Strategic Advisor | CPG Strategy & RGM | Trade Promotion & Connected Planning (Anaplan/Pigment) | AI Prompt Engineering | CX & eCommerce SME
We've all been there - you see a great deal advertised, rush to the store, and find...an empty shelf with a sale tag mocking you. The other day I was shopping at my favorite grocery retailer and I had this exact situation. This retailer arguably has some of the best POS data available. And the OOS product was from arguably one of the most sophisticated CPGs. It is 2025 - why are promotional out-of-stocks STILL a problem? It's easy to blame out-of-stocks on a bad promotional plan or a faulty demand plan. But what if the plans were solid...and the failure came somewhere else? Maybe the product is sitting in the backroom on a pallet. Maybe it never made it to the store floor. Maybe the data that informed the plan was flawed to begin with - the ghost of a past out-of-stock dragging down the forecast. And here's the kicker: this single OOS could represent hundreds of lost units and disappointed consumers who may switch brands. Studies show promotional out-of-stocks can be 2-3x more damaging than regular stockouts because consumer expectations are heightened. Now this out-of-stock will further depress the sales signal, distorting the next cycle's plan. The ghost grows stronger. We chase optimization. We layer on AI. But how often do we stop and ask: - Was this a planning miss or an execution breakdown? - Is our demand signal clean, or clouded by past failures? - Are we fixing the forecast, when we should be fixing the shelf? This is where connected planning is supposed to shine. But unless we connect the full chain - not just Finance and Sales, but Brand, Demand Planning, and Retail Execution - we're just automating dysfunction. What's the most frustrating promotional out-of-stock you've encountered? Was it a planning problem or execution failure? Thanks to Daniel Vanden Brink for his input and insights. #TradePromotionManagement #SupplyChain #ConnectedPlanning
Partner @ Decision Spot | Analytics, Supply Chain Strategy
3wThank you David for recognition and great overview of some of the gaps in SC planning and execution that still exist despite billions invested in planning systems over the past 30 years