Computer Assisted Ordering

Ordering products and controlling inventory in retail stores are two of the most difficult and labor intensive functions required of managers. A study of the grocery industry conducted for the Coca-Cola Company by Andersen Consulting found that:

• 8.2% of the items studied were out-of-stock on any given afternoon
  
• About 50% of the items tracked for one month were out-of-stock at least once
  
• 11% were out-of-stock on Sunday, the second busiest shopping day of the week
  
• 15% of the advertised items were out-of-stock
  
• Being out-of-stock on the fastest-moving items accounted for 66% of lost sales
  

Store order problems accounted for over half of those out-of-stocks, and the researchers discovered the following causes:

• Store personnel were unaware of current or potential conditions (54%)
  
• Promotion forecasting and ordering problems (19%)
  
• Shelf capacity inadequate (16%)
  
• Back room inventory not restocked (8%)
  
• Replenishments not available from the warehouse (3%)

To put the problem into perspective, the figures from the Andersen study indicate that the supermarket industry lost $7 to $12 BILLION in sales because stores were out-of-stock on the items customers wanted to buy! In today's highly competitive grocery business, retailers can't afford lost sales and lost customer loyalty, especially to something as preventable as failing to stock the proper amount of product.

SofTechnics' Computer Assisted Ordering (CAO) system provides a cost-effective method by which retailers can accurately predict consumer demand for a given retail store, thereby simplifying the seemingly complex areas of inventory management and consumer response replenishment cycles. CAO can also be a powerful tool in a world where ordering has traditionally involved making million-dollar decisions in seconds, usually with little or no research or guidelines to follow.

SofTechnics understands that the migration from manual order-entry to a comprehensive computer-assisted ordering system must be carefully managed. That's why we've developed CAO as a set of stand-alone modules that can be fully integrated with increasing levels of sophistication. This approach allows stores to incorporate the new procedures into the day-to-day operation over a period of time using the three levels of CAO.

SoftTechnics, 310 E. IH-30, Suite M105, Garland, TX 75043. Tel: 972-203-8300; Fax: 972-203-2221.