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# Blog
Welcome to the invent.ai Blog - the home of thought leadership for retail industry. Read our latest articles to catch up on what is next in retail supply chain planning.
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Game-changers in Retail
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### How to Make the Most of NRF 2025
Use these tips to return from the event with advantages for your business.
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### Navigating the Holidays Returns Rush with AI
Navigate the holiday returns surge with AI-powered solutions. Learn how to minimize markdowns, optimize inventory, and enhance customer loyalty for a profitable season.
### Seasonal Inventory Planning Strategies for Halloween Retail
Optimize Halloween inventory with AI-driven demand forecasting and allocation strategies to boost sales, reduce stockouts, and minimize excess stock.
### Holiday Retail Planning: Insights and Solutions for the 2024 Season
Learn how AI-powered inventory allocation helps retailers avoid stockouts, minimize markdowns, and boost profits during the critical holiday shopping season.
### Gold Medal Strategies for Olympic Retail Success
Discover how sports retailers can maximize profits during and after the Olympics. Learn effective demand forecasting, inventory allocation, and post-Olympic strategies to thrive.
### Sustainable Returns Management to Navigate Retail's Environmental Challenges
Explore how invent.ai is redefining retail sustainability with smart returns management.
### Fighting Phantom Inventory with AI
In our latest blog post, discover the secrets to combating phantom inventory by turning a major retail headache into a win for profitability!
### Super Bowl Season: Unlocking Retail Success Through Advanced Demand Forecasting
Discover how AI-driven demand forecasting can transform your Super Bowl sales strategy into a winning play for profitability!
### Moving Beyond a Better Demand Forecast
Our latest blog explains why retailers need more than better demand forecast in order to satisfy customer demand with the lowest possible inventory levels.
### Retailers, Meet Your New Omni-Channel Customer
From BOPIS to BORO: Welcome to the omni-channel retail revolution where customers expect seamless buying and returning experiences across multiple platforms! As inventory management becomes an intricate dance in this complex retail landscape, innovative AI-driven solutions are stepping up to ensure profitability and customer satisfaction.
### Four Tips for Optimizing Omni-channel Allocation and Replenishment With AI
Navigating the omni-channel retail landscape isn't just about stocking up. Discover how AI-powered tools can transform inventory management, drive profitability, and streamline the overwhelming world of omni-channel demands.
### AI-Driven Inventory Optimization: 3 Success Stories
AI is reshaping retail inventory management, leading to precise forecasting, smarter allocations, and optimized transfers. Discover the success stories of Fiba, FLO, and Boyner as they leveraged these innovations for transformative results.
### Happy Halloween: Inventory Planning for Retail’s One of the Biggest Spending Holiday
This year is going to be spookier than ever as retail’s second-biggest spending holiday is around the corner and your Halloween shoppers are ready to celebrate.
### Inventory planners, do you report to the CFO?
Inventory teams are now rolling up to the CFO who has become more involved in making better decisions about inventory purchases and reducing inventory while also increasing profitability.
### Recession or Not - Retailers Need to Be Ready
With recession rumors swirling, it's time for retailers to take control of what they can: inventory. Learn the three crucial questions every retailer should ask themselves to navigate uncertain times and optimize their supply chain.
### Are Economic Challenges Impacting Your Inventory Strategy?
Discover how economic challenges are reshaping inventory strategies in the retail industry. Learn about the impact of omni-channel pressures, increased involvement from CFOs, and the limitations of outdated systems. Find out how Invent Analytics offers innovative solutions to help planners strike the right balance between reducing costs and satisfying customer demands.
### Hot Topics in Inventory Management
We recap our discussions with some of the largest retailers we met with at this year's NRF Show and share our takeaways on the hottest inventory management topics that were top of mind for everyone in attendance.
### Retail Inventory Management for Hard and Soft Goods: Challenges and Strategies
Hard and soft goods have their unique inventory management challenges. If your product strategy includes both types, you face some additional considerations. Let’s take a closer look at them.
### Markdown Optimization for Retailers: How AI Can Make Millions
AI can play a big role in markdown optimization. Here's a complete guide on everything you need to know about how AI can save you millions.
### How Weather Data Improves Retail Demand Forecasting
We know that forecasting for the near future, capturing the impacts of local weather and using the short-term demand forecasts for store replenishment can make a big difference for retailers.
### Here Is Why US Retailers Have Excess Inventory and What to Do About It
Retailers have so much inventory that they can't get rid of it fast enough. There is a surplus of goods, but the demand for them isn’t there.
### How to Measure Demand Forecast Accuracy
Forecasting is never an end itself. In fact, even near-perfect forecasts don’t necessarily help achieving excellent business results unless there is a smooth and strong inventory planning process in place.
### Returns Management: How to Turn a Costly Burden into an Opportunity
In this Game-changers in Retail Series, we sat down with Jonathan Colehower, who has over 20 years of experience in the supply chain domain.
### Returns Forecasting: A Must-Have for Retailers
Retailers have always had to deal with returns. While returns can’t be avoided completely, awareness and AI-powered return forecasting is key.
### How to Find Optimal Inventory Balance to Reduce Inventory and Lost Sales
The insights in this article can help retailers increase their inventory planning capabilities significantly, reduce inventory, lost sales and achieve retail excellence.
### Retail Demand Forecasting: What, How, and Why?
What is demand forecasting in retail really? How is it done? What do retailers need to create better forecasts? Let’s find out.
### How to Optimize Inventory Using Analytics-Driven Supply Chain Improvements
How can next-level AI-based profit-optimization models and analytics-driven supply chain improvements empower retailers to upgrade their inventory management capabilities? Read on.
### NRF 2022 Big Ideas Session: Omni-evolution through financial optimization
Omni-channel retail: What tools do we have to measure, manage, and change?
### How to Deal with Inventory Shortages: 4 Tips for Retailers
How can retailers deal with global inventory shortages and achieve effective inventory optimization? Here are 4 practical tips.
### 4 Key Takeaways from NRF 2022
That’s a wrap on NRF 2022.
We’ve rounded up the top retail inventory planning insights from the retail industry’s biggest event – so whether you made it or not, you can stay in the loop with this year’s big themes.
### The Future of Omni-Channel Footwear Retail
As a part of our Game-changers in Retail Series, we sat down with Sito Luis Salas, Deputy CEO at Camper, a global shoe retailer and a pioneer company in omni-channel operations.
### Pre-Season Planning: Why Successful Inventory Optimization is Vital in Fashion Retail
Allocation, size optimization, and assortment optimization for fashion retailers. Dealing with demand uncertainty. Pre-season inventory planning.
### Trends and Predictions for Retailers in 2022
Omni-channel inventory planning predictions for retailers in 2022.
### How to Forecast Demand Accurately for the Next Season: The Billion-Dollar Fashion Retail Question
What will be the baseline demand for a new item that will be introduced to the market six months from now on?
This is a billion-dollar question.
### Omni-Channel Choices for Retailers' Success Today and Tomorrow
In this Game-changers in Retail Series, we had the pleasure to sit down with Felipe Caro, Professor of Decisions, Operations and Technology Management. Felipe Caro leads UCLA Anderson's new M.S. in business analytics (MSBA).
### Retailers, Are You Ready for Allocation Challenges This Christmas?
How can retailers fulfill orders in an efficient and timely manner when they don’t have enough inventory on hand to meet the increasing demand?
### Taking Advantage of Advanced Analytics Across Retail Supply Chains
As a part of our Game-changers in Retail series, we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Franks, Director, Center for Statistics and Analytics Research, KSU and Chief Analytics Officer, IIA.
### The Future of Demand Forecasting and Inventory Planning for Grocery Retailers
In this Game-changers in Retail interview, we met with Makysym Tipukhov, Demand Forecasting Director, Fozzy Group, to discuss the future of grocery retail and how grocers can thrive in this new omni-channel era.
### The Future of Grocery Retail: How to Become Omni-Channel Grocery Champions
In this interview, Michelle Gloeckler, Board Member & Advisor tells us how grocers can be Omni-Retail Champions and shares her perspective on the future of grocery retail.
### Omni-Channel and Retail KPIs: The Good, the Bad and the Future
The problem facing retailers today, and into the future, is that the approach of the past is too slow, too cumbersome, and too imprecise for the complexity that omni-channel creates. So, how can retailers solve this problem and move to a better future?
### The Future of Omni-Channel Grocery Retail
In this Game-changers in Retail series, we’ve met with Justin Honaman, Head of Worldwide Consumer Products – Food & Beverage, Amazon Web Services, to discuss how he sees the future of grocery retail.
### Do You Have the Demand Forecasting Capabilities to Meet Your Omni-Channel Customers’ Demand?
There has been a revolution in retail. It’s been driven as much by consumers embracing technology as it has by innovative business models. In fact, many retailers have failed to keep up with customers’ changing shopping habits and are still struggling to develop and use accurate demand forecasting for inventory planning.
### 3 Major Challenges for Omni-Channel Retail Inventory Planning
For many years, the single-channel brick-and-mortar retail model meant that supply chain processes were fairly straightforward. Occasionally, things might go slightly wrong, such as a store being out of stock of the shoes your customer wanted in her/his size. In that case, generally the retailer would lose the sale. In the omni-channel retail world, things are much more complicated.
### Reducing Lost Sales and Fulfilling Omni-Channel Demand at a Low Cost
Today’s omni-channel customers expect seamless and frictionless shopping experiences across all physical and digital touchpoints. They want speed and convenience and they won’t settle for anything less. When a customer walks into a store intending to purchase an item, they expect to be able to walk away with it right away.
### How to Reduce Fresh Waste by Using AI-Powered Demand Forecasting and Replenishment
It’s no surprise that consumers also changed their consumption habits during that time and shifted their priorities when it came to fresh food. As many people continue to work from home and because fresh food is seen as a driver of health and wellbeing, fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy products consumption increased.
### Dark Stores for Grocery Retailers: What Are They and How Do They Work?
Online grocery shopping is booming, and it is here to stay. In the U.S. alone, online grocery shopping reached $95.8 billion in sales in 2023. Research projects that online grocery shopping will reach nearly $120 billion annually by the end of 2028, making up 12.7% of total grocery sales in the U.S.
### 3 Strategies Grocers Can Use to Enhance Online Availability and Avoid Losing Their Omni-Channel Customers
Customers worldwide have changed the way they shop for groceries. Millions have now chosen online shopping for ease, convenience, and safety. Take Jeannette for example. In addition to having a demanding work schedule, she’s also a full-time mother who prefers to do her grocery shopping online.
### Dealing with Retail Operations During Covid-19 Disruption
If you’re a retailer, coronavirus has impacted your business. You’re challenged with a business that is dramatically different that it was just days before. A business that still demands answers to questions and good decisions in spite of a little data reflecting current circumstances. And no decision is, in fact, a decision.
### Optimize Pricing and Markdown Decisions During COVID-19
For the majority of retailers around the world, the COVID-19 outbreak is now a reality rather than a looming threat. In response, they have closed their brick-and-mortar stores and redirected consumers to digital channels.
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