J.D. Associates Retail POS Solutions Blog

Is Lean Inventory Good Inventory Management?

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The strategy of many retail operations for this holiday season was to go lean on their ordering.  They are hopeful that this approach will cut down on their post-holiday inventory dumping and less inventory management.  Although that strategy may have some merit, it could also backfire for future sales. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was shopping for my wife at a well-known higher-end woman's store.  I must note that I was the only customer in the store at the time.  Being a man with a hunter's instinct, I honed directly in on my target and within a minute or two found exactly what I wanted, I thought.  Then I went to look for the right size.  I searched rack after rack with no success.  Only after I had spent about five minutes looking throughout the store, had the manager approached me and asked if I needed help.  When I told her I could not find the appropriate size, she immediately told me that all of the inventory was on the floor and the store would not be restocked with additional sizes before the holiday.  She didn't even bother to ask me what size I was looking for.  Nor did she ask me if she could help me find something else! 

I left without making a purchase and bought a comparable item at another store. She missed out on creating customer satisfaction leading  to my customer loyalty.

This experience was certainly a "retail turnoff." If the unproven strategy is to go lean on inventory during tough economic times, shouldn't retailers train their help to deal with this situation in a productive and positive way?