Retailers face hectic flurry for organizing and planning for big sales, poor inventory management system can sabotage your sales even with great customer services. Negligence may lead to small discrepancies such as colour, sizes which can destroy customer relationship and cost valuable revenue. Accurate and timely delivery requiring effective management of omni-channel system is crucial for customer satisfaction beyond friendly services. Small to medium business should focus on mobile access, real time access of disparate data, sales forecasting and product management for prior inventory. Delay in information and updates of innovated products and services will lead to disrupt business as it leads to unrealistic promises which can’t be completed in time window. Your need to empower your sales person with latest technologies and real time inventory information. Delivering products to customer on time is as sales, when investing in newer solution, its important to plan for short and mid-term growth. Changing inventory multiple times would cost resources, but will be necessary if you fail to take proper decision now. Read more at:- http://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/dont-leave-customers-empty-handed/

In the present scenario, the retailers who are combining customer analytics, internet of things (IOT) and data innovation to retrieve and analyze data of consumer preferences, are generating the maximum sales. Others are losing out. Customers now-a-days are well aware of their personal data being collected online by firms and hence expect better retail experience in return. That will only be possible when customers are segmented and served, which is done by analyzing their personal data, using data analytics. Big data can also be used in framing a product's optimal price system and inventory management, according to the prevailing or to be prevailed customer preference trends. Read more at:

http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/grasping-the-value-of-data-analytics-in-retail

According to Burton White (Vice President of the Industry Supply Chains at Chainalytics), for retailers and e-commerce firms, developing an effective and efficient supply chain strategy is challenging. To make last-mile delivery as their core supply chain strategy, they have to provide right inventory at the right time at the right place in the right form.
Some tips to be considered while developing a supply chain strategy are:

• Never lose sight of what actually matters to the customer
• Explore innovative approaches, like to bundle product shipments.
• Explore non-traditional distribution capabilities.
• Optimize transportation solutions to meet last-mile demands.
• Consider the inventory’s form, function and placement within your supply chain.
• Focus on returns management efficiency.

Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/last-mile

According to Larry Fast (president of Pathways to Manufacturing Excellence), inventory remains a key area where we want to improve processes and eliminate waste. In the manufacturing industry, we basically have three types of inventory (raw material, WIP and finished goods). If we have an excess inventory it means that processing issues are hidden. CI (continuous improvement) strategy in an organization generally reduces their average cycle time by 70.4%, reduce scrap by 50%. Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/ask-expert-lean-leadership/are-you-overlooking-inventory-focus-process-improvement-and-waste-reducti

While some industries are beginning to see the transformational capacity of big data and predictive analytics, these methods haven't quite panned out for supply-chain managers. The reason is that the largest obstacles happen to be the cost of hiring experienced employees. Researchers Matthew Waller and Stanley Fawcett write in a paper that the convergence of predictive analytics and big data has the capacity to change the way in which supply-chains managers lead. The goal is to increase the understanding of how to utilize big data efficiently and develop a new breed of supply chain leaders that are experienced in using data and analytics judiciously. A recent Wall Street Journal article quoting a survey by The Economist points out that while most companies see the value in using predictive analytics and big data to eliminate increasingly complex issues within their supply chains, they still perceive the cost of deployment as too high.Read more at: 

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/are-predictive-analytics-transforming-your-supply-chain/