Put inventory where it will sell, in every channel
Retailers have to get assortment, allocation, and replenishment right across stores, e-commerce, and marketplaces, then handle everything that comes back.
Customers expect to buy anywhere, receive anywhere, and return anywhere. Behind that promise sits a network of distribution centers, stores, and partners that has to share inventory intelligently. An allocation miss causes markdowns in one location and stockouts in another. Fulfillment choices that look fine order by order can add up to a cost-to-serve problem. And returns, especially online, can be a meaningful share of sales.
Decisions retail supply chain teams make every day
Retail supply chain teams make thousands of small decisions a day, and together they determine margin. These are the ones that matter most:
- How much of each item goes to which store, DC, or channel?
- Should this order ship from a DC, a store, or a partner?
- How do we protect in-stock rates during peaks without overbuying?
- What happens to a returned item, and how fast?
Across the retail supply chain
In retail, the network has to serve every channel from shared inventory, and it has to handle the flow back as well as the flow out. We work across the full cycle:
- Plan: assortment, allocation, and replenishment planning.
- Source: vendor collaboration and inbound visibility.
- Deliver: omnichannel inventory visibility, order orchestration, warehousing, and transportation.
- Return: returns management, disposition, and recovery.
- Service: delivery promise accuracy and customer order visibility.
How we help
We combine Supply Chain Consulting with Transform, Connect, and Managed Services work. Vantage Flow supports order and allocation decisions when inventory is tight, and Amplify agents help with returns and fulfillment exceptions.
How retailers measure progress
In-stock rate, markdowns, inventory turns, fulfillment cost by channel, delivery promise accuracy, and returns recovery value.
What leaders ask about Retail
Practical answers to the questions that often shape the first conversation.
How do you promise across stores, distribution centers, and digital channels from shared inventory?+
The promise has to account for inventory accuracy, fulfillment capacity, labor, transportation, customer priority, and the full cost of each sourcing option. We connect order promising and fulfillment rules to store and network execution, then feed cancellations, substitutions, and returns back into planning.
How can retailers reduce the cost of returns?+
Speed up inspection and disposition, route each item to its highest-value outcome, and use return reason data to fix the product, description, or fulfillment issues that cause avoidable returns.
How do you improve store allocation accuracy?+
Combine store-level demand signals with assortment and space data, then reallocate quickly as early sell-through comes in, rather than locking in the initial push.