Inventory Levels

 A lot of retailers this time of year draw their inventory down for the year end of 1/31/09. They have to pay taxes on the goods they have on hand. Some retailers also turn off the replinshment of slower selling goods base of  rate of sale and historical data. The economy  or money is always tight this time of year due to the previous Christmas season and the paying off  part of the credit cards that were used for the Dec.purchases. There is always the TAX man commenth. DO I pay or do I get a refund. Some folks will put off spending until taxes are done as well as spend when the tax checks start to flow in. Stores also use this time to sale of clearence as well as force the sale of some slower goods over another good.

With the economy going South as it has been the last few months retailers are more careful what and the amount of goods they put into their stores. There is always the Web site to order off of.

You are correct in no one wants to shop in a store that looks as if it is going out of business. Companies will give up a sale here and there due to an item not being in stock in all stores or select stores. Just think about a $500 white good in all locations . Now, that is a lot of bucks in the stores for an item that may have a poor record of sales in previous years in the current month.

Just some information as I have been out of the Kmart end since mid 95.

I enjoy your post, Keep them coming.

Birddog

Thanks for the feedback.  I understand why stores lower inventory, but in this situation we are talking about basics not being available.  I consider batteries a basic item -- and something that doesn't cost a lot to stock.

This has been a problem that Kmart has faced for a while now, and it seems to be creeping over to Sears.  When you go into a store and can't find half the items you are looking for people are not going to bother to come back -- they are simply going to shop elsewhere.  Kmart has gotten better at keeping inventory up, but now it seems Sears is slipping.  A worrisome sign.

 

You are right, batteries are basic. All retailers should keep their staple goods in stock. That is where their bread and butter is. You are also right about the folks not coming back to shop. They may forgive you once or perhaps twice for being out but not 3 times in a row. Just like baseball, 3 strikes and you are out no matter what the reason is. Hope you have a good weeken. iIhave to go in at high noon tomorrow to closing and have to my Sunday.

Perhaps Michelina could push it on up about the stores inv levels for you.  Sometines one can get to low in inv levels and this begins the downward spiral of lost customer base, sales, profit etc etc.

Are inventory levels around the country neglected or is it just the store I see everyday?  The region I work in has access to a great deal of business.  We are not in a luxurious area at all.  But it is a great market for Sears when you look at the big picture.  You see the Battlefield Mall is the ONLY mall for people to shop.  People drive for hours from every direction to buy things from us there.  You don't see many consumers driving that far and leaving without what they wanted or anything at all.  They have looked at ads, maybe will use coupons, and if they can't pay cash will consider credit cards a viable option.  A good jewelry store there does 10mil/year out of the same number of jewelry cases(roughly) you'd find at a particular Sears.  They get a large bulk of those numbers by having the basic selection everyone has plus their advertised merchandise.  Everything else is gravy......  On that note I'd like to see Sears pay commision on repairs since they are a source of revenue that seems lost in translation.  If no one is buying they are repairing.

Would you agree that watch batteries are a staple?  Watch batteries are $9.95 at most jewelery stores, yet sears doesn't seem to take advantage of that.  Very few watch batteries cost more than a dollar, meaning they are all profit.  Sears can then recycle all their used batteries for a nice chunk of change at the end of the year as well.  Sales floors get a good opportunity from basic services because the person is tied down getting their watch battery replaced.  That is an opportunity to sell them something else. 

i dont know about commison but i know they are paid better hourly then most store level employees which is sad given then number of times i saw something come back from service still broken or even worse then when it left i we at the store would fix it for the customer since they already waited 1-2 weeks to get it back

There is excellent gross profit in watch batteries even at $3.97 as well as the watch band replacement pens that you pay little to nothing for and can sale for 50 cents to a $1. The 392 use to be one of the better numbers of watch batteries.. One also needs to look at the battery that goes inside a desktop.These go out and you have to have a new one or each time you turn your computer on you have a probelm.

It only takes a minute or two to change out a watch battery and this service brings back customers to your battery departent or jewelry department. It is all about sales at a profit which is generated by in stocks as well as SERVICE. 

Well, from what I am hearing, Wal-Mart is also cutting back on inventory levels.  So at least Sears isn't alone.  Something has to give in this economy and soon or we are all going to be sitting on the street.

went to K-mart in Florence,SC today. Wanted to get a lot of new things for our home, but saddly there was not really alot to choise from. i mean they had items for sale just not a lot of different things. So saddly we left with only a few things on our list.

trucks at my store were still fairly large last week but it was mostly new set up heard a few complaints from coworkers that the stuff they needed/ordered wasant coming in

Physical Inventory

Counting time is coming to the store this March.

I would imagine you are seeing some Store Managers' attempts to keep their counting effort/ carrying cost to a minimum.

The store I work in has the stockroom in back, an intermediate tool storage area, and the display floor.

You would not BELIEVE how many trips we make keeping the hooks stocked, when there aren't too many Customers to serve!

Management does NOT like seeing those little white ON ORDER-COMING SOON tags on too many hooks.

How many tape measures do people need anyway?

:)

 Half-price sales on tape measures will do that.

 The best thing is stocking something on a previously "empty" hook.

We've got lots of batteries. Die Hard or Energizers.

The only real inventory problem the store I work at is having is on items that are advertised in REPEATED sales promotions.

The $39.99 Craftsman Reciprocating saw was gone, 1/2 way into the FIRST promotion.

Now, with it advertised for a second period, in a row, we have "three" on order.

We have LOTS of batteries, LOTS of tape measures, and I just wheeled out over a dozen boxes of assorted Home Improvement items, for Associates to stock.

Now, if there are not enough Associates scheduled to work on the Sales Floor AND do stocking, that would be another issue...