Blog written by Kayla Berry
What’s one universal challenge that all retailers and suppliers face? The cost of lost or damaged goods, stolen items, and mishandled inventory—commonly referred to as shrink. While shrink can provide valuable insights into performance and operational costs, excessive shrink can strain relationships and erode trust between partners.
Fintech’s scan-based trading (SBT) product helps clients mitigate shrink costs with reliable data, in-depth analysis, and actionable solutions crafted by our SBT subject matter experts. Let’s explore a real-world example of how our Inventory Management reporting helps partners reduce liabilities and improve outcomes.
The Challenge: Pinpointing and Eliminating the Root Causes of Shrink
When a grocery client and their ice supplier faced a significant increase in shrink costs, they turned to Fintech for support. Through our Inventory Management program, we developed a strategic action plan to address the root causes of shrink and implement meaningful shrink mitigation strategies.
The Solution: Using SBT Reporting and Data-Driven Inventory Management
Using Fintech’s SBT reporting, the partners identified stores and regions with consistently high shrink rates. These detailed reviews uncovered key issues:
- In hotter climates, ice bags were melting before delivery
- Customers were frequently taking more bags than they paid for
- One outlier store was even using delivered ice to cool in-store products
With these insights, the partners were able to address and resolve these challenges quickly and effectively.
The Results: Higher Sales, Lower Shrink, and Optimized Retail Operations
With Fintech’s comprehensive reporting and expert guidance, the supplier and retailer tracked delivery discrepancies, resolved data anomalies, and implemented corrective measures. The results? Year-over-year quarterly comparisons showed a 100% increase in sales volume and a 50% reduction in shrink.
The Fintech Portal: Real-Time Reporting for Supplier-Retailer Alignment
Today, SBT clients have access to the Fintech portal, a powerful tool that provides transparency into POS and delivery data. Combined with our expertise, this empowers clients to protect margins, achieve their revenue goals, and unlock new opportunities. From shrink reduction to sales growth and stronger trading partner relationships, SBT delivers a sequential impact that supports stability and growth.
The Fintech portal offers:
- Detailed insights into individual trading partners and category performance
- Clear KPI goals, progress tracking, and performance indicators
- Cross-category reporting and year-over-year trend analysis to identify patterns in key business areas like store locations and product categories
Using SBT for Managing Categories with High Shrink and Low Sales Predictability
Whether managing perishable goods, high-volume consumables, or high-shrink items like ice, Fintech’s SBT provides solutions for retailers and other partners to reduce losses effectively. In cases like ice distribution, Fintech helps retailers reduce ice inventory shrink and maintain consistent availability while decreasing operational waste. These same benefits can be applied to other high-maintenance categories as well.
You can read more about using SBT to manage these types of categories in our other blog.
Ready to Reduce Shrink and Optimize Inventory Performance?
Contact our sales team today or fill out the form below to learn how our accurate reporting, shrink analytics, and advanced inventory management solutions can help your organization unlock higher margins and stronger partnerships.
