Forecasting & Inventory Management Benchmarking ShareGroup
New Online Format
Membership fee is $750 per company - receive a $50 credit card payment discount – see details below!
As forecasting and inventory managers, you are responsible for a company’s largest asset. Inventory management and forecasting are strategic issues. Companies that recognize this fact can typically provide higher levels of service to their customers and post higher profits. Developing a comprehensive inventory strategy involves a number of departments — including fulfillment, marketing, and merchandising — as well as inventory control. It also involves implementing inventory best practices. At the Forecasting & Inventory Management Benchmarking ShareGroup we will be concentrating on the forecasting, marketing, merchandising, and inventory management side of the business.
Register for the Forecasting & Inventory Management ShareGroup
What is an Online Benchmarking ShareGroup?
An online ShareGroup has a few important parts to it: 1) benchmarking metrics and output reports, 2) online forum for hot topic discussions and strategic planning, and 3) online networking opportunities with other directors and managers of forecasting, merchandising, and inventory departments.
ShareGroup Overview, Format and Schedules
FCBCO will immediately begin collecting the raw data necessary for developing the analysis and metrics with a due date for the initial group of October 9. From the raw data collection, FCBCO will be developing a whole series of comparative analysis for each of the ShareGroup members and will deliver these on October 16th to each member. Below are examples of the outputs. Your data is protected and be on a blind basis, meaning your company will never be identified within the data.
In addition, FCBCO will be scheduling calls with your company to understand your data better and to understand what your major inventory initiatives are and what "hot topic" question you may have for the other members. These calls will occur prior to development and distribution of the final analysis and metrics.
Upon the distribution of the analysis and metrics, FCBCO will conduct a 2 hour online webinar to review and discuss the analysis and trends that we see within the data. This initial call to review the data and results is scheduled for October 21st.
FCBCO will also conduct a monthly conference call to discuss hot topics and isues submitted in advance by the various ShareGroup members. This will offer each member the chance to network with peers and learn from other companies, these will also be online in the members only discussion forums - including the results of the previous monthly discussions. The online forums will also be used for members to communicate and ask questions to other members in between the calls.
Benchmarking Metrics and Output Reports
FCBCO will be developing output reports and metric to compare various metrics between online ShareGroup member companies - again, on a blind basis protecting your company's data. Below are some examples of how you will be able to compare your company against others:
- Initial item fill rate
- Final item fill rate
- Initial order fill rate
- Final order fill rate
- Return percent
- Inventory turns
- Sales to stock ratios
- Cancellation percent
- How many styles and SKU's are managed per inventory FTE
- Net sales per inventory FTE
- Inventory payroll as a percent of net sales
- Discontinued inventory as a percent of inventory value
- Peak week to average week inventory
- Cost to process backordered units
- Percent of new versus repeated products by sales channel
- Average hourly base pay rates by inventory function
- Methods of liquidation
- Inventory sourcing - domestic versus import
- Gross margin return on investment (GMROI)
- Maintained gross margin and inventory write-down/markdown
- And more...
These metrics and benchmarks are to be used as a “barometer” at your company to identify where you stand at this particular time and where you should focus your attention to maximize improvements within your inventory department. The detailed data and profiles will provide actionable benchmarks for forecasting, merchandising, and inventory departments. None of the data will be tied to your particular company, except through a code that only your company knows, in order to protect the company and their data being shared. All of the required data will be collected via FCBCO’s proprietary data collection templates.
Online Forum Hot Topics Discussions, Strategic Planning, and Networking
The Forecasting & Inventory Management ShareGroup has a new online format that allows forecasting, merchandising, and inventory managers to discuss online benchmarking data and output reports; inventory hot topics and issues; and best practices in catalog and eCommerce businesses. A ShareGroup is an online forum for peer-to-peer exchange of ideas and discussions where each member company can post and respond to as many questions as you would like to on the forum.
Each member company that pays the annual ShareGroup fee can share the assigned username and password to all interested members within your organization. In order to protect your membership and the membership fee that your company has paid, we urge you to not share the username and password with anyone outside your organization.
In conjunction with the online forum, each ShareGroup member company is invited in participating in our conference call with all other members. Each member company is asked about their areas of interest so that these hot topics can begin to develop the meeting’s agenda. The final hot topic list and conference call agenda will be available to each member company prior to the ShareGroup conference call.
Register for the Forecasting & Inventory Management ShareGroup
Who is Eligible to Participate?
Member companies of the Forecasting & Inventory Management Benchmarking ShareGroup must have annual net sales of $10 million or higher, drop-ship less than 40% of your inventory, and be able to share with the group in an open but confidential basis about industry best practices that work or don’t work at your company.
Who Should Be A Member Company to this Online ShareGroup?
This online ShareGroup is developed for Vice President Merchandising Operations, Directors of Inventory, Inventory Control Managers, Inventory Re-buyers, Inventory Analysts, Inventory Forecasting Managers, Inventory Liquidation Managers, Purchasing Managers, Vice President Operations, and anyone else concerned about appropriately managing your business’ inventory.
Membership in this Forecasting & Inventory Management Benchmarking ShareGroup does not require that your company divulge any competitive information on merchandising, marketing, or pricing strategies. It does, however, require your commitment to actively and openly share data and hot topic issues discussions in exchanges with other members of the ShareGroup.
From the data collected, your company will be able to assess how your forecasting, merchandising, and inventory management department(s) measures up to other companies.
You will also be able to discover and discuss, in the online forum and conference calls, ideas that will help you improve your forecasting, merchandising, and inventory management department(s) and implement new methods and concepts with greater confidence.
Forecasting & Inventory Management ShareGroup Fee: $750 for each member company. The fee covers the benchmarking output reports and comparisons, the use of the online forum discussions for one year from joining, and the participation in conference call discussions. After you register and receive our invoice for payment, you will receive a discount of $50 off the fee when you pay using your credit card. This payment must be received within 3 business days of registering for the ShareGroup.
Register for the Forecasting & Inventory Management ShareGroup
Please contact Jeff Barry via email or call him at 804.740.8743 with any additional questions you might have.
2009 Forecasting & Inventory Management Benchmarking ShareGroup Registration
Fill out the form below to reserve your spot.
