As I mentioned in my last blog entry, one of the (many) consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been the acceleration in the growth in E-commerce retailing – the purchase of goods online that are either delivered directly to the consumer, or picked up by shoppers at an agreed location. In some countries this is […]
Retail had a turbulent 2020. It was a year that saw trends already making their presence felt, such as buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS), eCommerce, contactless payment, and more, gain greater influence as retailers scrambled to find ways to cater to consumers with heightened and evolving expectations. Now, it’s time for retailers, particularly […]
As the retail sector continues to grapple with the consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic, one of the striking trends thus far has been the considerable growth in the percentage of retail sales now taking place via E-commerce. While in many ways this is an inevitable and logical outcome of large swathes of consumers around the […]
In May 2020 I published a short article reflecting upon retail loss prevention in a time of COVID-19. In that article I hypothesised that that we were likely to see four phases affecting the retail sector: the Pandemic Panic-buying Period (Grocery in particular being adversely impacted by panic buying); Pandemic Paralysis Period (most non-grocery closed); […]
Retailers rely on accurate inventory records to execute efficiently, reduce expenses, and more importantly increase sales. Retailers know that shrink is a major contributor to inaccurate inventory records - it is impossible to maintain accuracy for items which leave the store via bad actors. However, there are many more ways for inventory records to become […]
As we celebrate our first 50 years, I would like to take a moment to reflect on our previous five decades, and thank our retail customers worldwide who have partnered with us over the years. Contract Dataflo, Inc. was founded on July 20, 1970 by H. E. Billings, Jr. The company became Contract Datascan, Inc. […]
Retailers – do your omnichannel strategies suffer from inaccurate inventory records? Of course they do, and the increasing importance of BOPIS, click & collect, curbside pickup, “retail-to-go” and ship-from-store make inventory record accuracy an important cornerstone for omnichannel success. In a previous article we found that truing up your inventory records with more frequent counts […]
We now know that counting more often lifts sales by up to 14% (see “Do Inaccurate Inventory Records Really Impact Sales?”). Exactly how does this work? By increasing product availability and customer satisfaction. Retailers strive to have the right product in the right place at the right price and with the right promotion. Customers return […]
For retailers, counting stock is a chore and requires a sizable investment in labor. Aside from annual audit requirements, is stock counting really necessary? Are accurate inventory records really that important? Since 2018 my role at Datascan has had me exploring the concept of inventory record accuracy. I’ve long searched for a reputable study on the sales […]
