The world of ecommerce has experienced a significant and drastic transformation in the past three decades. As people around the globe were introduced to the internet in 1991, many experts at the time couldn’t fathom its reach and expected the ‘sensation’ to die out in a few years. Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of the Ethernet, gave the Internet a 12-month life expectancy saying, “I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.”
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These predictions were far from reality now as we know it. Ecommerce today is one of the fastest growing industries; with the rise of online shopping and the ever-growing complexities of supply chain management, businesses need reliable tools to manage inventory effectively. Technology and ecommerce have now become intertwined making it an essential component to facilitate smooth operations for businesses. Digital shelf analytics is an excellent example of how leveraging technology has allowed ecommerce brands to perform better.
That being said, a key concern for most brands in providing a seamless user experience is product availability – ensuring that items are in-stock and can be delivered to the customer on time.
Let’s look at the role technology plays in product availability and see some of the best product availability trackers in the market.
The Significance of Product Availability in Ecommerce
Shoppers today have become accustomed to finding the products they want readily available for purchase. When businesses fail to meet these expectations, it can lead to a bad user experience making customers take their business elsewhere.
Optimal product availability ensures businesses don’t lose out on customers and can capture sales opportunities, reduce stockouts, and increase revenue. Consistently delivering on product availability – having items always in stock – helps build trust with customers, encouraging repeat purchases and fostering long-term loyalty.
Technology’s Role in Ensuring Product Availability
The integration of technology into product availability via digital shelf analytics ensures that processes are streamlined and taken care of without human intervention. Some of the perks are –
- Real-Time Inventory Tracking: Advanced technology enables real-time tracking of inventory levels, providing businesses with accurate visibility into stock movement and availability.
- Automated Stock Management: Product availability trackers automate stock management processes, generating alerts for low stock levels and enabling proactive inventory replenishment.
- Multi-Channel Integration: With the proliferation of sales channels in ecommerce, technology allows seamless integration across multiple platforms, ensuring consistent inventory management and availability across channels.
- Demand Forecasting and Analytics: Data-driven technology tools utilize sophisticated algorithms and analytics to forecast demand, enabling businesses to optimize inventory levels and prevent stockouts.
- Streamlined Order Fulfillment: By integrating technology into order management systems, businesses can streamline order processing and fulfillment, reducing errors and improving delivery times.
Key Features of the Best Product Availability Trackers
For retailers with products on multiple ecommerce platforms, it’s essential to be able to track the inventory status across multiple websites to see which item is running low and needs to be replenished. A good product availability tracker will provide this data and other features to prioritize are –
Source: Priceva
- Real-Time Inventory Visibility: Look for a product availability tracker that provides accurate, real-time visibility into inventory levels across all sales channels.
- Automated Alerts and Notifications: An effective tracker should offer automated alerts for low stock levels, allowing businesses to take immediate action to replenish inventory.
- Integration Capabilities: Choose a tracker that seamlessly integrates with your ecommerce platform, marketplaces, and other sales channels to ensure accurate inventory synchronization.
- Demand Forecasting and Analytics: The best trackers leverage data analytics to forecast demand, helping businesses optimize inventory levels and prevent stockouts.
- Reporting and Insights: Look for a tracker that offers comprehensive reporting and insights, allowing businesses to analyze sales trends, monitor product performance, and identify opportunities for improvement.
The Best Product Availability Trackers
- Priceva – allows users to analyze product assortment, get customizable reporting, and even track the availability of different products. The software also provides a notification that shares if certain products are running low, allowing you to replenish items on time.
- 42Signals – leveraging digital shelf analytics, 42Signals helps you track KPIs like the share of search, product availability, pricing-related analytics, and reviews to amplify your online growth. It also provides insights on product assortment that tracks your product listings and performance.
- Intelligence Node – is another product availability tracker that improves conversions by tracking inventory daily, managing it, and maintaining optimum stock levels. It also notifies you when your inventory is low and streamlines reordering and quantity forecasting, so you’re always prepared.
Conclusion
Technology is ingrained in most industries today, operating without it or not using the tools available at your disposal can set you up for failure. Product availability in that regard allows businesses to effectively monitor and manage inventory, reduce stockouts, and deliver a seamless shopping experience.
Most brands are familiar with the competitiveness of the market. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out and get your audience’s attention with the intense competition in every segment. Platforms like 42Signals make the process a bit easier and allow your brand to get the advantage it deserves. To know more, contact our sales team at sales@42signals.com
