products pose particular challenges for personal grocery shoppers, primarily due to the lack of visibility retailers have with their DSD inventory, which is typically controlled by outside suppliers.
“But as any astute retailer knows, less control leads to more inaccuracies – which is even more problematic at a time when retailers are jockeying to meet and exceed increasingly demanding expectations of a new breed of crowd-avoiding, convenience-seeking omni-shoppers,” said Fields. “Out-of-stocks not only create disappointment for the customer but lost sales for both the retailer and the vendor as well.”
ReposiTrak’s omnichannel perpetual inventory solution extends the company’s extensive track record in DSD, which includes some 60 million store SKU counts. ReposiTrak’s customers are seeing sales increases that often exceed 50 percent because the customer and the retailer have the product on-hand and visible online.
“DSD out-of-stocks are something ReposiTrak knows really well – we’ve been dealing with it for over 20 years – and have pioneered unique capabilities to solve what is presently one of retailers’ biggest challenges,” said Fields.
Learn more about Murray, Utah-based ReposiTrak’s perpetual inventory solution here.