How to improve product availability using artificial intelligence

With hundreds or thousands of products on the sales floor and high-intensity promotional events, keeping products available on shelves is becoming increasingly complex.

A study by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) analyzed high-turnover consumer products in the U.S. The research found that stockouts are one of retail’s main operational pain points. This issue represents an average of up to 8% across the industry.

The biggest problem is that only 25% of these events are “in-system” stockouts—meaning those related to supply shortages that are visible and typically trigger replenishment actions.

The remaining 75% of cases involve “phantom inventory.” This occurs when products should be available on the sales floor but are not in practice. Sometimes the product is in the backroom. Other times, it’s unavailable due to shrinkage, counting errors, theft, or other reasons.

Inventory availability isn’t the only problem. There’s also the challenge of proper floor execution. This means ensuring the price printed on the shelf label is correct. Additionally, if there’s a promotion, it must be properly implemented in both pricing and signage. Finally, products must be in their proper location—as defined by the planogram or in a promotional display for the current campaign.

The Impact of Poor Execution on Product Availability

A significant problem is that many of these incidents affect slow-moving products. For this reason, they go unnoticed and persist for long periods. Generally, retailers focus on the availability of their “Top X” products. To do this, they implement supply chain and sales floor management initiatives.

Studies reveal a key finding: 26% of phantom stockouts last 4 days or more. These incidents generate 85% of associated losses, affecting precisely those low-visibility products.

Using Robots on the Sales Floor

One of the most striking market initiatives is the use of robots. These machines move through sales floors “looking for” problems. They detect potential stockouts, planogram errors, and incorrect prices on shelf labels. Their ability to find these execution failures keeps improving. In fact, some can now move through the store alongside customers during the day.

Stockout Prediction

Today’s intense promotional activity creates a significant challenge. Hundreds of products are promoted simultaneously in a store, which can significantly increase demand throughout the day. As a result, the likelihood of undetected stockouts grows.

Discovering a stockout is essential. However, the greatest opportunity lies in predicting them. This allows for proactive replenishment management.

Using Artificial Intelligence

Leveraging real-time sales data by location is one of today’s most significant opportunities. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence algorithms, anomalous sales patterns can be identified. These can alert to execution problems such as pricing errors, failed promotions, or missing inventory on shelves. AI also enables the detection of demand changes throughout the day to anticipate and prevent stockouts.

Real-Time Actionability

Connecting intelligence with real-time action is crucial. Mobile task management systems with integration capabilities exist for this purpose. However, many of these systems are designed for general tasks, including campaign deployment, commercial requests, or incident reporting. Using these solutions to resolve product-level tasks is highly inefficient. This creates problems with adoption, efficiency, and management effectiveness.

An Intelligent SKU-Focused Task Manager

At Frogmi, we have a task solution specifically designed to address product-level management opportunities.

Some relevant features include:

Intelligent Navigation

Store personnel can execute product-level tasks up to 30% faster than traditional task systems. The secret lies in the app’s design. It allows personnel to “navigate” the store to find the most relevant products, accessing their associated tasks in seconds.

Collaboration and Teamwork

The system promotes real-time collaboration. When a team member completes a task, it’s resolved for everyone. The task automatically “disappears” from other team members’ pending lists. This prevents duplicate efforts and ensures everyone works on what truly matters.

Cross-Departmental Connectivity

It is possible to create rules to assign each issue to the correct management team. For example, a task about a probable stockout is sent. Store personnel confirm there’s no local inventory to resolve it. At that moment, the app automatically escalates the problem. It sends a new task to the supply team to adjust the inventory, triggering product replenishment.

Discover how Frogmi can improve your business results. You’ll optimize your operations with our specialized task manager and artificial intelligence. Contact us and request a demonstration.