Shop stock/ product lists?

[integreatmedia]

Hi All,

I'm interested to understand if/ how shops nowadays typically maintain a stock/ product list? thinking high street shops rather than pure internet companies?
e.g. do businesses use their EPOS systems to maintain the products/ brands/ stock they are holding or other systems, and how easily/ keen/ reluctant companies might be to regularly share this data if there was a free of charge opportunity to use this to increase footfall?

Thanks!

 

[fisicx]

Go down to your local high street and ask. Or contact them via FB, Linkedin or wherever and ask.

I know my butcher uses an inventory application linked to the scales. He knows exaclty how much stock he holds and sells. And I helped my local garden centre set up their inventory system. Everything gets scanned as it comes in and goes out.

If you want to know the answer to your question you need to get out and talk to people.

 

[MBE2017]

Depends on the shop. Many still use manual stock checks to place orders, some rely on the visiting rep to stock check their products, others use Epos etc.

Nationwide chains are so far ahead of small local companies normally, right down to how to display the products, at what height, colour grouping etc. As for how they might share such important data, unless you could utterly convince myself of the benefits and safety of the data not going anywhere else, I would never consider it.

 

[Nuvaas]

Hi
Been in retail tech for over 20 years and it's the same as before. All high street stores whether small independent or national hold and maintain their own stock using their own systems (unless they're e.g. a franchise operator). For smaller retailers, it's normally all managed within the EPOS system itself but for larger retailers, they tend to have separate stock merchandising systems which integrate with their EPOS system, i.e. pick individual systems right for them and integrate rather than an all-in-one.
In response to your second point, they tend to be happy to share product and stock lists as it's essential for external suppliers to provide additional services e.g. RFID/stock count, connected fitting rooms, electronic shelf edge labels etc.
Can I ask - why the question?

 

[integreatmedia]

Hi
Been in retail tech for over 20 years and it's the same as before. All high street stores whether small independent or national hold and maintain their own stock using their own systems (unless they're e.g. a franchise operator). For smaller retailers, it's normally all managed within the EPOS system itself but for larger retailers, they tend to have separate stock merchandising systems which integrate with their EPOS system, i.e. pick individual systems right for them and integrate rather than an all-in-one.
In response to your second point, they tend to be happy to share product and stock lists as it's essential for external suppliers to provide additional services e.g. RFID/stock count, connected fitting rooms, electronic shelf edge labels etc.
Can I ask - why the question?

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm working on a concept which would potentially bring more footfall/ awareness to independent retailers.

The concept includes a tiered approach with tier 1 requiring details of types of brand/ products stocked and tier 2 being (non-live) typical stock levels of said products. Either way these would ideally be provided from a retailers system in CSV or similar format either periodically or once off.

Drop me a DM if you'd like to discuss at all.

 

[integreatmedia]

Depends on the shop. Many still use manual stock checks to place orders, some rely on the visiting rep to stock check their products, others use Epos etc.

Nationwide chains are so far ahead of small local companies normally, right down to how to display the products, at what height, colour grouping etc. As for how they might share such important data, unless you could utterly convince myself of the benefits and safety of the data not going anywhere else, I would never consider it.

Thanks for the input. What do you feel is the biggest safety concern of sharing such data?

 

[MBE2017]

Thanks for the input. What do you feel is the biggest safety concern of sharing such data?

Well I wouldn’t want competitors getting such information for a start.

 

[fisicx]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm working on a concept which would potentially bring more footfall/ awareness to independent retailers.

So if I'm the only butcher or head shop in town and everyone already knows where I am, who I am and what I sell how are you going to get me more customers?

If I'm a florist and what I sell isn't catalogued how will your concept help me?

 

[integreatmedia]

"everyone already knows where I am, who I am and what I sell"

This does make a massive assumption that indeed everyone does know where they are and what they sell...some will, I agree - but not all.

I want to enable physically local businesses (independents especially but not exclusively) to be levelled up as much as possible to true on-line retailers search status. A real gap I currently see is that if you use a search engine currently to find a specific product e.g. "buy an analogue alarm clock" the results are either a.) all pure online retailers or b.) physical stores which have online sales - meaning that all physical stores that don't have an online selling presence, but may have a great selection of the searched product never get found (unless to your point they are known about.)

 

[thetiger2015]

The work required outweighs the benefit for many local shops.

Local inventory search sounds great but I don't know of any local retailers who keep stock records like that. They do a stock take once a year or end of month etc, they don't have live stock. So, if they're selling an ironing board, they may only have one. That stock won't get updated for ages, so you could walk to the shop after searching on line and find nothing you wanted, because the shop sold all that stuff yesterday.

Even EPOS systems are usually for multi-store businesses or those with separate warehouses. Can't think of any shops on our street with electronic stock control, it's on a piece of paper at best.

Maybe something for the future, I just cant see this working. You'd have to explain it all and setup software in shops to make it happen, they'd have to keep it updated, they won't, they're too busy.

We have it all on Shopify but we are ahead of the curve locally and sell on multiple 3rd party sites. Others don't or they don't have that type of product.

 

[MBE2017]

The work required outweighs the benefit for many local shops.

Local inventory search sounds great but I don't know of any local retailers who keep stock records like that. They do a stock take once a year or end of month etc, they don't have live stock.

I think for most small shops this would be correct. I think the only exception might be the odd grocery shop, but it is so much easier to manually check a stock sheet for most, or simply do it from memory for others.

I set up an automatic stock order system for a mid size wholesaler, approx 50k of different lines, and I still did manual checks, just to ensure no mistakes. On my own five separate market stall business, plus three shops, with approx 2k of stock lines, I ordered simply from my own memory, since I was always looking for new unique type products.