Phantom Inventory | Overview

App Overview: 

For Replenishment teams and for those responsible for In-store Merchandising efforts, Seek's Phantom Inventory app is a powerful way to track, understand and correct inventory accuracy across your retailer network. 

Developed by industry experts, this app takes a metrics-based approach to examine your daily system inventory and sales history to derive estimates of how much the inventory has been reduced by shrinkage or system inaccuracies. 

With Seek's Phantom Inventory app, gain a deeper understanding of your true inventory levels and take proactive measures to prevent future stock discrepancies. 

App Benefits: 

  • Quickly identify system inaccuracies
  • Take corrective action and unblock product flowing to the store
  • Understand and identify Phantom Inventory trends over time, allowing for faster corrective action

 

Key Metrics: 

  • System Inventory: Count of on hand inventory reported by the store system
  • Estimated Inventory:  Estimate of on hand inventory based on phantom recorded inventory. 
  • Phantom Inventory: Count of on hand inventory that is considered “phantom” (aka over reported units that aren’t actually at the store location) 
  • Inventory Accuracy:  Comparison of reported inventory vs estimated inventory expressed as a percentage
  • System Reported Out of Stock Instances: Number of instances the system reported 0 on hand quantity
  • Estimated Out of Stock Instances: Number of instances the system reported 0 on hand quantity
  • Out of Stock Lost Dollars:  Reported Dollars lost from inventory not in stock
  • Estimated Out of Stock Lost Dollars: Estimated Dollars lost from inventory not in stock

 

Actions You Can Take: 

  • Remove Phantom Inventory: One of the most important actions businesses and retailers can take using the Phantom Inventory app is to identify and remove phantom inventory from their system. This can be achieved by conducting physical inventory counts and comparing them to the inventory levels in the system.
    • Talk with a Replenishment manager to show PI quantity by store
    • Connect with Buyer to Highlight lost sales 
    • In store Merch Team- send list to broker manager to direct and guide rep to stores that have PI- reps can make change in store 
  • Improve Inventory Management Processes: The Phantom Inventory app can help businesses and retailers identify weaknesses in their inventory management processes. This information can be used to improve processes and reduce the likelihood of phantom inventory in the future.