Commodity operation capability is an important core competency of retail enterprise management
The retail industry is entering a whole new era. In the past, enterprises were more centered on "**", which was the thinking of focusing on selling goods. With the great enrichment of the market, the relationship between supply and demand in the market has changed, the consumer power has increased rapidly, and the era of enterprises relying on homogeneous goods to win high growth through expanding channels has become history.
Today, as the market enters the era of total consumer power era, companies are trying to better understand consumers, build brand image, lifestyle and circle, and use digital means to gain deep insights and engage consumers.
However, the sale of goods is always the ultimate foothold of a company's revenue and profits. According to McKinsey's 2022 Global Consumer Survey, the overall consumption demands of Chinese consumers are becoming more rational and personalized, and retailers should return to the essence of "commodity operation", put "good goods" in front of users, and provide good products through the construction of commodity power is the foundation for enterprises to achieve long-term prosperity.
Commodity operation capability is one of the core competencies of retail enterprise management, and efficient and scientific commodity management helps to improve market share, capital efficiency and brand value.
In the era of consumer-centric retail transformation, retailers should realize that merchandising power plays a crucial role in the competitiveness of enterprises. Companies need to establish an end-to-end merchandise management system throughout the product lifecycle to improve key performance such as sales, margins, and inventory turns.
An operable omnichannel inventory is the key to merchandising excellence
All retail businesses are essentially based on the digital operation of commodities to reduce costs and increase efficiency in the whole business chain. In the era of digital retail, with the rise of the omni-channel operation system, the diversification of channels and the fragmentation of orders are becoming more and more obvious. This trend has given rise to the emergence of "multiple inventory" in the back-end, which makes it much more difficult to fulfill the contract and the cost of fulfillment is difficult to control.
The so-called "multi-inventory" management is to follow the traditional practice, the same kind of goods for different sales channels such as online, offline, wholesale, retail, etc., set up multiple sets of independent commodity inventory, and the inventory between each warehouse is difficult to interoperable. As a result, inventory is not globally visible and can respond quickly to changesInventory can't be shared;Invalid handling of goods;Product operation relies on manual experience, and various problems such as difficulty in improvement.
In the face of the management problem of "multiple inventory", the industry has carried out extensive and in-depth practical exploration in recent years, and the "omni-channel one inventory" model has been gradually promoted. Omni-channel inventory is a seemingly simple but challenging concept to implement, although many companies may think that achieving online and offline goods is to complete the task of omni-channel inventory, but in fact it is only a necessary but not sufficient condition.
Omni-channel inventory not only requires enterprises to physically realize the opening and sharing of goods between multiple channels, but also requires enterprises to logically realize the sharing and integration of information. This includes inventory information, sales information, order information, and more so that businesses can have a more complete understanding of market demand and consumer behavior to make more informed decisions.
In addition, omni-channel inventory also requires enterprises to have strong first-chain management capabilities and logistics distribution capabilities. In the environment of multi-channel sales, how to ensure the smooth flow of goods between different channels, and how to quickly and accurately meet the purchase needs of consumers are all important problems that enterprises need to solve.
The real omni-channel inventory is to achieve the maximum sales efficiency of the enterprise with the least inventory, and achieve the optimal balance between supply and demand, in which "operable" is the most important inspection point.
"Operable" means that the operation of goods can be adjusted and optimized in response to the dynamic changes in the business. Enterprises can flexibly formulate and adjust operation strategies according to their own development stage and business characteristics to achieve the overall optimal solution that meets the needs of enterprises.
Therefore, while the concept of omnichannel inventory may seem simple, its realization requires comprehensive technical and operational capabilities. For many enterprises, it is still necessary to continue to work hard and explore to truly achieve omni-channel inventory.