Research shows that retailers’ inventory numbers are accurate only 35 to 45 per cent of the time, and merchandise is out-of-stock 10-12 per cent of the time. As a result, retailers face margin-reducing pressures across a variety of fronts, including lost sales due to out-of-stocks, lost sales of items that would have been purchased along with the out-of-stock item, end-of-season markdowns caused b …[more]