Ned Flanders wrote:
Tegger wrote:
Molly wrote in news:583f6164-8d8b-4092-
:

Is it more profitable to stop stocking the shelves a month before an
inventory like Home Depot does so that you have less to count so that
you don’t have to pay as much in wages for the inventory personnel or
to keep stocking the shelves so that you make-up the time/money you
lose doing the inventory by selling as much as possible?




Inventory and shrinkage (theft) monitoring are considered routine
costs of
doing business.

It would be more profitable to always have fully-stocked shelves so
consumers can buy things. Any retailer will tell you that the absolute
worst thing you can have happen at retail is to have empty shelves.

Agreed - I have 30 years in Retail Grocery.


Lack of stock means lack of sales. And those potential lost sales (plus
lost consumer confidence) would cost far more than the wages paid to
inventory that same product.

True, but there are limits, excess backstock can be very costly (product
going out of date, damaged, too many high theft items displayed thus
lost when boosted, and employee theft or grazing in the backroom).



Stores are rated by their sales per-square-foot of sales-floor space.
Empty
shelves severely cut into that number. In fact, you can tell the
better-run
stores because they're more likely to always have full shelves.

Our stores are measured by sales per man hour. Shrink is compared
against sales and lineal footage.


For examples of two retailers who are probably the best in the
business at
keeping product on the shelf, see Staples and Costco.

By the way, shelves are stocked regularly as they empty, which can be
up to
several times a day for very high-volume product.


Temperature control, service, in stock position, rotation, inventory
control, and anti-theft are all important.

Aldi has a neat set up. A lot of the frozen and dairy stuff is in
racks and shoved up to the doors from inside the walk in. Two people
can run the whole store. No baggers, no bags, you bring your own or use
one of the used boxes from the store, put a quarter in to get the
shopping cart and you get your quarter back when you park it back in the
rack. Limited selection but great prices. The store here is clean and
fast check out. Cash or debit card only, no checks or credit cards.
http://www.aldifoods.com/us/html/com...?WT.z_src=main
The Walmart here, sorry sorry sorry, half the time the isles are blocked
by the restocking crew and the prices are among the highest in town. But
they are open 24 hours a day and that I like.
Inventory? Gotta count the chickens and eggs to know if any are
missing and who isn't laying and if all the eggs are making it to the
basket. If there is loss (and there will be) the earlier it's caught the
better.