In today’s consumer-driven retail landscape, shoppers expect to get what they want, when they want it. If a product isn’t available, they’ll quickly turn to online options or competitors. To stay competitive, retailers must keep assortments fresh and appealing—while also managing tight margins and minimizing inventory costs.

For the past two decades, retailers have benefited from historically low interest rates, making it easier to carry inventory. But with the cost of capital rising, there’s increasing pressure to find new ways to free up cash and improve financial flexibility.

This is where ReposiTrak’s modernized SBT model offers a significant advantage. Under SBT, the supplier retains ownership of the inventory until it is sold. That means the retailer doesn’t need to tie up capital funds by purchasing inventory upfront as they would in a traditional DSD model. In today’s economic climate, this shift can make a meaningful difference – freeing up funds that can be reinvested in growth, operations or digital innovation

Make the assessment: Is SBT right for your retail operation?

If you’re looking for ways to reduce inventory to free up more for CapEx (as well as to reduce out-of-stocks and shrink) ask yourself:

  • Are rising labor costs, staffing shortages, and high inventory carrying costs forcing you to play it safe with your product mix?
  • In a time when customers crave variety and fresh experiences, are you holding back from introducing new items or vendors because the risk feels too high?
  • Could your conservative buying strategy be costing you sales – and loyalty – without you realizing it?
  • What if you could test new products without tying up capital or taking on inventory risk?
  • What are the benefits to my valued suppliers if I moved to a different method of managing work together?
  • What if you could see real-time sales and delivery information by day, by store and by item?

Why do Retailers Use ReposiTrak for SBT and Managing Out-of-Stocks?

ReposiTrak is the inventor of third-party Scan-based Trading, with solutions that have been used and refined for more than 20 years. Retailers, wholesalers and suppliers have leveraged ReposiTrak SBT to improve product assortment and product availability to grow sales while also reducing costs.

The ReposiTrak solution is cloud-based, with no need for new hardware or maintenance, and no need to install new software. Retailers see greater efficiencies in DSD receiving, lower operating expenses, fewer out-of-stocks, no-hassle payments and increases in sales.

The Top 10 Ways ReposiTrak Scan-based Trading Helps Retailers to Increase Sales:

  1. Free up working capital to invest in resets, store improvements or other capital projects.
  2. Increased sales by having the right products in the right stores on the right days.
  3. Sell product without the upfront capital investment in inventory.
  4. Reduce out-of-stocks.
  5. Reduce bottlenecks at receiving, leading to trimmed payroll expenditures and/or reallocation of labor.
  6. Drastically reduce invoice discrepancies using data-of-record cost and authorization, leading to trimmed accounting expenditures.
  7. See sales information in near real time.
  8. Introduce new products and categories without the risk, while improving speed to market.
  9. Gain adoption faster, eliminating upfront buyback requirement.
  10. Use a sales volume-based, pre-agreed loss allowance percentage to enable more predictable loss projections for finance team.