Store Fulfillment Stockouts

How can retailers implement ship-from-store without creating a ghost town effect inside the store? Gamestop figured this out early on.

In 2016, GameStop turned the retail world on its head by tripling ecommerce inventory with ship-from-store. This omnichannel fulfillment strategy sped up localized shipping and helped GameStop unload excess inventory through ecommerce channels.

But ship-from-store wasn’t without its challenges. GameStop risked the “ghost town” effect inside its stores, leaving shelves stripped bare in favor of e-commerce fulfillment.

After all, this is what happened to Target the year prior…

Target has been investing heavily in its ecommerce site and the ability to ship items directly from stores. It plans to have 450 stores that will act as online fulfillment centers by the end of the year. In doing that, the supply chain has been overextended. - The Detroit News, 2015.

To keep store shelves well-stocked while expanding its ecommerce assortment, GameStop leveraged in-store analytics to track foot traffic and adjust inventory accordingly. The company also prioritized ship-from-store for excess inventory to attract deal seekers without compromising in-store availability for hot items.

For retailers today, there are many tools available to launch ship-from-store fulfillment as successfully as GameStop did years ago.

• Inventory management - Modern systems offer real-time tracking across all locations, alerts for low stock levels, and integration with your POS and online platforms. This lets you monitor stock levels across all locations, allocate inventory effectively, and update availability instantaneously.

• Predictive analytics - By analyzing historical sales data, customer behavior, and market trends, predictive analytics tools can help you anticipate sales spikes and slumps, allowing for better inventory planning.

• Automated replenishment - Once stock levels hit a predefined threshold, the system automatically places orders to restock. Integrating this with your inventory management system and supplier databases facilitates quicker replenishment.

What are some tools you use to prevent stockouts while implementing modern omnichannel fulfillment strategies like ship-from-store?