Helen Schepanik
Key takeaways
- 14:51Fresh products can account for up to 60 percent of a retailer’s turnover even when the category contains fewer SKUs than other categories.
- 19:11Deliveries, write-offs and supplier returns should ideally be recorded in the ERP system on the same day, or no later than the following day.
- 24:26Projected stock should account for residual shelf life and use a LIFO assumption that customers select the freshest goods first.
- 27:46Fresh replenishment should reflect each product-location pair’s weekly demand pattern and the precise delivery slot, including the time of day.
- 35:40Retailers should monitor write-offs and identify cases where minimum order quantities exceed expected shelf-life sales or delivery lead times exceed residual shelf life.
Questions Helen Schepanik answered
Helen recommends same-day recording as the ideal. Where operations make that impossible, records should be completed no later than the following day.
TOP-5 specifics of Fresh category Inventory Management in grocery retail19:11
Mature data allows retailers to use more advanced forecasting methods. The greatest benefit is in promotion forecasting, where machine learning and AI can predict promotional demand from reliable historical data.
TOP-5 specifics of Fresh category Inventory Management in grocery retail22:20
The coefficients should be calculated automatically within the ordering algorithm to avoid manual effort and errors. They must be specific to each product and store because demand also depends on location, store format and delivery timing.
TOP-5 specifics of Fresh category Inventory Management in grocery retail28:51
In Helen Schepanik's words
“With the proper management of this category, a retailer can improve turnover, earn more and attract customers to the store, since the fresh category is a traffic-generating one.”
TOP-5 specifics of Fresh category Inventory Management in grocery retail17:03
“With incorrect data in the input, good quality shouldn't be expected at the output.”
TOP-5 specifics of Fresh category Inventory Management in grocery retail18:07
“What gets measured gets managed.”
TOP-5 specifics of Fresh category Inventory Management in grocery retail37:49