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Right on cue. That black-hooded t-shirt, already packaged and ready for fulfilment has just been ordered. Remember when we used to wait for the order to come in and then pick it? So quaint.
All that’s left to do is print the labels and send it on its way. No need to worry about replenishing the inventory — the manufacturer knew this order was coming at the same time you did. Reordering will be automated following dynamic production schedules, naturally.
It still sounds a bit sci-fi when you set it out like that, doesn’t it? But these are current inventory management trends in commerce. The move towards automation and AI is only going to continue in the coming years.
You may well be wondering how long it will be until the labels are printed before the order is placed. We’re not quite at that stage yet, but let’s look at some current and future trends in ecommerce to see how they’re driving inventory optimisation.
Some of the top trends in ecommerce at the moment include:
Let’s look at these trends in more detail and delve into the tech and processes you need to bring them to your business.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the overriding trend in all aspects of inventory management. It’s arguably the most important of all ecommerce industry trends. Machine learning is being used to improve demand forecasting to speed up the picking process.
Online grocery retailer Ocado is one of the leaders in this area. Its AI makes 20,000 demand forecasts per day. That data is fed into an AI-powered air traffic control-style system, which makes hundreds of decisions per second. Those decisions guide order-picking bots around its fulfilment centres to maximise efficiency.
Investing heavily in warehouse robotics is beyond the reach of most ecommerce companies. But there are other ways to achieve similar outcomes.
Automation is a broad ecommerce trend in its own right. But automating stock levels alone can only go so far. The emerging trend is for automation of the supply chain as a whole. That means total optimisation of inventory from production through to fulfilment.
Supermarket Morrisons introduced a fully automated reordering process using AI-based forecasting to improve product availability while reducing stock levels. It achieved 2.6% sales growth, a 30% increase in on-shelf availability, and reduced its inventory days on hand by two to three days.
We’ve all seen how quickly things can change over the past few years. Maintaining an agile approach to production planning is increasingly important. Sharing inventory data with manufacturers allows for automated responses. You can increase or decrease production according to demand.
Around 1 in 5 items bought via ecommerce are returned. That explains why smarter approaches to the returns process is a major trend for ecommerce retailers. PayPal’s Happy Returns saves ecommerce stores up to 40% on return shipping costs through a network of box-free, label-free Return Bars.
Selling via multiple channels is nothing new in ecommerce. Whether it’s multiple Shopify stores or marketplaces, this often created a disjointed and atomistic approach to inventory management. The new trend is for a comprehensive overview of inventory across all channels.
AI and automation are key to the rapid pace of change in ecommerce inventory management. As a result, embracing the latest trends means embracing tech that makes you more efficient.
You can start that process right now by:
If you’ve found this rundown of inventory management trends useful, you should definitely check out our other articles. Head over to our blog to read our latest blog posts.
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