Inventory Visibility and Saleable Quantity Management
Manage not physical stock, but the quantity that can be confidently promised to the customer.
In multi-channel selling, the fundamental challenge isn't simply seeing the inventory quantity. The same stock can be sold by multiple channels, reserved for other orders, undergoing quality control, or being used for display purposes.
Therefore, the system must differentiate between physical inventory and the actual quantity that can be sold. Current inventory, reservations, safety stock, expected deliveries, production orders, and other demand records should be considered together.
Key components of inventory visibility
Warehouse, store, franchise and other location inventory
Free, reserved, blocked, quality control, and display stocks.
Purchase incoming, in production and expected purchases
Current saleable quantity
Amount that can be promised on a specific date.
Channel-based stock allocation and safety stock.
Booking duration and booking priorities
Stock depletion and excess stock alerts
Stock accuracy and counting performance
Strike a balance between overselling and unnecessary inventory management.
Opening all inventory to every channel can increase the risk of overselling; similarly, allocating excessively high safety stocks for channels can lead to unnecessary holding of saleable product. Channel allocations should be evaluated in conjunction with actual demand, service level, and inventory turnover rate.
Inform the customer not only that the product is available, but also on what date and under what service conditions it can be delivered.