For Retailers, Technology is Critical, Especially in a Crisis

At Sugar and Spice, a cake and candy supply and ice cream parlor in suburban Pittsburgh, the Heenan family handles inventory by sight, experience and intuition…not to mention a little luck. Employees are supposed to note which items are low on stock. At least once a week, one of the owners walks the floor, pad and pencil in hand, checking the shelves and transferring the low inventory notes from a whiteboard to the pad.

Usually, thanks to the cohesion of a tightly-organized family-run business, it works.”But, now and then,” Keith Heenan says, “we run out of something.” At a retailer that specializes in large part on all kinds of chocolate, that’s a potentially dangerous thing. “Most customers really like chocolate, and know exactly what kind they want,” Heenan concedes.

At any retail store, running out of stock has always meant missing potential sales. But now, with gas prices nationwide averaging more than $4 a gallon and product recalls becoming increasingly common, the importance of inventory management systems has taken on whole new meaning.