Tailored Brands, a menswear and formalwear retailer that includes Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, needed to anticipate customers’ evolving preferences for various style, color and size choices in its tuxedo rental business. CTO Scott Vifquain and Gurhan Kok, founder of Invent Analytics, talk about how AI-based technology was applied, and the results so far in our MCM CommerceChat podcast.
Third-party logistics (3PL) providers play a pivotal role in guiding brands through the continuing evolution of retail and ecommerce. Brands aiming to adapt and excel need 3PL partners that leverage industry expertise, data and technology. This helps them enhance efficiency, promote collaboration and drive fulfillment innovation. Here’s how innovative 3PLs are spearheading this change.
Inventory management has been anything but simple these days. A global pandemic, labor shortages and product recalls have led to the “bullwhip effect.” Success will require leveraging technology to make critical business decisions, using AI/ML and what-if analysis to create a dynamic, flexible, resilient inventory management strategy.
When we consider the unpredictability of the last couple of years, overstocks seem a forgivable choice. Retailers who understandably erred on the side of overstocks during the pandemic are now stuck with a mountain of goods they can’t shift. One thing’s for certain: spreadsheets and outdated technology won’t solve the problem.
Frustrating shoppers by showing them unavailable products does much more than wasting ad dollars and losing a sale. Out-of-stocks decrease basket sizes, cause VIP customers to leave loyalty programs, damage brand reputation and take customer service members away from helping customers who already bought an item.
Google Shopping plays a key role for retailers and online advertisers as it is essentially a product search engine for ecommerce stores. As a merchant you sometimes need to create hundreds of PPC ads for every product, aligned with pricing and inventory. Although this may seem overwhelming, it’s simpler than you think – using a data feed.
Studies have shown that ecommerce backorders can cost you $15 to $20 each, eroding profits. This includes customer service calls, fulfillment labor, shipping and packing material costs. Also, backordered items often have a higher return rate. Here are 8 practical solutions to help you reduce ecommerce backorders and stockouts.
By now you should have your peak holiday season planning for this year well underway. If you’re behind schedule, there’s still time to implement improvements but you need to be prudent and not over commit. To help you be prepared, here are 13 critical considerations for improving peak holiday season operations and fulfillment processes this year:
Though Amazon’s dominance of ecommerce may bring about feelings of doom or gloom, many retailers do not realize the influence they have to capture buyers before they default to Amazon. The key to achieving success is through providing omnichannel options that the ecommerce behemoth can’t match.
Out of stocks can be a costly occurrence for retailers, as a study commissioned by IHL Group has found. In 2015, out of stocks, overstocks and returns cost retailers an estimated $1.75 trillion and out of stocks accounted for $634.1 billion in lost retail sales for the year ending in the spring. Here are three best practices to keep out of stocks from ruining your holiday season.