Out-of-stock scenarios are a huge setback for retailers globally. When it comes to dealing with seasonal products with a short shelf life, this issue and the associated costs for retailers are exceptionally high. A detailed analysis of the reasons behind frequent product stock-outs revealed that in approx. 70 percent of the cases, out-of-stock scenarios were traced back to downstream supply chain issues rather than upstream issues. This analysis shed light on the fact that retailers often face this issue due to inadequate replenishment procedures. It also means retailers haven’t explored the full potential of IoT in retail and retail analytics hasn’t been applied and executed to drive business value from data.
To build a future-ready organization, retailers must leverage technology and use IoT data to its maximum potential. If you’re looking for use cases or insights on how IoT analytics can help retailers drive value – Contact us.
Though retailers have implemented advanced technologies like RFID tags, sensors, and ECR, most of them are unable to eliminate out of stock scenarios primarily because these techniques don’t eliminate the need for people to spot out of scenarios and request replenishment. This is where the Internet of Things (IoT) technology has proven to be of great help to retailers. Avoiding out of stock scenarios is imperative to succeed in retail. Request a free proposal to know how IoT in retail is helping retailers achieve this goal.
IoT in Retail: Solving the out of stock problem
In retail, IoT applications generally comprise an array of embedded sensors, RFIDs, and smart monitoring devices like PIR sensors and motion detection cameras deployed to monitor activities and continually capture data. The IoT data captured by these devices can then be transmitted to cloud-based storage systems and leveraged to create stock availability scorecards that depict real-time out-of-stock scenarios. IoT in retail has proven to help retailers monitor stock levels in real-time and make informed decisions regarding replenishment based on stock availability.
IoT data can help solve several other challenges facing retail. Today, IoT in retail is opening up new possibilities for retailers enabling them to craft accurate predictive data models by combining IoT data with data on in-store movement, product demand, and retail macro trends. Adopting such an approach can help retailers build efficient stocking and replenishment strategies, thereby minimizing overages while ensuring product availability.
With IoT data showing no signs of slowing down, retailers must understand how best to leverage these data sets to drive business value. Request more information for analytical insights.
As retail continues its inevitable shift toward deploying IoT use cases, shopping experiences are being transformed by IoT devices that empower retailers to monitor customer activities and collect product data on a daily basis. Processing and analyzing these IoT data sets can also provide retailers with new opportunities to improve their strategies and productivity. But the challenge lies in understanding and successfully deploying the use cases of IoT in retail.