dash/APPLICATIONS
  • home
  • solutions
    • data studio >
      • / amazon advertising data
      • / amazon operations data
    • advertising studio
  • resources
    • data studio report templates
  • services
    • account audits
    • advertising training
    • inventory consulting
  • pricing
  • more
    • community
    • release notes
    • blog
    • whitepapers
    • training
    • ---------------------
    • contact us
    • about us
    • jobs
    • ---------------------
    • join our partner program
    • refer a lead

our blog chatter

check out our latest insights, expertise, and ideas

What are common Amazon challenges?

4/23/2020

1 Comment

 
The three questions we get asked by agencies, brands and/or retailers the most often are:
  1. how can we more easily access our data? 
  2. is there a simple way for us to identify what we need to focus on to improve our ad performance?
  3. how do we know how much to spend on inventory? 

​How can you easily get your Amazon data?

​Getting your data out of Amazon and maintaining it is very difficult, and Amazon isn’t in a hurry to help you.  For that reason, we have built DATA STUDIO.  Firstly, it is a simple tool that helps you connect to your account(s).  Once connected, your data is securely stored so you can review it using our views.  Secondly, because we are maintaining and backing up your data in your own dedicated data warehouse, we provide easy access to it so you can link it to your own BI tool for custom reporting.
dash data studio

​Is there an easier way for us to know how to improve our advertising performance?

Amazon doesn’t tell you where you could better allocate your advertising spend based on the success or failures of your current campaigns and keywords.  Instead, you need to have some type of analytics tool to highlight where you should focus your attention so you can take immediately action.  Our ADVERTISING STUDIO is setup for you to review, drill-down and action your amazon campaigns and keywords to improve your advertising performance.

How much can I spend on inventory?

Everyone listed on Amazon knows that not having inventory can impact your search placement.  So, it’s important to manage your cash flow so you don’t run out.  Our INVENTORY PLANNING software walks you through the process of managing your open-to-buy spend so you can better allocate your ordering budget based on inventory goals, sales targets, and planned receipts.  After all, you don’t want a lack of inventory to negate all the work you’ve done to optimize your advertising performance. 
Want to learn more...check out our video.
Picture
greg marmulak | founder | dash/APPLICATIONS
a software and inventory expert, greg has been living inventory optimization for the past 18 years, working with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

​https://www.dashapplications.com/about-us.html
Picture
1 Comment

What is Inventory Optimization?

2/20/2020

0 Comments

 
A core competency of any inventory planning system is inventory optimization and strategy.  In my last blog "What is the difference between Inventory Management, Planning and Optimization", I only touched on some basics.  Here, I plan to provide more insight and detail with the focus being at the item by location level, or the bottoms-up level of inventory optimization.

Inventory optimization can be a key influencer to your return on investment of any software, however, most planners do not proactively manage their inventory strategies.  Consider that your inventory planning software is a complex mathematical engine designed to manage the errors throughout your supply chain, managing your inventory optimization and strategy is essential to understanding what that error is costing you, in both dollars and service.  Nevertheless, inventory planning is still overlooked as a value added task and process which planners should add to their workflow schedule.

What is Inventory Optimization and Strategy?

Everyone knows how important inventory is to distributors and retailers – no inventory, no sales.  Inventory optimization and strategy is a set of rules you apply to your items that will minimize the amount of inventory you need to provide the customer service you want and can afford. 
Every company would like to fulfill all customer orders all the time but the cost to do so is too high based on the inventory investment required, especially for low volume, highly volatile items.  Inventory optimization balances the cost of inventory against desired service levels to maximize your profit.  Your inventory plan and strategy addresses how you apply and manage that balance across your stocked items.  The two most important drivers of your inventory optimization and strategy is your cycle stock optimization and your safety stock optimization.

What is Cycle Stock Optimization?

Cycle stock optimization is how you set your item-level ordering quantities based on the costs of holding your forecasted inventory versus the transaction costs of ordering and receiving it.  The economic ordering quantity formula is a well-known model of cycle stock strategy that considers some of these cost trade-offs.  Your cycle stock represents half of your ordering quantity.  Cycle stock, however, is often driven by minimums and multiples like case pack quantities.  Cycle stock optimization considers forecast, numerous carrying and ordering costs and any line-item ordering constraints.  Generally, your cycle stock strategy makes up most of the inventory you have stocked which is why it is important to manage in your inventory optimization and strategy policies.  By planning and optimizing your cycle stock, you can achieve significant service levels without holding any safety stock. ​

What is ​Safety Stock Optimization?

Where cycle cost optimization is mostly cost driven, safety stock optimization is service driven.  Optimizing your safety stock strategy is generally perceived as inventory optimization despite it being the smaller aspect of the two key components.  Key factors considered in safety stock optimization are your service level targets, your forecast, how wrong your forecast might be, your lead time and how wrong your lead time might be.  Lastly, a key consideration in safety stock optimization is the amount of service your cycle stock will provide with no safety stock. 
​

Traditional safety stock methods such as a fixed safety stock, days of supply or forecast, or even simpler service-level methods do not consider all these factors.  Safety stock strategies should, however, vary across all your items as there is never one answer for all items.  Stratifying your safety stock policies by ABC classification is a simple and great way to approach your inventory optimization and strategy.
Picture

What should be your takeaway?

Every stocked item will be subject to your inventory optimization and strategy such that you can map your “sawtooth” diagram to understand your past, current, and future investment.  By applying cycle stock optimization and safety stock optimization you will optimize your inventory investment while achieving desired services levels.  After all, your inventory investment for a single item or for all items is simply your safety stock plus your cycle stock – an easy way to forecast your future inventory investment.
​

Picture
greg marmulak | founder | dash/APPLICATIONS
a software and inventory expert, greg has been living inventory optimization for the past 18 years, working with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
Picture
0 Comments

What is the difference between Inventory Management, Planning and Optimization?

2/13/2020

0 Comments

 
I often get asked what the difference is between inventory management, planning and optimization.  It is an important question and one that needs to be answered and understood, especially when you are looking to purchase software to help you with your inventory.  There is, of course, some cross over, between the three (picture a Venn diagram), so I will provide some examples to best describe and highlight how they are each unique in their own way.

What is Inventory Management?

Inventory Management is often misused to describe inventory planning and inventory optimization.  Although, it does and should include some inventory planning, like a min/max type of inventory policy, it almost never includes inventory optimization.

Think of Inventory Management as the tracking and trace-ability of inventory through out the supply chain.  A good example would be RFID tracking.  Using bar coding to track and know where your inventory is in your network at any given time is the simplest and most unique way to differentiate that which Inventory Management does, but inventory planning and optimization do not.

What is Inventory Planning?

Inventory Planning is what most companies look for to understand their inventory position and to control their inventory levels and investment.  Inventory Planning in its simplest form is included with Inventory Management.  And, an optimal inventory plan will and should include Inventory Optimization.  So, they are intertwined and Inventory Planning sits in the middle.

Back to what exactly is Inventory Planning.  From a bottoms-up perspective (i.e., item by location), it is a proactive inventory policy that defines what your cycle stock and safety stock should be.  The policies are such that they can be forward looking to help you understand where your inventory investment will be.  A typical example is calculating policies by the number of days of forecast you should order and stock, respectively (e.g., days of supply).

From a top-down perspective, Inventory Planning is the forward looking investment in inventory spend.  This is generally performed at a product category level and deemed to be your open-to-buy budget and extremely popular among retailers where working at the item by location level can be cumbersome (especially in fashion).

What is Inventory Optimization?

Inventory Optimization can be viewed as a sophisticated inventory plan.  It takes on two forms, a bottoms-up inventory plan and a top-down inventory plan.

The top-down inventory plan, if optimized, can be referred to as network optimization.  It is the optimal inventory investment for all stocking locations and all items within a distribution network.  The bottoms-up plan if optimized is referred to as multi-echelon inventory optimization.  This is the item by location inventory plan for each item at every stocking location.  To be optimized at this level, safety stock is driven by a service level target and the cycle stock is derived by the trade-off in carrying and ordering costs.  

Reconciling both the bottoms-up and top-down plan is the key to optimizing the inventory investment. The end result being a forward-looking, time-phased replenishment plan that takes into consideration how wrong the forecast is, the variability in lead-time, your service level objectives, the costs of inventory,  and the budget and investment constraints of your business.
Picture

What make the most sense for you?

Each business has its unique needs and issues. If you are looking for Inventory Management, a warehouse management software will generally have the functionality you are looking for.  But, if you are looking to manage and control your inventory spend and investment so your inventory does not get out of control, I recommend starting with the simplest approach - a top-down software like open-to-buy planning.  Start with managing your sales objectives, your purchase orders, your profit and margin targets, and from there back into an inventory budget that you are comfortable with.  Translate that budget into a prioritized list of orders, hence balancing your financial goals with your assortment.
Picture
greg marmulak | founder | dash/APPLICATIONS
a software and inventory expert, greg has been living inventory optimization for the past 18 years, working with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
​https://www.dashapplications.com/about-us.html
Picture
0 Comments

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019

    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    Amazon
    Amazon Advertising Performance
    Amazon Campaigns
    Amazon Data
    Amazon Listings
    Amazon Reporting
    Amazon Reviews
    Cycle Stock Optimization
    Inventory Exceptions
    Inventory Management
    Inventory Open To Buy
    Inventory Open-to-buy
    Inventory Optimization
    Inventory Planning
    Inventory Position
    Lead Time
    Lead-time Accuracy
    Lead Time For Forecasting
    Lead Time For Inventory
    Lead Time For Ordering
    Open-to-buy Software
    Overstocked Inventory
    Safety Stock Calculation
    Understocked Inventory

    RSS Feed

Picture
data, reporting, and tools for amazon agencies, brands, and investors

products & services

DATA STUDIO

REPORTING

ACCOUNT AUDITS

AGENCY TRAINING

ADVERTISING TRAINING
denver
boulder
fort collins
raleigh
+1 (833) dashAPP

© 2021 Dash Applications LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
sitemap
terms of use
privacy policy
copyright notice
  • home
  • solutions
    • data studio >
      • / amazon advertising data
      • / amazon operations data
    • advertising studio
  • resources
    • data studio report templates
  • services
    • account audits
    • advertising training
    • inventory consulting
  • pricing
  • more
    • community
    • release notes
    • blog
    • whitepapers
    • training
    • ---------------------
    • contact us
    • about us
    • jobs
    • ---------------------
    • join our partner program
    • refer a lead