The 2016 holiday season started strong for retail, with Total Retail reporting US online shopping data for Black Friday and Thanksgiving reaching $5.27 billion. That’s a 17.7 percent increase year-over-year and a new record for the two days. Says Total Retail, “Shoppers hit the buy button at unprecedented levels this past weekend during Black Friday, rivaling Cyber Monday’s position as the largest online shopping day of the year.”
Mobile is driving the majority of online store visits, and retailers that have invested in mobile and social marketing platforms have seen a 30 percent increase in sales. Adobe Digital Insights reports that $7.50 out of every $10 spent online for the top 500 retailers goes through the Adobe Marketing Cloud, making the company qualified to report various statistics.
The company said the most popular products this holiday season are electronics, Smartwatches, and toys. One problem – many companies faced out-of-stock and retail storage issues; in fact, products under $300 were 20 percent more likely to be out-of-stock.
To avoid this mathematical error, review inventory and sales figures for the past several years to better understand inventory requirements. Utilize inventory positioning to ensure SKUs are in the right store or distribution center at the right time to fulfill customer orders when they want them.
If you don’t have retail storage space for the inventory, using a dynamic storage system like the UNEX SpanTrack in the stock room allows retailers to utilize the entire depth of the rack. With SpanTrack, workers can quickly reach products as they flow forward when ones in the front are picked, and storage density is greatly increased. Labels on SpanTrack are high visibility for pickers to quickly find the items they are looking for. This accelerates order picking rates and improves worker productivity, allowing you to keep up with the growing volume of seasonal orders. Optimizing your back room with SpanTrack ultimately translates to faster restock times and fewer out-of-stocks.
If your retail storage system desperately needs optimization, contact our Space Optimization Experts today. We'll set you up with a system that ensures your store shelves stay stocked throughout the holiday season and optimizes your retail storage space.
