Inaccurate inventories are to blame for more lost revenue than theft, according to the results of a recent survey from supply chain data service provider Bossa Nova Robotics.
Nearly all the survey respondents (99 per cent) said they have some kind of constant inventory problem, with 87 per cent pegging it as a top source of lost revenue; far more than the 13 per cent who fingered theft as the top revenue source. The email survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 100 corporate retail professionals with a title of director or greater, at companies with US$500m or more in annual revenue (excluding clothing and department stores) during December 2018.
One cause of the problem is inaccurate inventory forecasting, reported by 73 per cent of the corporate retail professionals surveyed as being a constant issue that forces retailers to end up with too much or too little supply to meet demand. Another trigger is retailers’ inability to track inventory through the supply chain, resulting in lost potential sales, 65 per cent said.