Digital availability - whitepaper

Whitepaper

Digitize store stock to boost e-commerce without overstocking

In today’s shopping reality, the lines between physical and digital commerce are fading. For the last years, and accelerated during the COVID19-related lock-down periods, there has been an ongoing adoption of omnichannel concepts. With the adoption of hyperlocal fulfillment services, such as ship-from-store,
and a distribution approach of utilizing stores as so-called “mini-DCs” organizational silos are becoming connected. Because of this, digitizing store inventories with the objective to increase online sellable stock (digital availability) is the new driver for successful
shopping experiences and happy customers.

Topics

In this whitepaper we will deep dive into:

1. Safety thresholds: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Thresholds are often applied to ensure “sellability” when dealing with high stock inaccuracies, which is a remedy that does not tackle the problem at its source.

2. Local vs. total digital availability

The characteristics of digital availability are different for various omnichannel-concepts, such as last-mile delivery and ship-from-store. Therefore, we distinguish the following variations of digital availability: local digital availability and total digital availability.

3. Knowing each item with RFID

To successfully increase digital availability, it is essential to know exactly where products are at the unique item level. Only this way, high stock accuracy will be achieved. This eventually creates end-to-end stock visibility.