Ll Bean

However, forecast errors will also lead to unhappy customers, lost sales, and excessive inventory. To minimize errors, retailers should find the right demand forecast. Retailers do not want to have a lot of inventory sitting in the back room and too little inventory that will cause out of stock. Holding huge inventory will cause a retailer to have more expenses and decrease their profit if item is not sold especially if the product is innovative type like electronics. The challenge is to balance the inventory with demand. Communication and contribution from people in functional area is also important to create better information and improve overall accuracy. At this time, customer satisfaction will start to decrease. For example, MPRNews says one of Target loyal customer, Ann Hendricks, she is disappointed with target store in St.Paul. “Too many times, she says that store is out of the milk, coffee, bread, pasta and other staples she wants. At Target, sometimes the whole section of cheeses is blank. There's nothing in there” (Moylan). A loyal customer like Ann Hendricks goes to the Lunds & Byerlys store in downtown St. Paul to buy her grocery

A situation in which a company using LIFO accounting sells its oldest inventory. LIFO liquidation happens when the company's sales outpace its purchases for inventory. By using the LIFO inventory method this will the older you have to go back, the higher the net income. Inventory is always reported on the balance sheet. As you liquidate older inventory with the LIFO method you decrease your cost of good sold which will increase profitability.

The retailers had to estimate their customers’ demands well in advance of the selling season and place bulk orders for each season’s inventory. This involved high risk for the retailers as over-estimation would lead to unsold stock; whereas under-estimation led to stock outs and loss of potential sales.

Minimize risks due to uncertain demand. L.L. Bean would be able to manage ordering process and quantities based on actual demand and adjust more effectively.

High risk of huge inventory returns from the distributors if they are not able to sell in reasonable timeframe. This will increase huge sales return in B&L books in the following year.

After reading Chapter 6 of the textbook and the materials I found that I was struggling to understand the material more than usual. Before reading this chapter I had a slight idea of how much effort went into keeping track of the costs and inventory. The most that I knew was that you had to keep track of it, I didn’t know that there are different ways to keep track of those costs. After reading more into the different ways to keep track of inventory I found that the one that stuck out most to me and was the one that I spent the most time trying to understand was the LIFO (Last In First Out).

330-10-35-1 A departure from the cost basis of pricing the inventory is required when the utility of the goods is no longer as great as their cost. Where there is evidence that the utility of goods, in their disposal in the ordinary course of business, will be less than cost, whether due to physical deterioration, obsolescence, changes in price levels, or other causes, the difference shall be recognized as a loss of the current period. This is

330-10-30330-10-30-1 The primary basis of accounting for inventories is cost, which has been defined generally as the price paid or consideration given to acquire an asset. As applied to inventories, cost means in principle the sum of the applicable expenditures and charges directly or indirectly incurred in bringing an article to its existing condition and location. It is understood to mean acquisition and production cost, and its determination involves many considerations. 330-10-30330-10-30-2 Although principles for the determination of inventory costs may be easily stated, their application, particularly to such inventory items as work in process and finished goods, is difficult because of the variety of considerations in the allocation of costs and charges.

The partners of Beyond the Bean want to combine a traditional coffee shop with table/ board game rentals, where customers can socialize, in a relaxing environment. Our case analysis will demonstrate the appropriate decisions Beyond the Bean should apply to their business plan in order to achieve their goals.  The report clearly identifies the problems within the case, and what choices the business should make to in order to be successful in the given area during a time of rescission. We explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Beyond the Bean’s business structure, identifying vital decisions that the business should

The customers, wholesalers and retailers may order in large quantities with the expectation that they will receive a greater allocation of products that are in short supply. The impact on the supply chain is significant as the forecasted demand is greatly, and unrealistically, increased with these inflated orders. Eventually orders disappear and cancellations pour in, making it impossible for the manufacturer to determine the real demand for its products

In Note 7 (pages 215-216), Harnischfeger describes the effect of LIFO inventory liquidation on its reported profits in 1984. Describe what is meant by LIFO liquidation, and how liquidation affects a company’s income statement and balance sheet.

This set of data belongs to the online retailer industry. The most significant categories that helped with our decision was the low inventory for a retail business and the relatively high inventory turnover. The reasoning behind the high inventory turnover was because the goods were allowed to sit in storage until sold because of the online aspect of the business. We were also able

Within the retail environment, scheduling and a rapid response to changing consumer sentiments are critical. As such, the organizations systems must reflect this change in consumer dynamics to maximize sales and profitability. A systems approach works well in accomplishing this task. In many instances, consumer demand, consumer sentiments and macroeconomic factors all influence one another. In the context of Macys, macroeconomic factors determine consumer demand and confidence. Attempting to forecast this demand, the organization must then adjust scheduling and inventory levels accordingly. The input elements in this system would therefore be aligned with macroeconomic considerations. Aspects such as income growth, discretionary income, consumer confidence, tax policy, and commodity prices all affect the system. For instance high gas prices, can potentially cause less discretionary income for individuals. This lack of discretionary income ultimately hinders the amount of spending on discretionary items. This lack of spending impacts Macys on the output side as the company must now lower inventory levels or markdown merchandise to compensate consumers. Therefore inventory management is critical system in which Macys can use to add value to the consumer, the company, and its

Second, the classification in inventory management is still inaccurate. That results in some problems such as: the severe lack of some products which are in growing demand (1 inch valve series 230), the redundancy making storage expenses go up and the stagnancy in storage area (to products like gear driven rotary and monitor controller)

But even this is not possible in case of a new product or innovation. A forecast of sales, demand, cash, requirements and several such business valuables are extremely essential for a business in order to be able to appropriately plan and conduct its operations in an effective and efficient manner. Yet, forecasts cannot be made accurately as there are several factors and changes in the current environment that leads to variations in forecasts and impacts or causes a manager to make changes in the forecasts.