90% of Retailers Ignoring Lost Sales When Forecasting Data

One of the greatest benefits of digital technology is it gives businesses of all sizes insights into their operation which were previously available only to large enterprises. The 2018-19 Omni-channel Allocation and Replenishment in Fashion research study from Neogrid highlights what retailers can do with these insights.According to the study, 90% of fashion retailers don’t include historical lost sales into their forecast calculations. While in the past this data point may have been overlooked, the integration of the supply chain with digital technology now makes it critically important to pay attention to this fact.For small businesses operating in the physical and digital world, understanding each metric of their omni-channel is essential to effectively managing inventory and forecast the future growth of the company. Using the different data points which are now available to retailers provides a competitive advantage.In the press release for the report, Brian Hume, Founder and Managing Director at Martec International, expressed this very point while at the same time highlighting the low number of retailers who are not using this tool.