One of the things I hear often from retailers in grocery, apparel and consumer electronics, as well as from our clients in consumer packaged goods and B2B wholesale, is that some of their biggest challenges lie in just being able to see their inventory. While customer engagement and orders flow across channels, inventory is often less dynamic and may be siloed in sales channels or stored in different inventory systems due to acquisitions or different brands.

Why accurate inventory views matter

Despite knowing their industry well, supply chain and fulfillment leaders tell us they struggle to ensure they are fulfilling orders efficiently and profitably. We also hear from inventory management specialists that latency issues during peak transaction periods and batch processing are creating inaccurate inventory views. Managing safety stock and re-planning and reallocating based on actual versus projected demand create even more headaches.

Without accurate end-to-end inventory visibility, organizations are losing sales and aggravating customers by overpromising. They are also giving away margin due to markdowns and expedited shipping charges, carrying unproductive stock, and limiting their ability to open new sales channels or fulfillment options, or implement seasonal promotions.

So how can IBM help?

The right inventory visibility solution can help you address these challenges and really streamline your omnichannel order management and fulfillment processes, so you can:

1. Say “yes” more often to customers. See all your inventory on hand across disparate systems and silos.
2. Get accurate, scalable inventory views. Meet peak-period demand and avoid overpromising, losing sales or incurring unexpected charges.
3. Maximize inventory productivity. Reduce safety stock and carrying costs, and increase inventory turns.

We’ve got the inventory visibility solution for that

IBM Sterling Inventory Visibility provides a single, global, real-time view of inventory across your systems to help you grow sales, protect margins and increase customer satisfaction. The solution enables up-to-the-minute inventory tracking and accurate available-to-promise data, even in segments with high volumes and large numbers of SKUs and distribution outlets.

The best part? There’s no need for long or expensive IT initiatives to see results, because IBM Sterling Inventory Visibility integrates seamlessly with your existing order management or ERP systems – not just IBM systems. By providing an elegant UI, omnichannel fulfillment directors can see the inventory they care about across all their channels at a glance. What’s more, IBM Sterling Inventory Visibility is a cloud-native service, enabling it to sense fluctuations in demand and scale automatically without IT assistance. That elasticity means investments are not oversized or undersized for seasonal fluctuations.

Ready to see more so you can help your business sell more?

Read the smart paper.

Explore IBM Sterling Inventory Visibility capabilities.

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