A well-known home appliance enterprise was nearly crushed by inventory, and a clothing giant with 40 billion yuan in sales hit a growth plateau. That was until they found the same key.

In 2023, the chairman of a well-known home appliance enterprise discovered a terrifying phenomenon—despite seemingly booming performance, the company’s warehouses were overflowing with unsellable products. The multi-tiered distribution system caused inventory to snowball, pushing the company’s cash flow to the brink of collapse.

It was the “omni-channel unified inventory” model that brought this enterprise back to life.

Similarly, a clothing enterprise with 4 billion yuan in sales encountered a growth bottleneck. After adopting a “unified inventory” digital solution, it not only increased transaction volume by over 15% but also saved a significant amount on warehousing and logistics costs. This is the charm of omni-channel unified inventory, which is quietly transforming the competitive rules of the retail industry.

I. What is Omni-channel Unified Inventory? Why Has It Become a Lifesaver for the Retail Industry?

Under traditional retail models, enterprises need to set up separate inventory for different sales channels such as online and offline, making it difficult for these inventories to be interconnected and shared. This “multi-inventory” model not only ties up a large amount of inventory capital but also severely affects product turnover efficiency.

During major promotional events, it’s common to see a situation where a product is already sold out in one channel while a large amount of inventory remains unsold in another. Worse still, there have been absurd cases where “same-city” orders could not be fulfilled by “same-city” warehouses.

As an innovative inventory management strategy, the core concept of omni-channel unified inventory is to centrally manage all of an enterprise’s inventory resources, enabling unified allocation and optimization. Simply put, it involves placing all online and offline product inventories in a single layout, connecting all sales channels, and achieving omni-channel inventory sharing and unified allocation.

Unlike the “unified inventory” solutions proposed by JD.com or logistics companies, a complete omni-channel unified inventory solution starts from the perspective of a chain brand’s omni-channel retail business (private domain + public domain). It relies on intelligent operation middleware and system integration services to build a digital solution for brand enterprises that features omni-channel inventory visualization, unification, as well as automated and intelligent operations.

The evolution of omni-channel retail can progress from single-channel, multi-channel, and cross-channel to omni-channel. Currently, for brand merchants, an omni-channel layout is no longer just a concept but a strategic decision of “must-do” and “how-to-do.” Brand merchants need to rethink the design of a user-centric commercial and supply chain system, coordinating the production capacity of factories, the sales and operational capabilities of channels, and the fulfillment and delivery capabilities of logistics.

II. The Core Value of the Unified Inventory Model: Not Just Cost Savings, but a Growth Engine

The value of omni-channel unified inventory goes far beyond cost reduction; it brings about a comprehensive boost in competitiveness for enterprises.

Improving inventory utilization is the most direct value of omni-channel unified inventory. It ensures that every SKU in the inventory pool is always available for all channels, rather than being fixed to a single channel, thus not missing any sales opportunities.

Another significant advantage is improving delivery efficiency and saving delivery costs. Through the order routing function, following automated split-order delivery rules set by the system, products from the nearest location to the consumer can be sent, effectively saving costs and improving delivery efficiency.

Enhancing customer experience is key in modern retail competition. For brand users, receiving products one minute earlier means one more point of happiness and brand loyalty. The unified inventory model enables fast fulfillment of online orders from nearby store inventories, allowing users to receive their orders quickly even during major promotional events like Double 11, greatly improving the user experience.

More profoundly, by reviewing sales and order data from the perspective of unified inventory, enterprises can more accurately grasp the sales patterns of different products and the purchasing habits of consumers across different channels and regions, continuously optimizing inventory strategies and guiding flexible supply chains.

III. Shangpai OMS: The Intelligent Brain for Omni-channel Unified Inventory

Implementing omni-channel unified inventory requires strong technical support, and Shangpai OMS (Order Management System) provides enterprises with the intelligent brain to achieve this.

The Shangpai OMS inventory center is built on a cloud-native, microservices-based DigiOS operating system, adopting an advanced design architecture. Its design model starts from physical storage inventory and builds upward, consisting of five layers: the bottom layer is physical storage inventory, that is, inventory at the storage area and location level; the first layer corresponds to inventory at the product level in physical warehouses; the second layer is logically divided entity warehouse inventory; the third layer is sales channel inventory; and the top layer is “platform inventory,” that is, the inventory actually published on the platform.

In terms of system architecture, the Shangpai OMS inventory center is divided into three layers from front to back: channel, scheduling, and physical inventory. The channel inventory layer is responsible for interfacing with sales channels; the scheduling domain is responsible for reconfiguring the sellable inventory quantities for sales channels according to rules when the available inventory of physical warehouses changes; and the physical inventory layer is used to correspond with actual warehouses and stores, managing actual inventory data.

The Six Core Capabilities of Shangpai OMS

Shangpai OMS provides six system support capabilities for brand O2O business scenarios, which together form a solid foundation for omni-channel unified inventory:

1. “Online + Store” Unified Inventory: Establish a unified virtual inventory pool for online and offline channels, synchronizing the available inventory status of all stores (direct-operated/franchised) and warehouses in real-time. This enables global inventory visibility, queryability, sellability, and transferability, providing an accurate basis for order routing and omni-channel sales.
2. Support for Multiple Sales and Fulfillment Modes in Online and Offline Channels: Natively support various O2O and omni-channel business models in terms of order creation, inventory management, routing, and fulfillment, including online purchase with in-store pickup, online purchase with in-store delivery, in-store ordering with delivery from other locations/warehouses, and same-city instant delivery.
3. Intelligent Order Routing Rule Engine: Provide a highly configurable, multi-dimensional, and dynamic order routing rule engine. Rules can be based on factors such as the proximity principle of the delivery address, real-time inventory availability in stores, and product characteristics. It supports automatic routing, manual intervention, and strategy combinations, enabling intelligent, automated, and optimized order allocation.
4. Mobile Store Operations: Provide store employees with a feature-rich and user-friendly mobile application covering core O2O operation scenarios, including order processing, fulfillment delivery, return processing, and inventory management, greatly improving the efficiency and accuracy of store handling of online orders.
5. Unified Settlement Hub as the Financial Center: Provide capabilities such as unified aggregation of omni-channel order transaction data, built-in flexible commission, profit-sharing, and expense settlement rule engines, automated generation of clear statements, and deep integration with financial systems (ERP) to improve financial settlement efficiency and accuracy.
6. Unified Reverse Order Management and Mobile Store Operations: Provide unified management of omni-channel reverse orders (returns/exchanges), intelligent allocation of return stores/warehouses, optimized reverse logistics paths, simplified customer return and exchange processes, and enhanced experience.

IV. Intelligent Order Routing: The Magic That Makes Products “Fly” to Consumers

The order routing rules are the essence of Shangpai OMS’s unified inventory solution. Faced with millions or even tens of millions of orders during Double 11, the numerous inventory items across various channels of enterprises need to be delivered to consumers in the most optimal way through intelligent routing rules.

Shangpai OMS supports various intelligent order routing rules, including:

1. Proximity-and-Fullness Rule: Directly assign the shipping order to the warehouse that has all the inventory for the ordered products and has the highest weight. The default warehouse has the highest weight.
2. Proximity Rule: Directly generate the shipping order to the nearest store based on the order. If the inventory in the nearest store is insufficient, automatic order splitting is performed.
3. Proximity-and-Fullness-Combined Rule: Start from the nearest warehouse and work backward to find the most fully stocked warehouse for shipping. If multiple warehouses in the same area meet the requirements, select the one with the highest weight.
4. Store Load Rule: If certain stores meet the proximity and fullness principles but their overall order volumes exceed the load value set in the system, the system will reallocate the orders exceeding the load value to nearby stores according to corresponding rules to maximize shipping efficiency.

In actual business, these order routing rules are usually combined for use to meet the complex business needs of large chain enterprises. Different rules can be pre-set in the system with various combinations and labeled accordingly, such as “Double 11 Promotion Rules” and “Product Pre-sale Shipping Rules.” Operators only need to select the appropriate rules at the right time.

V. Flexible Inventory Strategies: The Art of Making Inventory Flow

Under the omni-channel unified inventory model, inventory sharing and allocation strategies will never be in a simple and perfect state but will be a dynamic process that can be optimized at any time according to business and marketing activities.

Shangpai OMS supports complex inventory sharing and allocation strategies:

1. Inventory Sharing Strategies: Include multi-location sharing, single-store sharing, available inventory sharing, proportional inventory sharing, channel-reserved inventory, activity-occupied inventory, and pre-sale virtual inventory.
2. Inventory Allocation Strategies: Support omni-channel shared inventory, single-store exclusive inventory, multi-link inventory allocation, channel-reserved inventory, activity-occupied inventory, and proportional inventory allocation.

For example, if a clothing brand plans to conduct a limited-time promotion activity in Store A in Shanghai’s Region A, the system can reserve “activity-occupied inventory” for this store to ensure timely replenishment during the activity. After the activity ends, the inventory can be released. The more system functions there are, the more it can support a greater variety of and more complex inventory strategies.

VI. Future Outlook: The Development Trends of the Unified Inventory Model

With technological development and changes in consumer demand, the omni-channel unified inventory model will continue to evolve and improve. In the future, this model will place greater emphasis on data-driven and intelligent decision-making, achieving automated and intelligent inventory management by introducing more advanced digital technologies and tools.

At the same time, enterprises will also pay more attention to enhancing the consumer experience, using personalized recommendations, interactive marketing, and other means to strengthen consumers’ shopping experience and loyalty. In dealing with the rules of major platforms and inventory management constraints, the omni-channel unified inventory model will also play a greater role.

The Internet industry is moving towards interconnection, and digital transformation is underway. The direction of digital transformation and upgrading for future brand retail enterprises will vary according to development needs. Some brands may focus on strengthening the digital construction of marketing capabilities to support front-end traffic layout, while others may choose to empower distributors, transform the supply chain, or enhance order fulfillment to improve the consumer experience.

VII. Conclusion: Embrace Change and Win the Future

Omni-channel unified inventory is no longer an optional strategy for enterprises but a necessity for survival in the digital age. It requires enterprises to completely shift from a “channel mindset” to a “user mindset,” integrating originally fragmented warehousing, stores, personnel, and data into an efficient and collaborative organism.

As Shangpai’s chairman, Pei Dapeng, said, “Digital transformation has become a key and essential core element for the success of a brand enterprise.” In the fierce market competition, with the help of a comprehensive solution like Shangpai OMS, enterprises can more smoothly achieve digital transformation, improve operational efficiency, optimize the consumer experience, and ultimately win the market competition.

The future competition in the retail industry will be a competition of supply chains and even more so a competition of data-driven decision-making capabilities. The omni-channel unified inventory model is precisely the key bridge connecting the two, making enterprises’ inventory “soar” and enabling products to reach consumers quickly through the optimal path, ultimately maximizing enterprise value.