Shelf Denial
When is a store a warehouse?
Is this a trick question? The short answer is “Always”. A store – aka, a retail outlet -- is simply a place where inventory resides. It may look nicer than a warehouse. It may be smaller than a warehouse. But basically, it’s a warehouse.
Some of our distribution customers have no retail outlets of their own. Rather, their warehouses stock other companies’ outlets. Some of our distribution customers send goods form their warehouses to their own professional stores (to-the-trade only). Some of our distribution customers have “regular” stores that any old consumer can go into. Many of our customers have some combination of the three. It doesn’t really matter to us. We can deliver integrated replenishment management because our distribution software understands that retail outlets and warehouses are essentially the same thing.
We don’t really care where inventory resides but we keep close track of it. We can bring in data from point-of-sale devices or from mobile, hand-held devices. We can set automatic replenishment triggers. We can keep track of inventory in trucks. After all, what’s a truck but a moving warehouse?
When it’s time to replenish, we can do wave picking, or voice picking, or package-based picking. Or we can eliminate picking with cross-docking. We can calculate the value of inventory stored in multiple locations. It’s all part of our strategy to be the best possible software supplier to the distribution industry. So, if you’re suffering from shelf denial, it’s time to learn about Lawson.
As its name implies, The Lawson Opinionizer offers opinions. We believe we've got our facts straight but we don't guarantee it. A new Opinionizer appears every Monday. If you have an opinion, send an e-mail to Opinionizer@lawson.com
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