Insights Support Category and Supply Chain Collaboration to Address Inventory Shortages

Supply Chain

A leading supermarket chain observed poor in-stock conditions for its front-end gum and mints. Initial reviews by the supply chain team did not indicate inventory or supply constraint. The category team wanted to understand if sales had improved, causing shipments to lag increased consumer demand.

Circana demonstrated that overall sales of gum and mints had recently softened, so increased sales of these products were not causing reduced in-stock conditions. Front-end items have multiple placements, and some metrics indicate total in-stocks but do not consider individual register issues. By reviewing the right metrics, we showed a declining trend in available inventory coinciding with slowing sales trends.

The retailer’s category team shared the latest sales trends with its supply chain team, and these groups collaborated to address the inventory shortages. This change improved in-stock percentages and decreased potential lost sales due to low on-hand inventory.