Build a real-time retail supply chain

  • Artikkel

Microsoft Cloud for Retail helps you optimize your supply chain with tools for multichannel fulfillment and inventory management.

Demand planning and optimization

Demand planning optimization ensures correct inventory distribution at all points of the supply chain, from factory lines to shipping. The real-time planning engine can be configured and automated to optimize replenishment based on priority.

By having access to real-time inventory visibility, you can increase service levels and reduce inventory levels:

  • Predict demand with intelligence from sales, marketing, external news, and events to plan for a dynamic and shifting market.
  • Build agile distribution and manufacturing processes with real-time, cross-channel, inventory visibility.
  • Automate replenishment with real-time planning based on order priorities, forecasts, and stock levels.
  • Reduce waste and unnecessary emissions from your supply chain by ensuring inventory doesn’t exceed demand.

Supply chain visibility

Improving visibility is key to a robust supply chain. Retailers are sitting on a treasure trove of data from across their supply chain, and many can't use it to their full advantage. You can start with intelligent decision making and expect streamlined collaboration with centralized management.

By using demand and supply signals, you can reduce stockouts, automate and optimize fulfillment, and boost sustainability:

  • Perform AI-powered analytics to predict and mitigate stock-outs with recommended next best actions.
  • Predict supply constraints by gaining visibility into the supplier’s supply chain securely.
  • Automate and optimize fulfillment with rules-based orchestration, real-time inventory management, and AI.
  • Boost sustainability and identify opportunities to drive efficiencies, reduce emissions, and design-out waste.

Flexible fulfillment

Flexible fulfillment helps meet your growing digital commerce needs and scale easily while supporting the latest fulfillment methods.

By optimizing order management, you can give customers choices across channels:

  • Simplify payment processing and customer notifications and streamline curbside pickup and buy-online-pickup-in-store operations
  • Provide real-time inventory and order status so customers have complete visibility into purchases from order to delivery.
  • Gain greater control of the entire order lifecycle using customizable, integrated dashboards.
  • Build agile distribution processes with rapid deployment of automated warehouses to fulfill ever-changing demand on time.