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Multi-Store Inventory Management: When One Store Has Too Much and Another Is Running Short
The city store keeps running out of a jacket while the neighbourhood store still has a full rail. The business owns stock, but customers cannot buy it where demand is strongest. Multi store inventory management starts by separating those local positions, then deciding whether to move existing stock or redirect the next intake. Merchmix is a retail planning platform; Core Plus handles allocation, replenishment and store transfers.
INSIDE MERCHMIX / CORE PLUS
Local demand.
A different distribution.
Open the incoming order, choose a style and follow the store-by-size allocation matrix. Check how much each location already holds before assigning more stock.
Core Plus allocation illustration. This incoming-order scenario is separate from the article’s transfer example.
Purchase order command centre
Open an order, then choose the style to allocate.
A 36-unit jacket order is pending distribution. It has not reached the stores.
THE KEY IDEA
Move stock against local demand: give City a timely supply route, protect Neighbourhood’s selling sizes and keep transfers separate from incoming allocations.
A network total does not tell you which store needs stock
In Core Plus, examine where stock sits and how much each location sells before deciding where units should go. A business-wide stock figure answers how much the retailer owns. It does not establish whether a particular store can serve its next customer.
In this jacket example, City holds 12 units and sells 12 a week: one week of cover. Neighbourhood holds 72 units and sells six a week: twelve weeks of cover. The combined 84 units look sufficient until the planner separates the stores.
The cause is different local demand, not a lack of stock across the business. Repeating the same distribution would leave City short again. The useful question is whether Neighbourhood can release suitable sizes soon enough to support City.
Work out what a transfer changes at both ends
Consider moving 24 jackets from Neighbourhood to City. With no sales during the movement, Neighbourhood would hold 48 units, or eight weeks of cover. City would hold 36 units, or three weeks. The network still owns 84 units; their location changes.
That is a projected position, not an immediate stock update. Check transit time against City’s next selling days. If the move arrives after the shortage, the quantity alone does not solve the availability problem.
Check the sizes as well. An illustrative split of six small, twelve medium and six large units totals 24. Confirm that the source can release those exact sizes and that City needs them. Excess in one size is not permission to empty another.
AN APPAREL PLANNING SCENARIO
The same 84 jackets, a different store balance
City has 12 jackets and sells 12 a week. Neighbourhood has 72 and sells six a week. Moving 24 suitable jackets would leave City with 36 units, or three weeks of cover, and Neighbourhood with 48 units, or eight weeks. This assumes no sales during transit. The business still holds 84 jackets; the transfer changes their location. The incoming-order animation is a separate allocation scenario and is not added to these figures.
Illustrative situation, not a customer case study.Use the allocation matrix when the stock is still incoming
An incoming purchase order creates a different decision from a transfer. In the Core Plus workflow, the team opens an order in the purchase order command centre, selects a style and enters its store-by-size workspace.
The matrix shows each store alongside stock on hand, stock in transit, contribution and size quantities. Stock on hand means units already held; stock in transit means units moving towards a location. Check both before assigning more incoming stock.
The animation uses a separate 36-unit intake: 24 units allocated to City, none to Neighbourhood and twelve to Outlet. It illustrates directing the next order towards the need. It is an alternative scenario, not an extra 36 units added to the transfer example.
Set the distribution basis before accepting the split
The Master control panel includes sales history, distribution mode, DC holdback, store limits and size strategy. These settings explain the basis of an allocation. Choose the relevant stores and sales period before judging the quantities.
DC holdback is the portion retained at the distribution centre. Store minimums and maximums constrain the distribution, while the size strategy shapes the size mix. Inspect those assumptions rather than treat the first output as the only possible answer.
In the intake scenario, the size totals are nine small, eighteen medium and nine large units. They add to the 36 available units. The simulation summary shows all 36 assigned with reconciled totals, meaning no units remain unexplained in this illustration.
Choose a transfer or an allocation without counting both
Use a transfer when the stock already exists at a location that can release it. Use purchase-order allocation when the decision concerns where incoming units should go. The two workflows answer different supply questions, even when the same store needs the goods.
For City, first check whether a movement is already open or supply is due. Do not add the proposed 24-unit transfer to a 24-unit incoming allocation as though both were required. Choose the response against the current need and record what has actually been authorised.
For Neighbourhood, check the stock left after the proposed move and the next replenishment policy. Shifting stock away while sending the same quantity straight back repeats the imbalance instead of addressing it.
FROM THE SIGNAL TO THE MERCHMIX DECISION
What to check before the next action
| What you see | Where to look in Merchmix | The decision to review |
|---|---|---|
| City: 12 units / 12 sold a week = 1 week of cover | Core Plus / store and style detail | Find a supply route that can reach the store in time. |
| Neighbourhood: 72 units / 6 sold a week = 12 weeks | Core Plus / store and size position | Check the exact 24 units to release and the eight weeks left afterwards. |
| Incoming order: 36 units, separate from the transfer | Core Plus / allocation matrix and simulation summary | Choose the distribution without duplicating the existing-stock response. |
Give each store a refill policy that fits its demand
Core Plus also shows refill models assigned by store and size. Visible options include Rate of Sale, Safety Stock Buffer, Demand Curve Refill and No Refill. The matrix makes the policy visible at the level where it applies.
A continuing jacket at a steady-selling store needs a different decision from a seasonal line approaching exit. Choose the applicable policy and inspect its assumptions. No Refill is a policy choice; it does not itself remove stock already held.
After deciding what Neighbourhood can release, check whether its next refill would send the same stock back. Adjust the applicable store and size policy before repeating the previous distribution.
Let Yukti turn the store imbalance into a proposal
Yukti is the assistant inside Merchmix. It helps identify a stock problem and prepares supported actions for a person to approve. Its available actions depend on the connected tools and the user’s permissions.
For the jacket, Yukti explains City’s one week of cover and Neighbourhood’s twelve. It then presents a 24-unit transfer proposal, with the projected source and destination positions and an explicit approval step.
Approval is not proof of receipt. Confirm the product, sizes, source, destination and timing before progressing a supported move. The proposal should make the reason and consequence clear enough for the person approving it to decide.
Finish with a store decision, not another request for stock
For City, decide which supply route can support the selling period. For Neighbourhood, confirm the sizes it can release and the cover left behind. Keep the transfer quantity separate from any incoming purchase-order allocation.
After a move progresses, follow its operational status and confirm receipt before adding the units to available store stock. Recalculate cover using the current selling rate rather than assume the projected result is still unchanged.
The purpose of Merchmix multi-store inventory management is to put the next unit where it has a justified use. Local demand determines the distribution; the recorded movement shows what happened next.
BEFORE PROGRESSING THE 24-UNIT MOVE
- Which product and size does the destination actually need?
- What can the source release without creating another shortage?
- Will the stock arrive while the selling opportunity remains?
- Who approves the move and confirms dispatch?
- Has receipt been confirmed and the position refreshed?
A CLEARER NEXT STEP
Common questions
How is a stock transfer different from an allocation?
A transfer moves existing stock between locations. A purchase-order allocation decides where incoming units should go. In this illustration, the 24-unit transfer and the 36-unit incoming allocation are separate scenarios, not two supplies to add together.
What does weeks of cover mean for each store?
It is stock divided by the assumed weekly selling rate. City’s 12 jackets at 12 a week give one week. Neighbourhood’s 72 at six a week give twelve. The figure changes when sales, stock or the timing of supply changes.
What does Yukti ask the planner to approve?
The example proposes moving 24 jackets from Neighbourhood to City. The planner checks the sizes, timing and projected positions before approving a supported action. The animation does not issue a live transfer or claim the goods have arrived.
THE DECISION TRAIL / YUKTI
Rebalance the stores.
Protect both sides.
Yukti explains the imbalance, proposes the 24-unit move and shows the projected cover at both stores. A person checks the quantity, sizes and timing before approving a supported action.
- 01Understand the exception
Compare demand and availability at both stores.
- 02Check the projected result
Protect the source and confirm the approval required.
- 03Close the loop
Confirm the operational status before counting the stock as available.
FROM LOCAL DEMAND TO A JUSTIFIED MOVEMENT
A better balance.
Store by store.
Move stock against local demand: give City a timely supply route, protect Neighbourhood’s selling sizes and keep transfers separate from incoming allocations.