Reducing Inventory Costs and Waste

Retail companies often struggle with excess inventory carrying costs, write-offs, and waste. They may overorder popular products then get stuck holding excess stock beyond the next buying season. Or items may go unsold for long periods due to changing consumer demand and tastes. All of this creates unnecessary expense.

Potential ways to help retail businesses minimize inventory issues could include:

• Creating a demand forecasting platform that improves order accuracy and lowers safety stock levels

• Offering AI-powered analytics on optimal inventory mix aligned to sales trends

• Providing inventory monitoring IoT sensors to enable dynamic reordering and prevent out-of-stocks

• Developing quick-response production capabilities to allow faster reactivity to consumer preferences

• Suggesting omni-channel distribution methods to help sell off overstocks or returned items

• Advising improved supplier agreements for flexibility around order changes and cancellations

The goal would be equipping retail professionals to align stock much closer to true consumer demand signals, reducing waste, avoiding losses on written-off products, and bringing down total inventory costs. This allows improved profitability and financial sustainability.