Consumers expect retailers to believe their stock organised properly and want products to be available relatively quickly in every channel. They also expect to be able to decide when and where their online purchases will be delivered. However,the organisations and processes of most retailers date from the days when online shopping did not yet exist, and it often takes a long time for products that believe been returned to be re-added to the stock lists. The result is that many products are unnecessarily listed as out of stock, or which is not what the retailer wants. Developing a cross-channel strategy demands a current way of looking at the concept of yield and managing stock,and the best solution appears to be using a single integrated stock list. This is the conclusion that ABN AMRO presents in a report entitled The Commercial Importance of Logistics in Retail, published earlier this week (Dutch only).
Source: abnamro.com