Robotic Process Automation can offers a business competitive edge which can enable to move miles ahead of competition.
One of the challenge for a retail operation is to ensuring that replenishment of merchandising.
How to ensure that stores are adequately stocked? i.e. no Under stocking, no Over stocking, Right stocking.
This is done by merchandising / warehouse/ logistics team by:
- Reviewing what (design, color, size) is getting sold.
- What is the stock at store?
- What is the stock at warehouse/ replenishment depot?
- What is the lead time in procuring additional quantity?
- What is the minimum /economic order size?
- What is the leg time from warehouse to stores?
- What is the leg time from vendor to warehouse?
Beside these challenges there are more challenges which impact the replenishment process:
- What are the new designs to be introduced?
- What are the capacities of stores for storage and display?
- What is the ratio of new design to old design?
- What quantities to be ordered for which designs?
- How to minimize inventory, while not risking Stock outs?
- How to maximize sales from existing inventory.
For a company which is spread across country, operating 100s of stores, to manually do this operation is quite daunting. There is a method in this madness.
- You can assign a budgeted inventory to a store comprising of designs, quantity and value.
- You can monitor sales and replenish stock based on sales and sales-trend for a particular design.
This requires a good amount of labor and time.
WHATIF you can have a system which can do the following:
- Collate sales from stores, classify designs into HBT at store level, city level, country level.
- Increase or decrease quantity level to be kept at stores based on sales trend.
- Automatically issue stock transfer orders for dispatch.
- Issue stock transfer orders to stores to send slow selling designs.
- Tells the stores to send which specific designs to be send which specific store
- Create purchase order for replenishment.
To create this system you will need data. Tons of historical data pertaining to sales at individual stores, warehouse.
Let’s assume you have a such system. Can your internal audit review the same and give assurance that its working properly?
Call for action:
Inputs/ comments/ suggestion: I welcome inputs/ comments / suggestions from readers on how to approach this issue. Feel free to correct me, educate me.
Share the Article: If you like it, share it. If you share it with others, and they comment, we all will get more learned.
(Disclaimer: The views expressed constitute the opinion of the author and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of the author ’s employers, supervisors, nor do they represent the view of organizations, businesses or institutions the author is, or has been a part of.)
