Intelligent inventory optimisation with Board
with Sainsbury
The higher a retailer’s inventory and sales, the higher the overhead costs. For one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK, precise inventory planning is therefore particularly important in order to minimize inventory costs and avoid markdowns. Due to the various systems in use, Sainsbury’s inventory data was inconsistent, and one version of the truth did not exist. Manually preparing Excel spreadsheets was not only time-consuming, but also frequently led to errors. Inventory numbers in the replenishment order system were therefore often inaccurate, resulting in an increased workload and delivery delays. Board was introduced as a stock replenishment system (SRS) in the non-food sector in order to solve these issues. In the first project phase, which was led by Board itself, the tool was fi rst introduced to the general merchandise division. In this phase, bdg supported Board in exporting data. In phase 2, carried out solely by bdg, the inventory management in the clothing division was switched to Board.
In contrast to most cases and due to the extreme level of detail of the planned stock replenishment system, this BI project was aimed at providing a solution primarily on the operational level. Based on Board data, automatic reports were to be generated along with triggers for concrete actions in inventory management, such as sending goods from the warehouse centre to a supermarket branch. For this purpose, Board would be used to create a consistent database from the various pre-systems and to automate inventory optimization in the clothing division. Additional project goals included automatic stock replenishment analyses and improving the overall data transparency.
And find out all about the highlights:
Board solution for UK supermarket chain
Diminished workload due to automated reports
Inventory management errors greatly reduced
Appealing visualisations rather than confusing tables
Effective management of store replenishment and inventories across the UK
Sainsbury operates more than 600 supermarkets in the UK with a total of three product areas: food and non-food, which is divided into general merchandise and clothing. The clothing division alone has hundreds of thousands of SKUs, making inventory management extremely complex. Effi ciently managing the flow of goods therefore requires a highly fl exible and reliable processes and software. With Board and bdg, Sainsbury found the ideal solution to optimise inventory management.
| Industry | Region | Application | Number of users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | London, United Kingdom | Stock Replenishment Solution | 50 |
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