Wayfair and Dick’s Sporting Goods are both using real-time inventory data to appeal to customers, and they are reaping the rewards for doing so. The Strategy Both Wayfair and Dick’s improved the level of detail they provide to customers regarding real-time inventory and supply chain. This required them to use technological and operational agility to ensure customers get accurate data.

The Reasons

As the pandemic got underway, Dick’s Sporting Goods realized that customers were less willing to wait for products than they had been before. For example, they would be willing to drive an extra 10 minutes to get the set of dumbbells they wanted that day instead of having to wait. Or they would opt to drive and pick up an item that day instead of waiting for two-day shipping.

Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Solution

Based on this trend, Dick’s decided to make some adjustments to appeal to these preferences. The company had already taken the first step since 2013 when it began shipping certain online orders right from stores. This meant that there was already some relevant data. However, it still needed to make changes, including increasing the scope and accuracy of the inventory data. Most importantly, the company’s tech team knew that it needed to show website visitors the relevant data accurately, even with record website traffic. The result was months of working to connect the stores and warehouses with the website.

Wayfair’s Solution

As Wayfair doesn’t have any physical stores and solely operates online, it took a different approach. There was an increase in shopping for home items due to the increase in time spent at home. But there were also delays in delivery and production.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Wayfair recognized that the supply chain was causing issues. Luckily, Wayfair had already worked hard to build up its supply chain as well as its logistics and warehouse capacity. The company found itself shifting from on-premise tech to Google Cloud. Luckily, it made the swap right before the pandemic as part of its planning, which set it up for success.

Why It Matters

If the same general strategy of providing real-time inventory data can work well for two incredibly different retailers that target unique market segments, it is safe to assume that most other retailers can also benefit from it. Retailers with the ability to implement something similar should take their lead and test a similar solution. Given the incredibly different ways that Wayfair and Dick’s approached the challenge, other retailers should be able to find their own solution as well.

Source: https://www.retaildive.com/news/Dicks-Wayfair-supply-chain-data-pandemic/593620/