Author: Nick Scheffers
Date of publishing: 1 April 2026
If I’ve learned one thing from working in the retail industry, it’s that ‘downtime’ is a real scarcity.
Every year, merchandisers and assortment planners are doing the retail equivalent of running back-to-back marathons. And it’s exhausting!
Peak season is the final mile of this race, and it takes every effort to push your assortment across the finish line.
If there is a moment of quiet, you can’t relax – that time is desperately needed for clearing a backlog of ‘low priority’ inventory management tasks.
So, it makes sense that it never feels like a good time to make a shift to a new system, even if it could help you spend less time on inventory management in the future.
If you’ve ever considered using algorithmically optimized inventory management, but are reluctant to disrupt your rhythm and processes, then this newsletter is for you.
In this newsletter, I will outline a phased approach that allows retailers to implement algorithmically driven inventory decisions (and see the benefits) without presenting a risk to your business.
Getting unstuck from manual inventory management
Tried-and-tested manual systems may feel familiar and reliable, but these systems are both more error-prone, and time-intensive.
Merchandisers and assortment planners know this. And they know there’s a better way: algorithmically driven inventory management. This can orchestrate decisions for millions of SKUs, and can save endless hours of effort.
The problem is that they’re stuck, because they’re already spending far too much time on manual adjustments and inventory management.
The good news is you don’t need to make a dramatic shift to a new solution. Instead, a more successful strategy is to take a phased approach.
I’ve seen firsthand that this can even be implemented in the middle of the busiest periods, and still deliver remarkable results.
4 steps to implement AI inventory management the easy way:
Step 1: Structural setup
At Thunderstock, we always start with an initial setup of our technology for your system and your existing ERPs. The initial rollout uses a proof-of-concept to reduce risk, validate functionality, and allow you to start getting a handle on how to use it.
Step 2: Incremental product activation
The next step is a phased activation of items within Thunderstock, one-by-one. This should start with a pilot product, because this irons out any creases and ensures connections with your ERP meet expectations.
Step 3: Monitoring and adjustment
With each additional activated product, monitoring ensures you can fine-tune business rules. This ensures that inventory decisions truly reflect your fundamental business realities and operational constraints, like warehouse capacities or MOQs.
Step 4: Ongoing optimization
The next phase is to continue optimizing your customized system with increasingly sophisticated and fine-grained rules and settings. These allow you to define behaviors for different product groups or specific stores or channels. We can advise you on these, if needed.
To get the best results, I also recommend these tips:
First, embrace the mindset shift. This is needed to abandon ‘micro’ processes like adjusting stock for each item and store manually. Instead, focus on the ‘macro’ picture by adjusting the system that controls these decisions.
Then, use macro-level dashboards. Old habits die hard. Using macro-level dashboards and insights is crucial. It will help you take system-level action in the most impactful way.
Start thinking in business rules to drive decisions. Your initial setup of Thunderstock will include foundational business rules that generate stable and good decisions from the outset. To continue optimizing results, you must start thinking about your operational setup in terms of business rules.
Use our support and knowledge. Good advice and support from day one is a significant factor in your success, so Thunderstock offers a comprehensive onboarding and training process. This way, your team embarks on its optimization journey with the help of an experienced guide and at the right pace.
When do you see results from a phased approach?
So, what results can you expect from this new system once it’s up and running, and when?
I’ve analyzed the results from retailers using Thunderstock, and just in the first year it can reduce missed sales by nearly half, decrease investment in stock by 30% and increase margins by up to 5%.
With real-time visibility across millions of SKU/Channel combinations and the ability to adjust the settings for each item, you can immediately see which business rules come into play and what the predicted results would be.
It’s not a ‘big bang’, but it is an immediate result.
This kind of real-time feedback is a huge advantage. With a shorter feedback loop, you can experiment, iterate, optimize, and then scale with total clarity about the results.
It’s a huge strategic benefit, because within minutes you can see new ways to maximize sell-through and margins.
You will, of course, need to invest some time in learning how to get the most from your customized setup. However, Thunderstock’s phased approach means that this can fit around your available time and resources.
Furthermore, this investment pays hefty dividends: it claws back time, improves performance, and increases free cash flow.
So, perhaps the question shouldn’t be “How soon will I see the results?”, but rather “How soon can I start?”
Until the next edition,
Nick.
Quote: I’ve analyzed the results from retailers using Thunderstock, and just in the first year it can reduce missed sales by nearly half, decrease investment in stock by 30% and increase margins by up to 5%.
