What Impact Does Inventory Accuracy Have on Retail Sales and Loss?

The accuracy of inventory can quickly degrade when it comes to retailers, particularly those with many stores. That makes inventory accuracy critical, especially considering that companies have invested heavily in omnichannel methods and adapted their strategies to meet consumer demand.

On this episode of Keeping Count, a podcast from the inventory experts at Datascan, host Tyler Kern talked with Adrian Thomas, President and CEO of Datascan. This episode is unique, as it’s a companion piece to a live roundtable discussion that featured three experts – Adrian Beck, Emeritus Professor, University of Leicester, Thomas, and David Erasmus, Datascan’s Director for the EMEA region.

Retailers can see inventory accuracy degrade by as much as 3% per month once a count has been completed, according to statistics from Datascan based on robust research. This is a large number and something that should be of concern to retailers.

Further, the average inventory accuracy amongst retailers is staggeringly low at 60-65%, according to Thomas. But, with tighter inventory comes the reduction of loss and even better sales.

“Higher levels of inventory accuracy can actually drive sales,” Thomas said. “The closer you can get your inventory accuracy in a store to your book accuracy and book inventory – you will drive between 4-8% sales uplift.”

Two things come from the improved inventory accuracy. One is that you’re improving your delivery channels to your clients and consumers. The second is that you’re improving your accuracy and inventory efficiency around the supply chain utilized around your distribution

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale