Why Should You Switch to AI-Based Inventory Planning Software Instead of a Manual Approach?

 A successful online store needs effective inventory planning software. The most important thing for a retail business is to have popular things stacked up where they will best satisfy client demand at the right time. As your company expands, you must manage several sales channels to satisfy client expectations across all distribution channels. It is a challenging business, and you must constantly monitor the goods—even when they are in dark, enclosed spaces like warehouses. Because manually tracking inventory is a challenging task, inventory planning software is inevitably necessary.

Why Is Manual Inventory Planning Problematic?

Manual inventory planning presents several challenges, including managing orders from each sales channel separately, doing routine stock inspections, and maintaining appropriate inventory levels. It is a time-consuming, error-prone process. During this time, you can work on growing your company rather than spending time in solving such inventory issues. Since manual inventory planning cannot provide real-time insight into the inventory stock figures, there can be a delay in placing orders for replenishment. As a result, businesses may experience stockouts, which could cost them clients and damage their brand.

To avoid all these problems, quick commerce companies can spend money on a dependable inventory planning software that automates all the tedious, repetitive tasks using machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms.

The Growing Need for a Digital Inventory Planning

Consumer behavior has shifted due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, exposing gaps in the global supply chain. Brands must adapt their business practices to support remote work and the logistical difficulties accompanying it, in addition to dealing with significant inventory problems and financial uncertainties.

Even before COVID-19, companies were looking for digital enterprise solutions that could optimize and streamline workflows to safeguard their supply chains from long-lasting interruptions and to deal with cyclical demand.

Inventory planning software offers firms a lot of benefits:

• Centralizing essential data that was previously scattered across various silos
• Automating laborious, labor-intensive activities
• Increasing the visibility of inventory performance and storage
• Enabling cross-team remote cooperation

Businesses also gain the advantage of being able to base their judgments on historical data or algorithmic recommendations when using AI-based inventory planning software that expressly incorporates AI.

What Is AI-Based Inventory Planning Software Capable of Doing?

 Automated inventory planning software has significantly enhanced businesses through the development of data-driven manufacturing and distribution facilities. Compared to conventional human approaches, AI is revolutionary because of its ability to comprehend real-time inventory control dynamics that impact inventory stock levels. AI is capable of scenario prediction, solution recommendation, and even action.

However, artificial intelligence inventory planning won’t replace human roles anytime soon, so ensure you have employees to monitor your automated processes and make final decisions regarding stock management.

How AI helps Optimize Inventory Planning

Planning Inventory Replenishment

Demand forecasting poses the most significant challenge for fulfillment, even more so than supply. Data science is crucial for analyzing previous supply and demand to predict allocation because each data collection has uncertainties and anomalies. Since there may be unforeseen swings in both supply and demand, anomalies can be found in both data sets. This customer-behavior-centric paradigm must consider where customers want to get their products and how and when they want them.

AI-enhanced inventory management solutions can raise store inventory levels by studying consumer fulfillment preferences and purchasing patterns.

Estimated time to arrival

To fulfill and surpass client expectations, businesses must be aware of the number, location, and whereabouts of their available-to-promise inventory. In this highly competitive day, with companies like Amazon that can give assured delivery windows, communicating to customers the approximate time a product will arrive is extremely useful and necessary. Retailers must be able to simulate and delve into how each calculation was made because innumerable inputs may be used to increase the accuracy of these models. This will make it easier to guarantee that every decision about fulfillment, regardless of cost or timing, is in line with the business’s priorities.

Safety stock management

In the past, businesses set a fixed amount or a fixed percentage for their inventory levels. This entails setting a minimum par that only applies to in-person transactions and is not considered for online purchases or other forms of fulfillment. It is no longer sufficient to use generalized information because of today’s constantly changing consumer expectations and omnichannel engagements. Stock levels must be adjusted dynamically to leverage and respond to incoming demand. Automated rebalancing can resolve two significant issues, including damaged brand loyalty from promising customers stuff that cannot be supplied and concern of overselling, then over-purchasing inventory and losing money.

Retailers want the ability to intelligently balance fulfillment costs against service to optimize return on investment, customer experience, and repeat buy behavior to achieve successful omnichannel results.

Accurate Demand Forecasting

Manual demand forecasting can no longer generate precise results as businesses produce enormous amounts of data. Inventory planning solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI) may recognize demand trends and use this information to generate precise forecasts and streamline warehouse replenishment processes. You have the option of receiving rapid estimates based on current data through these inventory planning solutions. It can be obtained from internal and external sources, including evaluations, demographics, and meteorological data on the internet. Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software can minimize supply chain errors by 30% to 40%, and this level of accuracy reduces lost sales due to fluctuating consumer demand and inaccurate stock counts.

Impact of Promotion Planning

Providing analytical data by an AI-based inventory planning software that could enhance marketing strategies is a significant advantage. AI and machine learning both can foresee erratic shifts in demand for particular goods. You can modify your marketing strategies to meet the needs of your ideal customers. With AI, you can keep up with the latest fashions and learn which products are losing favor. Businesses can increase their profit margins by implementing better marketing tactics informed by data.

About Fountain9

Fountain9 assists retailers with inventory planning that meets customer demand at the right time. Their inventory planning software, Kronoscope, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), can accurately estimate demand for each SKU item and identify the quantities that should be stocked to meet demand adequately. With the aid of this software, businesses can match client expectations and make more substantial revenue.